Swopes 5.0

[Gordy]

All build pics can be found HERE

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After several months of planning and the upgrade of adding dust collection in my shop, I finally started my Swopes build (sans sub) this afternoon. Getting the dust issue figured out was paramount to me building anything more. I added a large dust collector and a cyclone attached to my shop vac with a hepa filter attached to a swinging overhead boom. It folds up against the wall totally out of the way and swings out for routing and sanding duty.

That being said, I got all of the MDF cut this afternoon and it was super easy as I used MaxCut for the first time. I highly recommend this application if you have not tried it yet. I used to spend hours mapping out my cuts and that is now a thing of the past.
This will also be the first time I will use veneer. I will be covering the speakers in Maple and make stands out of solid Walnut and Maple as I have enough left over from other projects.

Nothing fancy on these, no grills or rounded over edges. I have not ordered all of the drivers and parts yet but do have the 6's, a 5" and a tweet. That should be enough to get me started so I can cut holes and get things lined out. First thing that I noticed, dang that center channel is going to be huge.

I currently have an all Infinity Primus system with the 6" towers, larger center and 4" rears. It makes sound OK but lacks any definition.I will end up selling all of that when the Swopes move in. I also have an older Onkyo receiver that may get replaced with a Yamaha if need be. The 10" Velodyne sub I have I will probably keep for a while and possibly build a 10" version of the Drake.

I will post of the build process as it moves along.

[kenrhodes]

Re: Swopes 5.0

Looks like a great start. Can you post some pics of your dust collector system? It sounds great and looks like it is working good.

[Carbon13]

Re: Swopes 5.0

+1 on dust collection details. Mine is less than ideal and my wife hates that everything in the garage (namely her bike) gets covered every time I cut anything.

[Gordy]

Re: Swopes 5.0

My shop (1-car garage) is a smaller area so I have to make due with the space that I have. I have stored things on the walls and put cabinets up high enough that when open I don't bump my head. When I purchased my dust collector I had every intention of running 6" duct into the attic and back down to the shop. The dust collector resides on the 2-car side but is on casters and is able to be moved. I have not done the duct work yet so it is hooked up directly to the table saw and moved back into the 2-car side for storage. The dust collector also attaches to my surface planer with the same 4" connection. It takes care of 95% of the dust from the table saw. I will eventually get the dust collection guard for my saw and that should take care of the rest. I always where a mask when cutting as well. The bonus item is the Powermatic dust collector came with a remote.






The largest amount of dust from hand tools comes from my router. This is where the Bosch vac line on the boom comes in handy. It folds up against the wall when not in use and folds out with the hose hanging down. The hose can removed from the boom at 6 different intervals to accommodate the work area. Since I use the end of my table saw as a bench, it works perfectly for the area is it in. I have attachments on my routers and sanders that connect to the hose. The hose it hooked up to a shop vac with a dust deputy collector. I added a stage 5 hepa filter to the shop vac as well. I wanted to make sure the exhaust coming out was as clean a possible. This attachment also takes care of about 90% of the dust. I will get a larger dust hood to attach to my 4 in hone to take care of the dust the router does not pick up. I will also add a remote to this tomorrow.











Last but no least, the drill press. All it takes is 10 45mm holes to create a ton of mess. All I have to do it pull the hose off the dust deputy and swing it around and connect it to the 2 1/2 hose on the drill press. It is a rigid hose that can be adjusted as the table on the drill press if needed.





90% of my dust is captured, I do not believe in those disposable dust masks. For cutting hardwood they might work but for MDF they are useless. I wear a 7000 series 3m mask with 3m 2071 filters. This is by far the most comfortable mask I have ever worn and the filters are small and light enough that they do not weight down the mask.

[Gordy]

Re: Swopes 5.0

Since I am building the TMs first. I decided to try my hand at making a crossover. I mounted the components to a 12x12 piece of finished 6mm birch from Woodcraft. The crossover will mount in each box with machine screws that are drilled from the outside and go through to the inside. This way all I have to do is put the spacers on the screws and mount the boards to the screws. This way that are removable and will be able to be tightened down so they don't move. I designed the layout in Visio 1:1 scale, taped it to the board and used a punch to mark the holes.

The crossover board size is 4" x 4-3/4"

[Paul Carmody]

Re: Swopes 5.0

Thank you very much for the photos of your dust collection swing-arm system. It's absolutely brilliant, and I NEED it in my garage yesterday.

[Gordy]

Re: Swopes 5.0

Thank you very much for the photos of your dust collection swing-arm system. It's absolutely brilliant, and I NEED it in my garage yesterday.

You are very welcome. I got to fully test it out today and it works extremely well. I routed all the speaker holes and that was a lot of dust. Between the drill press and router I filled up half of my 5 gallon bucket with none in the shopvac itself. Normally that much work would have resulted in my entire garage covered in dust but not this time.

I also picked up the remote switch for the shop vac which in and of itself a lifesaver. I keep it in the front center pocket of my apron and press the button throughout the pocket. It could not be any easier. After using the router, I think I am going to run an extension cord to the boom arm. It will further keep the clutter down.

