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

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#1,001
monsterthompson said:
If the delivery dates and communication issues have taken them off the table as authorized, then yes, I want an authorized builder. If I pay for custom work, then I want someone who can deliver and/or communicate, partiularly since I'm on the other side of the country and AoN asks for 1/2 the cash up-front.

Super-light is what I want, but not at the cost of supporting businesses that are difficult to deal with. Particularly when there are local builders who have good reputations. I'm willing to pay the price of a few lbs.
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Mike Arnopol is now an authorized builder and, unless I missed something, he will be building composite cabs.
 
#1,004
I am an authorized builder and my current lead time for composites is 2 to 3 weeks on my itsy-bitsy cab. Larger Fearfuls are 4 weeks. No sweat for a 15/6. I have to be honest here--I have gone majorly OCD as far as forseeing potential problems with composite construction---I have some structural improvements that I feel are a big improvement over what the aforementioned builder was doing. I DO meet my delivery promises and spend wayyy too much of my time communicating with customers. I'm also doing composite builds for another top designer and he is very happy.
 
#1,005
The thing that really interests me about composites is the possibility of the rigidity and damping of the panels improving your tone. I know that's theoretically possible. Composite weight is easy to achieve with 3/8" light plywood, but requires designing around 3/8". But getting the panels as stiff is tough, and I believe there are some different qualities that are not just due to rigidity - something to do with the composite surface.
 
#1,006
Mike Arnopol said:
I am an authorized builder and my current lead time for composites is 2 to 3 weeks on my itsy-bitsy cab. Larger Fearfuls are 4 weeks. No sweat for a 15/6. I have to be honest here--I have gone majorly OCD as far as forseeing potential problems with composite construction---I have some structural improvements that I feel are a big improvement over what the aforementioned builder was doing. I DO meet my delivery promises and spend wayyy too much of my time communicating with customers. I'm also doing composite builds for another top designer and he is very happy.
Click to expand...

Mike, the fEARful website doesn't have links to any web info on you yet. can you post or pm your cost and weight on a 15/6, along with any pics of finished builds?
 
#1,007
Composite construction can be much lighter if done right. I'm not saying that these composite builders are doing the wrong thing but there a definitely different ways of doing composite construction. There are plenty of different types of foam available other than your typical blue or pink found at home depot I have quite a bit of experience with this as i was a builder of remote control thermal duration composite sailplanes, at the time i was doing this my planes were made with wings of spider foam with various types of carbon and glass of different weights. for example my sailplane design. had a wingspan of 114" and had a full up flying weight of 52 ounces at a time where my closest competitor had a all up weight of 80 plus ounces. this can easily be done in the same respect with bass cabinets. The key here is not overloading with epoxy the dryer it is the stronger it is and also the inside of these cabinets don't need to have a heavy amount of fiberglass( in reality none at all) the majority of the glass should be on the exterior.and your typical heavyweight glass is the last I would use. i would vary the glass layers using S glass which is a very strong glass along with using spyder foam, (spyder foam is dirrectional) has more strength one way than the other. I just finished playing around with this process on a small cabinet 17"tall 15"wide and 12" deep( just playing around mind you) for a single 12 speaker cab.after all said and done cab finished weight empty is 2lbs 1.6 ounces.and I weight 260lbs and i can stand on it.i wouldn't jump on it but withe the weight of a 3012Ho horn and crossover this cab would hit about 16 to 18 pounds total. I also used a dye sprayed on the foam before doing the fiberglass. so no finish was needed on the exterior it basically is a dark grayish black finish.I cannot post pics due to my personal r&d on this layup method. I am also looking into the development of a molding process to make cabinets of similar layups the best part of this is the finish when done is nice and glossy and can be achieved with two piece molding process.This picture i am including is the RC sailplane I speak of the wing bottoms are dyed orange with an s glass carbon layup and vacuum bagged the fuselage was molded from a plug part I made from poplar. this was also prepainted in the molding process with white gel coat.
 
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