Following suit and making two pair of overnight sensations my second build

[Leroy R]

Parts are ordered and the tops, bottoms, sides and baffled are cut and being glued together. Waiting to cut the backs until I decide how I want to mount them. I would like to rabbit the back of the enclosures to flush mount them, but not finding the router bit I need locally, may have to order online. Building these for my daughters. They are much smaller than I had imagined. Get to try painting on these. Oldest daughter wants hers painted white and the youngest wants hers matte black.

[Leroy R]

Re: Following suit and making two pair of overnight sensations my second build

Made a 4ft and 8ft cutting jig this weekend like the ones I've seen others using on here. Not nearly as convenient as a table saw, but they worked just fine. Most of the pieces being cut were too small to reach all the way under the jig, so I cut a strip of the 1/2 inch mdf and used it as a spacer between the jig and table top to support the jig when clamping the jig to the work piece and table.



A couple saw horses and a sheet of 3/4 anything makes a cutting table. A few pieces cut here.



All the tops, bottoms, sides and baffles ready to be glued



First cabinet with top, bottom and sides glued sitting between a tritrix mt and a 12oz Pepsi can for size comparison.

[Soundslike]

Re: Following suit and making two pair of overnight sensations my second build

Lee,

Your daughters are going to love the speakers, and you for making them I'm sure. I'm very pleased with the OS speakers I made, for me and my brother. Your thread is off to a great start -- I'm betting a lot of people will find it very helpful, particularly those who don't have access to a shop with every tool imaginable. You've already shown the high quality you're capable of, so this thread should be very inspiring to new and potential builders.

Ron

[Leroy R]

Re: Following suit and making two pair of overnight sensations my second build

I'm having fun tackling the challenges of not having all of my shop tools available to me. I was surprised how little variance I had from piece to piece considering I had to set up each cut rather than setting the table saw up to a certain cut and cutting everything that needed to be cut to that dimension and then setting up the next series of cuts. There is some variance, but nothing that can't be sanded smooth.

My next challenge is cutting the rabbit in the back of the cabinets to recess the back panel. The local Home Depot and Lowes don't have the necessary rabbiting bit, so I'm going to have to search on line for it.

I'm not going to get much done for the next seven days or so, as I am covering another shift at work, so 7 straight 12s here I come starting tonight.

I ordered the 45mm forstner bit from Amazon. Since I don't have a drill press, I guess we'll find out how well I can hold a hand held drill to get these press fits to line up right.

How far back were you able to get the black paint in the port tube for your brothers pair with the port in the front? Any tricks to get the paint back in there? I'm thinking about painting the inside of the tube before I put it in the cabinet so I can spray it from both ends and be able to roll it so I can keep the can upright while spraying. Then I'll install it radius the end and the end will get repainted when the cabinet gets painted. That's the plan anyway.

I picked up a couple corner clamps from Home Depot that are making the glue up process a little easier. I think I'll pick up some better quality ones from somewhere in the future though. These are not very good quality. The clamp plates don't slide easily and aren't very sturdy, so expect them to break before too many projects have been completed. They are doing what I allowing me to keep my corners as close as possible to flush to minimize sanding and hold the joints closer to a 90 degree angle than if I were just using the bar clamps.



Tracking says the drivers and other parts should be here tomorrow.

[Leroy R]

Re: Following suit and making two pair of overnight sensations my second build

So a step that I skipped mentioning earlier that I did last night to help things fit better. I stacked all the side panels together and got them to line up with each other as best they could, then clamped them all together and sanded all the edges to get all the panels the same, then while still clamped together on one side I put an arrow on each panel on one edge, all arrows pointing in the same direction. This way I know if when I glue them together the edge with the arrow is up and the arrows are pointing in the same direction that even if the panels aren't perfectly square and parallel, the angles of both panels will slope in the same direction, making gluing easier and minimizing the amount of sanding to get flush edges after assembly.

Ok, I clamped a couple pieces back together for show and tell. The first picture is the two pieces clamped together the way they were when the edges were sanded to match, indicated by the arrows on the same side and pointed in the same direction.



This next picture I just flipped one of the pieces over so the arrows now point away from each other. You can see that the edges now don't line up.



When I did the sanding all of the matching panels were clamped together in one big block, so they are all the same. I also did this for the top and bottom panels. The baffles are cut over sized and will be flush trimmed after installation.

[Soundslike]

Re: Following suit and making two pair of overnight sensations my second build

I had the same concerns as you've expressed about getting adequate coverage inside the port tube. In fact, I've left them unpainted up until I made the OS black painted pair. As it turned out, it wasn't too difficult to get a decent result simply by spraying in through the port opening, from the front. I use the word decent to describe the result, but I should explain more precisely -- the black paint covered well, to a depth of about 2". Further into the port, there isn't any coverage, but since it's dark inside the port it isn't easily detectable. By that I mean that people aren't likely to notice the incomplete coverage unless they carefully inspect the enclosure. Shine a flashlight back there and it will be noticeable.

I do think your idea about painting the inside before it's glued into the baffle or back panel, is a good one, and one that I'll try in my next build. Most likely though, you'll have to do a little blending job once its installed, particularly if you flare the port. I think you'll end up with a better job than I did.

