fEARful part 13: the bad luck's done, son

[singlemalt]

Quote away, I can't say enough good things about the 12/6 cube.

I'm building a second 15/6/1 at the moment, my third fEarful build and it's cool to see where the time and money goes. the take away lesson is: follow the plans, improvising will cost you down the road.

For instance the plywood: First build of a 15/6/1, I used some shop grade 3/4 ply. I had it sitting in the shop from another project. The cab weighs 65 lb. I will know exactly how much extra weigh I added once the new cab is done, but I'm guessing 15 lb. The thing that sucks about it: the total plywood cost for a Baltic birch 1/2" 15/6 turns out to be less than $40.

The killer design costs you exactly: nothing! ( throwing $20 Greenboy's way is good Karma. You can do it by Paypal)

The rest of the non negotiable costs are by and large the high performance drivers and the custom designed crossover.

The big variations depend on how far you go with hardware, finish and grills.

There's no flab in these plans.

 

[smeet]

I used mostly hand tools to build mine (didn't even use clamps). The only concessions were an electric drill and later a jigsaw. I bought the jigsaw for doing the driver cutouts in the baffle. It's been handy for a few other home projects since then, too.

OK, I'm intrigued by this. I really want to build one myself from scratch instead of a kit, but I am a complete woodworking beginner. Using hand tools, how did you make all the perfect straight 90 degree cuts you need for this? How did you cut the circles in the baffle cleanly? I assume you can't just eyeball that stuff.

I'm afraid I'll end up with $40 of baltic birch scrap, because my cuts will be inaccurate. But going with the kit feels like a cop-out...

 

[JdoubleH]

In my eyes, greenboy deserves high praise for his accomplishments and his commitment to supporting his designs in this community. I make the statement below in response to the negative attitude I've found in a few threads floating around TB regarding GB's accomplisments and the value of his designs.

Note: I have no affiliation with greenboy other than a keen interest in his work and sincere admiration for what he has done. At present, I am not even a user of one of his designs, but as a hard-core DIYer and bass player in need of a better cabinet, it is very likely that I will in the very near future.

For those who just don’t get the whole greenboy fEARful thing, here it is in a non-technical nutshell: He painstakingly designed several first rate full range bass speaker systems with some of the best widely available components available and shared the designs freely with anyone interested. These systems handle tremendous power, go deep and play clean and clear for all to hear. The systems rival the performance of the best commercially produced bass cabinets available. The cabinets are exceptionally well designed for acoustic performance, ergonomics, modularity, ease of construction, and to be reasonably light weight. The net result are systems that provide predictable and reliable performance in the widest variety of venues possible. Further demonstrating his generosity, he stood up a website and user forum in order to support the users of his designs – all still free. For those who do not have the desire or the ability to build one of these designs, he has also assembled a network of reliable authorized builders who will sell you a completed cabinet for a resonable fee.

Despite greenboy’s selfless commitment to his user base (both DIY and authorized builder customers), some in this community have seen fit to try to denigrate his work for various reasons which appear to range from ignorance to elitism. Others have seen fit to lift his designs and profit from them, denying him any due. Worse, several marketers of products which clearly owe their existence to greenboy’s work take liberties with the designs and quality or placement of components, and then without making any effort to distinguish the differences, market them as equivalent to unsuspecting less technically savvy customers.

Sure, DIY is not for everybody, and neither are fEARfuls – builder produced or not. But the only folks I could reasonably see taking issue with the fEARful concept are those representing companies which seek to market mediocre products at high prices with false claims as to their performance. For those end users who are somehow threatened by the concept of a DIY community producing something of value, or even just high quality bass cabinets being available at a nominal entry fee to anyone willing to do a little manual labor, I suspect they are probably just elitist snobs who enjoy talking about their gear more than using it.

 

[singlemalt]

No good deed goes unpunished.

 

[rpsands]

OK, I'm intrigued by this. I really want to build one myself from scratch instead of a kit, but I am a complete woodworking beginner. Using hand tools, how did you make all the perfect straight 90 degree cuts you need for this? How did you cut the circles in the baffle cleanly? I assume you can't just eyeball that stuff.

I'm afraid I'll end up with $40 of baltic birch scrap, because my cuts will be inaccurate. But going with the kit feels like a cop-out...

Get the guys at Home Depot to do all the rips for you. If you ask them nicely they will get to 1/16" tolerances for you.

Lots of lumber yards will do the cuts for a token fee too.

At home, use a T-square and clamps.

 

[jeff5311]

Correction, it distorts in the mids, at 8 or 4 ohms.

AH HA! Thanks BurningSkies... that's exactly what I'm hearing. The MarkBass F1 / F500 mids are distorting when the pre-amp gain is set at more than 1/4 of it's total.