Also, I have a question about the ports for the MTMs. I am not doing the slotted port version. Per your post on HTGuide, you stated the below could be used cut to 6 inches. Is this still a viable option or is there a better port option?

http://www.parts-express.com/speaker...lared--260-478

[Gordy]

Re: Swopes 5.0

Progress was made today. I got all of the holes routed and the recessed rabbits routed as well. All of the holes for the mounting screws were drilled ready for the EZLOC threaded inserts. The speakers will be mounted with 8-32 low-profile black allen head screws. These will give the speakers a good flushed look.

In order to get repeatable rabbits on the hole cut outs and use the same bits when I clean up the veneer, I used 2 router bits. Hole specs are below. The depth of the rabbit does take into account using the 1/8" thick gasket tape compressed to 1/16". This puts the speakers flush with the front of the baffle

	Hole Diameter	Rabbit Bit	Rabbit Depth
ND28F-6	1-11/16"*	7/16"	3/16"
M5A	4-9/16"**	1/2"	5/16"
M6A	5-15/16"	1/2"	11/32"

* PE lists the baffle cut out at 4-1/2". I tried 2 test cuts and could not get this to work. The 3rd at 4-9/16" was perfect
** 1-11/16" I used a Forstner bit for this one and it is not big enough for the tweeter to drop in. But 1-11/16" plus a 7/16" rabbit make the perfect diameter to flush the tweeter. A little clean up with a file will enlarge the hole enough for the tweeter to drop in.

For the first time, I remembered to mark lines at 45 degrees of the center of each speaker. This really helps to quickly line up and mark the mounting holes of the speakers. That way there is no eyeballing or last minute lining up to get them all the same. Whether using machine screws or wood screws I think this is a great method to get things lined up

I did not chamfer the back of the baffles. In order to have a good amount of material for the speaker to grab onto, I chose to remove this step. The frame of the speakers are also very open and there is not much interference of the baffle and the back of the speaker.

[Greggo]

Re: Swopes 5.0

Gordy,

Nice shop, brilliant swing arm, and super clean work... look forward to seeing your progress and I am sure it will turn out real nice.

[Gordy]

Re: Swopes 5.0

Progress was made but not on the assembly of boxes. I tested the crossover that I built for the first TM last night. I got 8ohms on my meter and it sounded pretty good. My 4 year old helped wire it up and is quickly learning that speakers are pretty cool. I ordered the rest of the components this morning and they should be here on Friday.

I am possibly deviating from my original plan. I think I want to do a round over (5/8") on the front vertical edges of the enclosures. The issues is I needed to find veneer that was at least 4 ft wide to wrap around the front and sides of the the MTMs. I am pretty sure I found that and will further research today.

[Gordy]

Re: Swopes 5.0

I was able to get the other crossover for the 2nd TM built tonight - sans a terminal strip. I mounted one to the bottom of the enclosure to test fit the crossover with the speaker. Since it is only 4" wide, it fits easily through the hole cut for the M5A. I also tested the EZLOC threaded inserts (These will be installed from the back) and some of my favorite machine screws; 1" 8-32 black low-profile allen head screws.

These are going to look really good and hide very well. They also fit into the indentation of each speaker where the hole for the screw is and will further give the speakers a flushed look. In order to accommodate the 8-32 screw the speaker mount hole has to be drilled out large enough where the screw has little wiggle room. This wiggle room will aid in feeding the screw into the threaded insert. To tight of a tolerance complicates things.

The crossovers are mounted to the enclosure with 1-1/4" 6-32 zinc machine screws that are inserted from the outside of the enclosure. I will use a wood plug to fill the 1/4" hole used to counter sink and hide the screws. This allows for 2 things, 1) very easy install with a few nuts and 2) it is removable and serviceable. The nuts sit on top of star washers to keep them snug and from vibrating loose. The board is raised 1/4" with 1/4" nylon spacers. This allows enough space for the wires and zip-ties on the bottom of the 6mm board.

[Eternal Student]

Re: Swopes 5.0

This has to be the best way to have a mounting platform for a crossover that can be removed and serviced later. I have subscribed to this thread and will be watching for more tricks like this!!

[Paul Carmody]

Re: Swopes 5.0

Look at Mr. Planner here: figuring out where a crossover will go BEFORE he actually puts the speaker together!

Not like me who makes a board small enough for the woofer hole, and hopes for the best (and slashes his hands up trying to screw the thing down)

[Eternal Student]

Re: Swopes 5.0

It looks like the threaded inserts were put in from the front, but would it have been better to put them in from the back to reduce the risk of them tearing out of the MDF when tightening down the woofer?

[dustinbagby]

Re: Swopes 5.0

Look at Mr. Planner here: figuring out where a crossover will go BEFORE he actually puts the speaker together!

Not like me who makes a board small enough for the woofer hole, and hopes for the best (and slashes his hands up trying to screw the thing down)

I have just gotten myself into this problem, however I needed the cabinets to take measurements. Niw to fit 10 components through a 4" hole.