I'm back...
Cab is really starting to come together now after a productive weekend's worth of work.
Started by sanding down any high spots of epoxy/rogue fiberglass strands with 80 grit. This was easier than expected and left very little sanded glass, little enough for me not to sweat it.
Sanded seam
Sanded corner
Sanded front edge
Then onto the fairing. I used a mix of epoxy/micro/cabosil that was close to icing/peanut butter consistency with only a bit of cabosil. The thought being that I wanted it to be as self-leveling as possible, but once it sets up not to run when I had to turn the box to move on to the next side. The compound (or at least how I had it) only like to be spread over a few times, after that it started to lift a bit. I used a large plastic wallpaper smoothing tool to spread it so that I could cover a side in two spreads (long wise). What little signs of seams are nearly gone now, too.
After the first coat
In between one of the fairings, I spent more time than I'd like to admit at the nearby Ace collecting $20+ worth of weird hardware. BUT, finally decided how it's all going together and this is how:
For the baffle, I'm using a #6 bolt w/ a nylon spacer between and either a nylon safety nut or lock washer. I've seen on some AoN composite cabs that he would fix the bolt to the baffle. I liked the idea so that's how I'm doing it, I'm pretty sure. Hmm, now that I think about it again, maybe I'll do a t-nut on the inside still and just use a lock washer to keep it tight.
Either way, the spacers work great. I drilled the hole, cut the foam back and shoved the spacer it. There were only a couple that weren't perfectly aligned, so I shoved foam "dust" in until they were.
Then, I glued them into place.
For the ports, I went light-weight with nylon bolts and threaded spacer:
Because they weren't just spacers and the holes in the ports were smaller (so little tolerence), when I glued the threaded spacers into place, I did so with the ports attached:
I forgot to sand and roughen them so they stuck to the epoxy better. I'm a little worried they'll come loose over time, but not too much. I think once I get it tuned right, I'll almost never pull the bolts.
For the jack plate, I was going to also go all nylon, but then imagined pulling the speakon out 100+ times and decided to do it more like the speaker hardware:
That's a #6 bolt with a nylon space (non-threaded and big enough to fit around the t-nut) into a t-nut. I drilled a hole to match the #6 bolt on the outside and one to match a #10 (spacer size) on the inside and "cored" out the foam. This way the FG acts as a washer on the outside.
Mock mounted:
Finally, I glassed up some bracing. I used 3" 8.1 oz e-glass tape that I had bought when considering to use it for glassing the joints. I used the tape only because I had it -- wouldn't have bought it just for this, but it works. It is nice to work with because the edges don't fray and being heavier, the weave doesn't distort as easily. The trade off is you need more epoxy/it's harder to wet out.
So I pulled out a piece of 1/2" foam I had left over from early testing. Probably another thing if I didn't have it, wouldn't have bought and just gone with 1". However, the 1/2" obviously takes up less internal volume. Also, because they will be glued with the glass perpendicular to the supported side, the thickness doesn't help much (unlike when bending "out-of-plane" like the sides).
I marked where they'd be glassed on both sides and preped two sheets of melamine (still reusing the original ones). I glassed one side (with a bit of cabo) and flipped it over onto the first sheet. Then glassed the second and put the second sheet onto. I think this method could be used to speed some of the glassing up, so that's why I wanted to try it.
I've got nearly all remaining stuff coming on Tuesday (including Tolex and grill cloth!
). Hmm, forgot the baffle carpet though... Can that be found at a fabric/hardware store?
Cab is really starting to come together now after a productive weekend's worth of work.
Started by sanding down any high spots of epoxy/rogue fiberglass strands with 80 grit. This was easier than expected and left very little sanded glass, little enough for me not to sweat it.
Sanded seam
Sanded corner
Sanded front edge
Then onto the fairing. I used a mix of epoxy/micro/cabosil that was close to icing/peanut butter consistency with only a bit of cabosil. The thought being that I wanted it to be as self-leveling as possible, but once it sets up not to run when I had to turn the box to move on to the next side. The compound (or at least how I had it) only like to be spread over a few times, after that it started to lift a bit. I used a large plastic wallpaper smoothing tool to spread it so that I could cover a side in two spreads (long wise). What little signs of seams are nearly gone now, too.
After the first coat
In between one of the fairings, I spent more time than I'd like to admit at the nearby Ace collecting $20+ worth of weird hardware. BUT, finally decided how it's all going together and this is how:
For the baffle, I'm using a #6 bolt w/ a nylon spacer between and either a nylon safety nut or lock washer. I've seen on some AoN composite cabs that he would fix the bolt to the baffle. I liked the idea so that's how I'm doing it, I'm pretty sure. Hmm, now that I think about it again, maybe I'll do a t-nut on the inside still and just use a lock washer to keep it tight.
Either way, the spacers work great. I drilled the hole, cut the foam back and shoved the spacer it. There were only a couple that weren't perfectly aligned, so I shoved foam "dust" in until they were.
Then, I glued them into place.
For the ports, I went light-weight with nylon bolts and threaded spacer:
Because they weren't just spacers and the holes in the ports were smaller (so little tolerence), when I glued the threaded spacers into place, I did so with the ports attached:
I forgot to sand and roughen them so they stuck to the epoxy better. I'm a little worried they'll come loose over time, but not too much. I think once I get it tuned right, I'll almost never pull the bolts.
For the jack plate, I was going to also go all nylon, but then imagined pulling the speakon out 100+ times and decided to do it more like the speaker hardware:
That's a #6 bolt with a nylon space (non-threaded and big enough to fit around the t-nut) into a t-nut. I drilled a hole to match the #6 bolt on the outside and one to match a #10 (spacer size) on the inside and "cored" out the foam. This way the FG acts as a washer on the outside.
Mock mounted:
Finally, I glassed up some bracing. I used 3" 8.1 oz e-glass tape that I had bought when considering to use it for glassing the joints. I used the tape only because I had it -- wouldn't have bought it just for this, but it works. It is nice to work with because the edges don't fray and being heavier, the weave doesn't distort as easily. The trade off is you need more epoxy/it's harder to wet out.
So I pulled out a piece of 1/2" foam I had left over from early testing. Probably another thing if I didn't have it, wouldn't have bought and just gone with 1". However, the 1/2" obviously takes up less internal volume. Also, because they will be glued with the glass perpendicular to the supported side, the thickness doesn't help much (unlike when bending "out-of-plane" like the sides).
I marked where they'd be glassed on both sides and preped two sheets of melamine (still reusing the original ones). I glassed one side (with a bit of cabo) and flipped it over onto the first sheet. Then glassed the second and put the second sheet onto. I think this method could be used to speed some of the glassing up, so that's why I wanted to try it.
I've got nearly all remaining stuff coming on Tuesday (including Tolex and grill cloth!
). Hmm, forgot the baffle carpet though... Can that be found at a fabric/hardware store?
Also, I didn't order any piping, but it looks so good on your new Fearful, that I might still do it. If I do, I should figure it out soon to allow some room, maybe 1/8" narrower dimensions for the grill, yes?
. Grille cloth, is typically about 1/16" thick, then add the thickness of the lip on the piping(which can vary typically depending on the size of the bead, larger bead ='s thicker lip). On the piping that I typically use the lip is around 1/16". Overal adding 1/4" to the total size of the grille.
)
