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**Mattcc22** · 10-15-2012, 08:55 AM

Re: Dayton RS180 L/C/R Build

Looking good! I should finally be starting on the same build very soon

**SeeJ333** · 10-15-2012, 12:25 PM

Re: Dayton RS180 L/C/R Build

These are looking like a good start to some quality speakers! I've got to get one of those Jasper Jigs.

**coniacvsop** · 10-15-2012, 01:14 PM

Re: Dayton RS180 L/C/R Build

Thanks guys. This will probably be a 6 month project just because of my work schedule so it might be a little drawn out. Ya, the Jasper Jig is pretty much mandatory to be able to do the flush cutting for the drivers. They're a little pricey for a piece of plastic, but it's definitely worth it. I know there are several guys around who have made their own, but the Jasper makes it quick and easy to change diameters.

**coniacvsop** · 10-30-2012, 07:31 PM

Re: Dayton RS180 L/C/R Build

I was able to get a little more work done on the project in the past week or so. I got the holes cut for the front baffle on the Zaph CC and did some chamfer work on the baffles. My pictures aren't all that great as my light is pretty poor in my work space and I don't really like to bring my new SGS 3 into the dusty environment to take pics.

Checking the driver spacing before continuing to drill holes out. The tolerance on this build is pretty close with the three way design in such a small speaker.

Everything cut but the tweeter. I had to go get a 1 3/8" hole saw for the tweet and then sand it out a bit to get it to fit. I wanted it more snug than sloppy. Rabbeting out the back side to get the 12mm depth for the rear mount didn't go so well. I ended up going to deep and had to bondo it back up.....nobody will see.

Just dry fitting one of the towers. You can see a patch or two there. It sucks when the router or saw slips a bit, but that's what they make wood putty and bondo for, right? I live in the City in SF, so I've converted the forward end of my two car tandem garage into a little work space. I stress LITTLE. You can see the tarps I've secured in order to keep the dreaded MDF dust from blanketing my car as well as my neighbors. The first time my wife saw the setup she thought it looked like a Meth Lab, so now it's just referred to as "The Lab." I"m actually quite proud of the use I've made of such a small space, but I do envy the pics of some of these shops I see on this forum.

I started mocking up the crossover boards for Zaph's CC. This is the tweet. The three way design is much more complicated than anything I've ever done before, so it took me many hours of studying different diagrams and pictures from other builds to kinda see what was going on. The CC is pretty similar to the tower 3.5 design minus a few components on the woofer board, so I've been able to get some ideas from other build threads of those.

Here is the mock up of the mid woofer. I plan on separating out the design onto three pieces of scrap pegboard like Zaph recommends. Figuring out all the ground leads on the terminal strips was a little confusing, but i figured out that you are going to need one from each driver and one leading out to the next board as well. I haven't made up the Woofer mock up yet.

I think I'm done with the wood working for awhile. I've got to head back to work here soon, so I'm going to have to clean up all that dust. I'll continue at a later time TBD. No hurry

**ReissM** · 11-02-2012, 12:22 PM

Re: Dayton RS180 L/C/R Build

Originally posted by coniacvsop View Post

[ATTACH=CONFIG]30547[/ATTACH]

Here is the mock up of the mid woofer. I plan on separating out the design onto three pieces of scrap pegboard like Zaph recommends. Figuring out all the ground leads on the terminal strips was a little confusing, but i figured out that you are going to need one from each driver and one leading out to the next board as well.

Your project looks great dude. Just a few comments ...

I thought the small caps that are in series with the 15uF cap looked weird, so I zoomed around the internet and found this:

If this is the XO that you referred to, then I think you need to move one wire so that the small caps are in parallel with the coil. Like this:

Also, minor thing but you might want to rotate the one coil so the fields don't interfere with each other. (see picture)

Keep up the great work. This is going to be sweet.

**coniacvsop** · 11-02-2012, 01:54 PM

Re: Dayton RS180 L/C/R Build

I was a little iffy about the wiring of those small caps, so I'm glad I posted them up. That makes more sense now. They need to be in parallel with that inductor not just sitting there in series......Doh! Thanks for the advice, I'll make some alterations.

**lostboy77** · 11-29-2012, 07:29 PM

Re: Dayton RS180 L/C/R Build

Any progress here?

**coniacvsop** · 11-29-2012, 08:24 PM

Unfortunately not.... I'm back at work, which leaves me very little time to work on this project. It may be a couple months till I pick it back up again, but I'll be sure to update the thread so subscribe if you like. I'm itching to get a listen at these bad boys.

**coniacvsop** · 03-06-2013, 12:43 PM

Re: Dayton RS180 L/C/R Build

Back up and running again! I was able to laminate the rear panel of the doubled up baffle to the CC. I had the piece already cut, but when I started cutting the driver holes I used OD instead of ID....Startover. All I need to do now is scallop out the rear panel and install the hurricane nuts, then I will be ready to start gluing the box.

My roundover bit wasn't working so well so I had to freehand using a straight bit. I had never even used a router till about a year ago so it's a learning experience everytime. I did notice that the Hurricane nuts are already rusting. I give the SF Bay credit for that one. I'm going to add a couple of braces as well.

