And yet another Wavecor Ardent built

[bigjohn]

After opening by big mouth sooner than I probably should have, and some prodding by Benthe8track and Renron this is my Wavecor Ardent build. My original plan was to slowly buy the parts over 2-3 years and then start my build, however that all changed when I got the chance to purchase the extra set of baffles from Benthe8track and Dar47 once I got these I started to accelerate my plans but life being life the completed speakers are probably a good year out, the cabinets though I want to have complete by the end of the year. I'll try and keep this updated as I go, but I'm not as good at taking pictures as I go as I would like.

Baffles when the arrived:



One brace dry fit:



Both Braces dry fit:



Side panel, showing that I should have cut the boards at least 1/8 longer, now I have to change the top design to compensate:





In order to prepare for this build I started off by building some boxes for my parents, statement monitors with a 10'' side firing woofer as the base:

[BobEllis]

Making your build public has the bonus effect of pressuring you to keep going. Even so my builds have taken longer than expected.

I remembered someone buying those extra baffles. Might have been a bidding war if I'd been ready to start back then.

Nice to see another member joining the club, big john. How will you finish the cabinets?

[bigjohn]

Making your build public has the bonus effect of pressuring you to keep going. Even so my builds have taken longer than expected.

I remembered someone buying those extra baffles. Might have been a bidding war if I'd been ready to start back then.

Nice to see another member joining the club, big john. How will you finish the cabinets?

Making it public sure does put the pressure on, as a measure of how long it has taken me so far, I laminated the side panels almost six months ago and have just gotten back to them!

Good thing I jumped on them as quickly as I did, they were a great buy!

Right now I'm thinking I want to paint them, I'm thinking Caddy pearl white or something close to that.

[BobEllis]

I started by purchasing Baltic birch ply and bamboo lumber about a year ago. I laminated some of the bamboo in December, so you're still speedy compared to me. I had a big flurry of activity in September trying to finish what needed to be done outdoors before cold weather hit. Didn't quite get there, so finish will probably go on in the Spring. I will be listening to them by the end of the year, though.

That paint scheme sounds striking. Inspired by MEB's Isiris?

[TEK]

I started by purchasing Baltic birch ply and bamboo lumber about a year ago. I laminated some of the bamboo in December, so you're still speedy compared to me. I had a big flurry of activity in September trying to finish what needed to be done outdoors before cold weather hit. Didn't quite get there, so finish will probably go on in the Spring. I will be listening to them by the end of the year, though.

That paint scheme sounds striking. Inspired by MEB's Isiris?

I hear you Bob... ;lx
it's 10th of november today. End of year is in 50 days and counting... opcorn::eating:
http://www.timeanddate.com/counters/multicountdown.

[JonMarsh]

Well, as all of you know, one of my favorite sayings (from a top engineer in Munich, unfortunately passed away just after he retired in the early 2000's)

Slow work takes time

I've got projects started and still waiting for time to complete- you'll get there, a step at a time, and it will be worth it. :B

[BobEllis]

Good to see you come up for air, if only briefly, Jon. Hope your work schedule calms down a bit soon.

[dar47]

Hey, Jim good start we all have a easy time suggesting others find time and funds but it's not so easy when the shoe is on the other foot, haha.

[JonMarsh]

Well, the thing really sucking all the oxygen out this month is moving out of my old place, which I've been in 22-23 years. That's coming along, but I have at least two weekends, and a few days on Thanksgiving week to do.

nice thing at work now, is that the Class D SMPS is now number one priority, and a German engineer I've worked with frequently in the past who lives over here and now is a naturalized citizen as of a few months ago, will be able to work with me on this part time- they're just starting to get someone trained to take over his existing role in the DC-DC team, and I don't think his management realizes how steep the learning curve is going to be for the new guy. I expect Jens to get called back in a few times to coach the new guy with some of the challenges (highly detailed simulation models of VRD systems for new generation Intel systems, working directly with Intel).

[Renron]

Big John,
Your shop looks a lot like my garage, a controlled chaos! Hah. It gets real messy, having to step over things then it gets cleaned up and dusted out. Fresh start and all.

Very nice job on your router table. They are a pleasure to work with compared to just having a hand held router. I built mine from a 1950s Formica kitchen table, remember the ones with the metal legs? Top worked perfect for that, still flat as a pancake after all these years. They don't build stuff like that anymore.
We want more pictures!!! Keeps you progressing too.
Ron

[JonMarsh]

Looking pretty good there, BigJohn- I'm tryin to sort out my woring spaces at this time, but I really understand what it's like when you're working with tight space and trying to do a lot. Working on updating my man-cave work space and setting up something in the new storage sheet/barn.