Is there another micro that y'all would suggest I use to drive my 15/6/1 or 12/6/1 cube?

Or... should I just suck it up and get a power amp (and a separate preamp)?

 

[Oobly]

OK, I'm intrigued by this. I really want to build one myself from scratch instead of a kit, but I am a complete woodworking beginner. Using hand tools, how did you make all the perfect straight 90 degree cuts you need for this? How did you cut the circles in the baffle cleanly? I assume you can't just eyeball that stuff.

I'm afraid I'll end up with $40 of baltic birch scrap, because my cuts will be inaccurate. But going with the kit feels like a cop-out...

A big ol' wood saw (ripsaw or jacksaw) keeps the lines pretty straight if you start the cut nicely. I just marked the wood in pencil with a 90 degree set square and metal ruler, put it on a table and cut it. I did a few cuts later with the electric jigsaw and it was a lot harder to keep it straight. The PL premium glue used for fEARful builds is great! It allows you some leeway with inaccurate cuts (since it expands to fill gaps).

The driver cutouts also don't have to be perfect as long as the driver can fit in, there is still space for the mounting holes and the gasket on the back can still make a good seal. I used a nail set in the centre point and a piece of string tied around a pencil to mark the circles for the driver holes. You can always use a wood file / rasp to adjust the edges a bit. I used a rasp to round the edges of the cabinet, too.

As far as not using clamps go, JdoubleH has a great technique for that. Use a hand drill and a finishing nail with the head cut off to "drill" holes where you will use the nails later to hold each edge together. Then when you hit the nails in later (with the glue on already), the existing holes line up the panels. Just set them in a little more than flush and hey presto.

I did it without the predrilled holes and it was a pain to line the panels up and whack the nails in straight.

 

[smeet]

Get the guys at Home Depot to do all the rips for you. If you ask them nicely they will get to 1/16" tolerances for you.

Lots of lumber yards will do the cuts for a token fee too.

At home, use a T-square and clamps.

A big ol' wood saw (ripsaw or jacksaw) keeps the lines pretty straight if you start the cut nicely. I just marked the wood in pencil with a 90 degree set square and metal ruler, put it on a table and cut it. I did a few cuts later with the electric jigsaw and it was a lot harder to keep it straight. The PL premium glue used for fEARful builds is great! It allows you some leeway with inaccurate cuts (since it expands to fill gaps).

The driver cutouts also don't have to be perfect as long as the driver can fit in, there is still space for the mounting holes and the gasket on the back can still make a good seal. I used a nail set in the centre point and a piece of string tied around a pencil to mark the circles for the driver holes. You can always use a wood file / rasp to adjust the edges a bit. I used a rasp to round the edges of the cabinet, too.

As far as not using clamps go, JdoubleH has a great technique for that. Use a hand drill and a finishing nail with the head cut off to "drill" holes where you will use the nails later to hold each edge together. Then when you hit the nails in later (with the glue on already), the existing holes line up the panels. Just set them in a little more than flush and hey presto.

I did it without the predrilled holes and it was a pain to line the panels up and whack the nails in straight.

Thanks for the tips guys. I'm going to do it, I just don't have much confidence in my woodworking skills.

On another note, all the prices I see for the 3015LF are well above $300. But then I see this on ebay:
EMINENCE KAPPALITE 3015LF 15" 381mm Neodymium Subwoofer 900W 8 Ohms Bass Speaker | eBay

For $205. Is that legit? Is it even the same model? I'm a bit suspicious, is the price too good to be true?

 

[JGR]

It's legit. I got a pair from them a couple of weeks ago. Factory sealed.

Speakerhardware also has them back in stock for a bit more, but still at good price and less than most places.

 

[singlemalt]

Yeah, dig around you'll find deals. I bought a number of drivers off TB from guys who thought they would do a build and moved on to other things.

There were a bunch of 18sound 6nd410's that went at auction for $150 a PAIR, there might be some of those floating around.

A couple clamps and the factory edge of your plywood will make a guide that will get you straight cuts. As with anything, practice on some scrap first.

Doesn't everybody know somebody who likes to build stuff out of wood and drinks beer?

 

[rpsands]

If you're going to do the cuts yourself, buying a 4x8 sheet of MDF or OSB can be a good investment. Good practice doing circles, straight cuts, etc.

 

[EvilTwin126]

I am heading to Menard's this Friday (11/4) to pick up the wood to start my 15/6!! I can't wait. I've only been playing bass for about a year and a half and I've been playing through an old Peavey combo that "crackles" any time I try to adjust any of the knobs. I picked up a Hartke HA3500 on a KILLER deal this weekend and hope to have my 15/6 done within the next month (depends on funds for my drivers). If anyone has one of the 6" drivers that they aren't using PLEASE let me know as that seems to be the hardest part for me to track down so far!!