Here's the first tower glued minus the rear baffle. I got a little ahead of myself and chamfered the baffless.....I probably should have waited till the end. Therefore using a flush trim bit will throw off the the symmetry of the front baffle. There was about a 1/16th of an inch overhang. This is where I give a shoutout to the creator of bondo! What an amazing product. Wood filler is a thing of the past for me.

My plan is to paint the front and rear baffles black and veneer the interior panels. I have a nice Etimoe veneer that I'm planning on finishing with a mahogany danish oil to match my other furniture.

MattCC and I are building almost the same speaker and finishing them similarly so I'm excited to see how they both come out! I am a tad bit nervous about the final sound as I did not recognize the MLTL characteristics. I took advice from other members and designs with the port so I hope that it works out. I'm all in now, so I guess all I can do is hope for the best unless anybody has any other suggestions.

**coniacvsop** · 03-08-2013, 08:03 PM

Re: Dayton RS180 L/C/R Build

I managed to cut and install the bracing in the cabinets today. The other one is drying. I really need to to get more clamps, it never seems like I have enough. The upper brace fit very nicely between the tweeter and lower woofer. It took a bit of fine tuning with the sander to get them to if just right.

I went a little too far south on the tweeter cut out on the CC. There wasn't anything left for the screw and hurricane nut on the mid to grab on to. It took about 3 or 4 applications of Bondo to build it back up.

Here's the piece built back up. Good as new. Man I love Bondo. I fit tested the tweeter again and it slid right in there. I also scalloped out the cutouts on the backside. It should be ready for glue up once I free up those clamps.

I started mocking up the Tower Crossovers. They are so much simpler than the CC, so hopefully I don't screw this one up. That 50 Uf cap is a whale! I probably should have just used an NPE, but whatever.

I think my next step will be to make up the crossovers and then I should be in good shape to go ahead and give them a test run. I'll probably haul them upstairs and just clamp the rear baffle for testing purposes. I also told myself that I wasn't going to rush on the final finishing of the cabs, so I'm going to take my time filling and sanding to make sure all the lines look square and there aren't any glaring mistakes.

**coniacvsop** · 03-11-2013, 10:28 PM

Re: Dayton RS180 L/C/R Build

It's good to know that the speaker cabs can also double as some extra weight for gluing! That's the CC underneath everything.

I made up the Crossovers today. I changed up the layout a little bit. It was going to be easier to run the ground wire on the right hand side. The shack only had red 12 AWG hook up wire so the stuff was a little thick. It made it a little more difficult soldering with my weak *** iron. But I managed. I used a P Core inductor for the woofers because they were a little cheaper and the man himself said they would be fine to use.

The space inside the cabs left me plenty of room to use a good size board. Everything is spread out pretty well which made it easier for me to visualize the circuit. I probably could have gone smaller, but I like to keep it simple. The nice orderly crossovers that some do with all the connections below the board look cool, but I figured there was a greater chance of me making a wiring mistake not keeping it all topside.

I tested out both crossovers using cheap Shack test leads. You can see how much of a mess that is. They both seemed to work well. It's a little tough to tell outside the cabs, but it appeared that each driver was playing the proper frequencies. I didn't push them too hard since they aren't in the enclosure yet. So I guess my solder job was a success. Tomorrow I think I'll cut up some bracing for the CC to tie it together and then start working on the crossover for that bad boy.

**coniacvsop** · 03-13-2013, 06:05 PM

Re: Dayton RS180 L/C/R Build

I was able to complete the Mid Woofer board on the CC. I accidentally wired the big coil in series and figured it our after I had already soldered the joint. I had to clip it out and then run that longer lead across the board, soldering in the coil to that. I'm just glad I caught it before I got too far along. I know Zaph designed these with removable baffles, but I didn't really feel like doing that extra work. I cut the pegboard so that they will fit through the woofer cutouts. The woofer board will not be able to be removed as it will be behind the Tweeter/Mid and the bracing will be in the way to pull out from the woofer hole. That's fine with me since any adjustments will probably be to the resistors on the Mid and Tweet which I will be able to access.

Here's the CC Bracing Drying. I got a little crazy with the glue. After looking at this picture again, I think if I cut the woofer board short enough then I might be able to angle it out and around the front side of the bracing. Just another option if I need it.

I'm not really sure if anyone actually follows this thing, but I'm going to have to hang up my tools for a few months. Time to go back to work. I was able to get a good chunk completed this time around. I had given my brother a set of the OS Flat Packs for Christmas and him going to work on them inspired me to get back on my own project. I hope this thread helps somebody along the way, I know it was quite a resource for me to be able to see how others completed their own speakers. Anyways, I'll update the thread when I get back to it this summer.

**Mattcc22** · 03-13-2013, 09:53 PM

Re: Dayton RS180 L/C/R Build

I thought you were gonna beat me to getting your speakers up and running! I may have a chance now! It's so hard to get any work done with 2 kids under 2yrs. Do give us some updates when you get back to it.

**coniacvsop** · 03-14-2013, 02:51 PM

Ya, I guess that's life right. Good luck with yours, I'll be following.

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Dayton RS180 L/C/R Build

Dayton RS180 L/C/R Build

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