I've used the corner clamps you show, and I'd say they're pretty frustrating too. I found it helped a lot to lubricate the screw lightly -- I also mounted the clamps individually on a bases and that helped stabilize things. But, if you do that, you'll have to work with your corner clamps in a horizontal position, holding the panels vertically while the glue is drying.

Is the rabbet for a removable back panel?

[Leroy R]

Re: Following suit and making two pair of overnight sensations my second build

Yes, the current plan is to have the back panel removable, but that plan may change, which is why I haven't cut the back panels yet. They may wind up being glued to the surface like the front baffles and flush trimmed. I've found the router bits I need on Amazon, but growing my router bit collection is proving to be expensive, I may have to look at alternatives. A set of roundover bits, a 45 degree chamfer bit and a variable rabbet bit set is close to $100.

[Mikers]

Re: Following suit and making two pair of overnight sensations my second build

Yes, the current plan is to have the back panel removable, but that plan may change, which is why I haven't cut the back panels yet. They may wind up being glued to the surface like the front baffles and flush trimmed. I've found the router bits I need on Amazon, but growing my router bit collection is proving to be expensive, I may have to look at alternatives. A set of roundover bits, a 45 degree chamfer bit and a variable rabbet bit set is close to $100.

http://www.princessauto.com/workshop...router-bit-set

You know what? for the amount I use them, they are perfectly good. And for soft MDF, they are perfect. Not sure if you can get them sent to you state side.

[Leroy R]

Re: Following suit and making two pair of overnight sensations my second build

I've looked at sets like that, but they tend to have one or two bits in them that I need. The rabbet bit only has the one bearing (not the one I currently need), so can't be adjusted for different cut depths, only one radius bit (not the size I currently need), the 45 would probably work good for chamfering the back of the woofer cutout.

These are what I am currently looking at and even with free shipping add up to $93.25 I would probably use all of these at some point though.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000225VM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001NXC704/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P4OC96/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

[Soundslike]

Re: Following suit and making two pair of overnight sensations my second build

At the risk of revealing my, uh, thrifty nature, I'd suggest these.

And these.

You don't need a dado bit with a guide bearing, necessarily. If you have a router table, set the fence for the correct depth, and move the material past the rotating bit. If you don't have a table, you can make do with an improvised solution, i.e., mount the router to the underside of a flat piece of material, and clamp a fence on. You could also clamp a straight edge onto the work piece, set at the correct distance back from the edge to get the depth/width you need. The one advantage of the guide bearing bit I can see, is that it will allow the router to follow an edge that isn't perfectly straight, whereas a fence could mean a shallow cut in some areas.

I have all of these bits, as well as a bunch of others from more highly thought of manufacturers, and while they aren't the best, they certainly make sense in the situation you're describing. You start out to make a couple sets of speakers with $170 in parts, and find you need to spend almost that much for bits to do one or two operations. Binford can come to the rescue, now and then :D

[Leroy R]

Re: Following suit and making two pair of overnight sensations my second build

Thanks for the tip on the roundover bits. Those will save me a few bucks. The straight bits will work for cutting the openings with the Jasper Jig, but since I don't have a router table won't help me with the rabbet cuts. I actually already have a straight bit if I can come up with a way to cut the rabbet with it. I don't necessarily need the 45 bit either. I can carve or file out the rear clearances it just won't look as pretty, but that's on the inside so probably will never be seen. The roundovers are the only ones I really need to radius the port opening and roundover the edges of the enclosures since I am going to be painting them rather than veneering.

So if I wind up surface mounting the back panels rather than recessing them, that will add another 1/2" x 5" x 8" to the internal volume of the enclosure. I wonder how that will effect them. Given how small they are, I would think that would be a significant volume change. If it's going to have a detrimental effect on the sound quality, I could glue a 5 x 8 piece to the back panel to fill the space when the back panel is glued on.

I need to go back and look at your build and see if you had a picture of the crossover placement. I imagine it is a pretty tight fit.

[Mikers]

Re: Following suit and making two pair of overnight sensations my second build

Just clamp a straight piece of wood to the piece you want to rabbit to act as a guide, set the depth of the straight bit to you rabbit depth and go to town

[Leroy R]

Re: Following suit and making two pair of overnight sensations my second build

The enclosures are already glued together, not flat stock, otherwise that would have worked. Even so, with my inaccurate means of cutting and gluing, precut rabbets might have been hard to get lined up from panel to panel. Post assembly cutting with a rabbet bit gives nice radiused corners, precut with a straight bit gives square corners, either way works. I kinda like the radiused corners.

[Randall Kepley]

Re: Following suit and making two pair of overnight sensations my second build

Under no circumstances, SKIMP ON ROUTER BITS! ! ! ! ! ! Fellas, im telling ya, when you pay more to buy quality bits like Amana, Freud, even MLCS which isnt the greatest but they are still pretty good for the money your getting a smoother cut, better carbide meaning the carbide structure is much smaller than cheaper bits resulting in a cleaner cut. More times than not the carbide on a quality bit will be much thicker than the el cheapo and can be sharpened pretty cheap locally. I say stick w/ what you have chosen. R.K.

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Re: Following suit and making two pair of overnight sensations my second build

nice build leroy. you'll have these done before the fellas up north get out to the shop.