The Mystiques - Build Thread

[Kevin K.]

Moving on to the outside of the sidewalls. Here's a fixture that's required, it has an interchangeable center support section for the different sides and the fixture is indexed to the table's spoilboard with a couple of 1/2" pins. Needed the ability to take it on and off and be able to get it back to the same place every time for repeatability.



Here's a close up showing how the dado cuts index to the fixture for alignment on the machine.


Was only able to secure the sidewalls with toe nailed drywall screws on the ends but they did the job fine.



This pic was right after the completion of the finish cut. Still lacks the two end cuts.

[Kevin K.]

Rear Baffle, braces and sidewalls all laid out ready for assembly.



And a few pics of everything sitting together in dry form.









Had some issues with tear out on the top. Know better than to cut MDF to a razor edge but tried my luck at it anyway, as you can see, my luck ran out. Expected a little body work to accompany these cabs so no big deal. That's it for this weekend.

[dst]

Looking very nice so far. that is a challenging build. I am dying to hear what you think of those drivers.

[xmax]

Bravo, nice build! I need to try that superglue trick, I have made the mistake of using carpet tape to hold
parts down on my CNC table, holy crap is that stuff hard to get off!

[BOBinGA]

Wow! I'm pretty hard to impress, but this build does it. I wish I could hear the finished product. (I have heard Rick's tweeter and it is something special. You will surely enjoy it.)
-Bob

[xmax]

I have never heard of those interesting ribbon (with a voice coil) tweeters, how would you compare them
to say a RAAL?

[dcibel]

http://www.audioxpress.com/article/test-bench-bozhen-new-audio-lab-cq66-ribbon-tweeter

[Kevin K.]

Looking very nice so far. that is a challenging build. I am dying to hear what you think of those drivers.

Thanks! These are by far some of the nicest drivers I've purchased and I'm looking forward to hearing them as well.

Bravo, nice build! I need to try that superglue trick, I have made the mistake of using carpet tape to hold
parts down on my CNC table, holy crap is that stuff hard to get off!

You'll love the superglue/masking tape trick. The shear force is incredible yet when you're ready to remove the tape it's as easy as peeling a piece of masking tape from a painted wall. The only caveat is the tape needs to be perfectly flat on both surfaces, no trash under either piece or you won't get intimate contact which is critical to how it works.

Wow! I'm pretty hard to impress, but this build does it. I wish I could hear the finished product. (I have heard Rick's tweeter and it is something special. You will surely enjoy it.)
-Bob

Thanks Bob. I know Rick pretty well and asked him for a suggestion on the tweeter. He feels these two drivers will work very well together. Looking forward to hearing them for the first time.

[PWR RYD]

Those are going to look awesome!

[Squidspeak]

Started on the sidewalls but didn't get very far this weekend, hope to finish them up next weekend.

Using an Industrial Epoxy Laminating Resin. I like this a little more than glue because it soaks into the MDF further.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1371066[/ATTACH]

Pins are your friends! Makes clamping so much easier when you don't have to fight the panels sliding around all over the place. Two pins in opposite corners usually suffices.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1371067[/ATTACH]

Clamped up and let it sit overnight. Ready to go the next morning.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1371068[/ATTACH]

Inside of the left sidewall. Decided to take advantage of an operation available in my CNC software, Spiral cut from center out. By stepping over 1/4" at a time, it left a pretty good scallop. Not sure how much benefit the ridges will have on the back waves but figured it couldn't hurt me. It would have been difficult to apply traditional damping to the sidewalls due to the compound curves.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1371069[/ATTACH]

Kevin, what is brand/type of epoxy laminating resin. I mostly use West Systems for that type of bond. Also I would coat the outside of cab to prevent the edge lift,
a lot more work but eliminates the issue. I laminated MDF to BB then kerfed it and bent it in a jig so I coated the outside wall with epoxy to prevent splitting and
lifting of the grain.

[tomzarbo]

They're beautiful, even just in raw MDF. And the precision with which everything fits together is pretty cool too.
... and that must be one heck of a spinner and bit... that thing really MOVES! Cool videos.
TomZ

[Kevin K.]

Kevin, what is brand/type of epoxy laminating resin. I mostly use West Systems for that type of bond. Also I would coat the outside of cab to prevent the edge lift,
a lot more work but eliminates the issue. I laminated MDF to BB then kerfed it and bent it in a jig so I coated the outside wall with epoxy to prevent splitting and
lifting of the grain.

This is what I'm currently using but will switching over to the 605 version in the future, they are both very similar. The 605 is more economical and also available in more sizes (quart, 1.5 gallon, 5-gallon units).

https://www.freemansupply.com/products/liquid-tooling-materials/epoxy-laminating-resins/room-temperature-laminating-resins/renlam-1710-white-general-purpose-laminating-system-white

I've had pretty good luck with the Evercoat Featherfill G2 polyester primer when surfacing MDF. After a couple of coats, you have a very good base to work with and it's hard as a rock.

[Kevin K.]

They're beautiful, even just in raw MDF. And the precision with which everything fits together is pretty cool too.
... and that must be one heck of a spinner and bit... that thing really MOVES! Cool videos.
TomZ

Thanks Tom. I'm not really taking advantage of all the machine is capable of doing and these videos are probably kinda boring. Our CNC software just went through a major update and I'm still trying to get familiar with some of the new operation options, they did away with some of my favs for some reason so I suspect some of the newer ones are supposed to be more efficient. Need some time to learn the new stuff but in the mean time am just doing what I need to get by.

[Kevin K.]

Round 3: Not a lot of new pics to update from the third weekend guys. Spent the majority of the weekend catching the second cabinet up to the first cabinet. Cut the second pair of sidewalls, two tops, and another set of braces. Was hoping to get the bottoms done but fell short of getting those started. Will attempt to get the bottoms finished this week and get started on the baffles next weekend.





Went with dual binding post for this pair which leaves the option to bi-amp if I choose and makes working on the crossovers from outside the enclosure easier. Thanks for following along.

[randyohoh]

Great job at overcoming the design obstacles and arriving at a very cool shape.These are very unique and will sound excellent.