 

[Oobly]

I am heading to Menard's this Friday (11/4) to pick up the wood to start my 15/6!! I can't wait. I've only been playing bass for about a year and a half and I've been playing through an old Peavey combo that "crackles" any time I try to adjust any of the knobs. I picked up a Hartke HA3500 on a KILLER deal this weekend and hope to have my 15/6 done within the next month (depends on funds for my drivers). If anyone has one of the 6" drivers that they aren't using PLEASE let me know as that seems to be the hardest part for me to track down so far!!

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Just add it to the cart to see the actual price.

 

[1n3]

In my eyes, greenboy deserves high praise for his accomplishments and his commitment to supporting his designs in this community. I make the statement below in response to the negative attitude I've found in a few threads floating around TB regarding GB's accomplisments and the value of his designs. ...

Well said.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Indeed. It was a lot of work, and the ongoing DIY support is impressive. But to date, it seems Greenboy's reward has mostly been headaches. Which is why it bothers me to see the subtle diminishment that comes regularly from a few here. I think that in time, the quality of his work will be more widely recognized.

 

[rad bassman]

anyone who uses a fEARful knows what its all about, there is no getting around it, a fEARful is 1 hell of a cab, and is very difficult to better IMO, Greenboy has made 1 hell of a contribution to the DIY community, more than that tho, he then gets the fEARful website and forum up and running to further support the fEARful community, its only recently become a concern that people can show appreciation by contributing a token amount of cash to which in the great scheme probably only barely covers the cost of web hosting, (not alot more)

Any1 that wishes to put down his achievements should take a long hard look at themselves and ask "what have i contributed to the bass cab world?" and shut the hell up!

I've said it before on completion of my fEARful rig, but i say it again A BIG THANKYOU TO GREENBOY FOR HIS GREAT CAB DESIGNS. respect

 

[smeet]

If you're going to do the cuts yourself, buying a 4x8 sheet of MDF or OSB can be a good investment. Good practice doing circles, straight cuts, etc.

Good idea, I definitely need the practice.

I just got a Skil plunge router as a gift. I've never used a router so I'm a bit nervous. For the circles in the baffle, should I make a jig out of scrap wood, or buy a calibrated circle jig for $30-$40?

Oh, and I'll chime in and applaud Greenboy for everything he has done to help and educate all the players and builders out there. I haven't seen the denigrating that people mention, but I can't see a reason why anybody would attack him or what he is doing.

 

[singlemalt]

That's the way to go, make a simple trammel jig out of scrap and stick it on the base of your router, of if you want to get a little fancy, make a teardrop shaped base for the router.

This one cost about a dollar, out of scrap 1/4" plexi. Mounted on a super cheap, garage sale plastic router. That's an old drawer pull for a handle on the thin end.

Measure from the outside of your straight cutting bit to a point on the baseplate, the diameter of the circle. Drill a hole in the plate, screw the base down on your center point. Route away on some scrap taking shallow passes each time (maybe an 1/8"). try not to cut all the way through unless you have the waste piece stuck firmly to the scrap below (That protects your table top). A loose waste piece can bind up the router if it slips: very unpleasant!)

The picture on the right shows a bottom bearing router bit for flush trimming. This will trim up any over hangs on your cab. The teardrop base helps here by making the router much less tippy when edge trimming. I use three router bits for the fEarful cabs: a 1/4" straight cut for baffle holes, the straight flush trim for evening all the edges up after glue, and a 3/8" radius roundover to round all the edges, it works pretty good with the stacking corners.

Test your perfectly round holes with the drivers, if everything is good move on to the actual baffle cuts. I still can't cut a round hole with a jig saw, it just never works out for me.

Making jigs and doing test pieces is good practice

 

[ZombiCrow]

Hope this isn't a subject that's been beaten to death... What would the equivalent setup be in fEARfuls for similar feel in lows/power, etc, to an NV610 and NV215 dual-mono (two amps) rig?

My first inclination was dual 15/6(/1?) cabs, but steer me in the right direction, and I intend to join the ranks of fEARful users!

 

[Foz]

Do a 1515/66+1... you'll never look back.

 

[JGR]

Hope this isn't a subject that's been beaten to death... What would the equivalent setup be in fEARfuls for similar feel in lows/power, etc, to an NV610 and NV215 dual-mono (two amps) rig?

My first inclination was dual 15/6(/1?) cabs, but steer me in the right direction, and I intend to join the ranks of fEARful users!

I have all three of the NV's and I do like to run two cabs at once; I am currently building two 15/6s and I am betting they will deliver the goods with some power behind them.