As Ron says, keep the pictures coming!

[bigjohn]

I started by purchasing Baltic birch ply and bamboo lumber about a year ago. I laminated some of the bamboo in December, so you're still speedy compared to me. I had a big flurry of activity in September trying to finish what needed to be done outdoors before cold weather hit. Didn't quite get there, so finish will probably go on in the Spring. I will be listening to them by the end of the year, though.

That paint scheme sounds striking. Inspired by MEB's Isiris?

For me its going to be a big hurry up to get the cabinets done and wait for money to get all of the drivers. MEB's build is partly to blame, I've been doing all my speakers in white for awhile but when I saw a pool table in pearl white that made my decision for me.

[bigjohn]

Big John,
Your shop looks a lot like my garage, a controlled chaos! Hah. It gets real messy, having to step over things then it gets cleaned up and dusted out. Fresh start and all.

Very nice job on your router table. They are a pleasure to work with compared to just having a hand held router. I built mine from a 1950s Formica kitchen table, remember the ones with the metal legs? Top worked perfect for that, still flat as a pancake after all these years. They don't build stuff like that anymore.
We want more pictures!!! Keeps you progressing too.
Ron

Looking pretty good there, BigJohn- I'm tryin to sort out my woring spaces at this time, but I really understand what it's like when you're working with tight space and trying to do a lot. Working on updating my man-cave work space and setting up something in the new storage sheet/barn.

As Ron says, keep the pictures coming!

I try and keep it clean, but every time I get it clean I turn around and its back to a huge mess, my next project after I get the cabinets finished is to give the shop a through cleaning and rebuild my workbench with lots of drawers to hide stuff so hopefully it'll stay a little cleaner.

I can't take any credit for the router table, its actually a rockler top with just some 4x4 legs, when I get a real shop built I plan on making a nice big router and table saw table but for now I'm space constrained

[bigjohn]

I pretty sure I buggered something up, but not sure how to fix it, I think I cut both the half laps per the drawing 3/4 wide, 1/2 deep but they don't see to join very well, can anyone tell me what I should have done?



Other then that I've made some progress:

[dar47]

The half lap should be the thickness of your MDF, no biggy if the gap is consistent just rip a piece of MDF to fill the gap or taper a piece to glue in there. One of those no one will ever see.:W

[Renron]

2 ways to move ahead as I see it. One is like Dar47 suggestion, but I would rip an extra 1/4" off of each side of the MDF and slip a 2" wide MDF on edge glued it in that slot.
Second way is to fill it with a construction adhesive like PL400 or Liquid nails then glue a small strip of MDF over the top of the construction adhesive.
Any of the 3 ways would be more than strong enough. Like Dar said " no one will ever see it".
Ron

I meant no offense by the comment on the organization of your shop. It really does look just like mine most of the time.

[BobEllis]

You could also fill the gap with thickened epoxy. Mix it up and add sawdust until it's putty like and you'll have a strong joint. Not cheap unless you already have the epoxy. though. :roll:

[Renron]

Bob's callsign was "Epoxy Ellis". ;D

[bigjohn]

The half lap should be the thickness of your MDF, no biggy if the gap is consistent just rip a piece of MDF to fill the gap or taper a piece to glue in there. One of those no one will ever see.:W

Ah, thats where I messed up ops:, good thing I'm only building one at a time.

2 ways to move ahead as I see it. One is like Dar47 suggestion, but I would rip an extra 1/4" off of each side of the MDF and slip a 2" wide MDF on edge glued it in that slot.
Second way is to fill it with a construction adhesive like PL400 or Liquid nails then glue a small strip of MDF over the top of the construction adhesive.
Any of the 3 ways would be more than strong enough. Like Dar said " no one will ever see it".
Ron

I meant no offense by the comment on the organization of your shop. It really does look just like mine most of the time.

No offense at all, my response about the shop sounded much more tongue in cheek in my head that it does re-reading it.

You could also fill the gap with thickened epoxy. Mix it up and add sawdust until it's putty like and you'll have a strong joint. Not cheap unless you already have the epoxy. though. :roll:

I appreciate all of the advice, thank you. While i do plan on getting some epoxy to coat the outside it's a little pricey for this, right now i think my plan is to do either the PL and a strip of wood or wood glue and sawdust and a strip wood, my plan is glue the boxes up it 2 stages, the first stage will leave off the top and the divider so I will have room to come in after and get the the gap fully filled.

My first dry fit with the baffle, looking good so far: