Minerva Monitor: "Patience my ass, I'm going to go build something!"

[Steve Manning]

New Toy .....

Got a new toy today ...... I ordered a new scraper, I know big whup !!! In this case yes, especially if it makes your life easier. I already had a small version that has been very helpful and the new big brother is even more so.

They are Swiss made products, the company is Bahco. The smaller in the foreground (the old one) takes various shaped blades all of which are carbide, so they stay sharp for a good while. The best deal was the new guy was only $20.





After a few minutes of work and you can see the results ...... this is the second cabinet by the way.

[JonMarsh]

Looking good, Steve! Nothing like having cool new tools!

I'm stuck in LA due to United not being able to get us pilots until about 2-1/2 hours after we were already supposed to leave SFO, so I missed the connecting flight to Munich. Shades of the trip to Buenos Aires and my last one to Austria!

But I'll be flying out tomorrow at the scheduled time unless something else goes wrong. But since it's up to Lufthansa, not United, I have more confidence.

[Steve Manning]

Looking good, Steve! Nothing like having cool new tools!

I'm stuck in LA due to United not being able to get us pilots until about 2-1/2 hours after we were already supposed to leave SFO, so I missed the connecting flight to Munich. Shades of the trip to Buenos Aires and my last one to Austria!

But I'll be flying out tomorrow at the scheduled time unless something else goes wrong. But since it's up to Lufthansa, not United, I have more confidence.

That sucks ...... I find there's nothing more fun than waiting around in a airport after "they" have made you miss your connecting flight. :x

[Alaric]

It scares the crap out of me that idiots who can't handle scheduling and paperwork are in charge of putting me in a metal tube@30,000 ft. ,traveling several hundred miles per hour , and then dropping it out of the sky in the right spot , gently , after traversing half the planet.

[ergo]

Glue-up process started ...

Will continue tomorrow with all the top and bottom layers. Or then all of the panels. Will decide in the morning....
This stuff does slowly creep out between the cracks, so leaving the inner front and back panels for later might mean lots of scratching to get the grooves clear again to slide in the panels. As there are lots of pieces I would need to be quite quick about it I guess if I do attempt to do them all at once.

Anyhow - there is an old Estonian saying that "Morning is smarter than evening" - so I'll follow that guidance of the elders.

[Steve Manning]

And so your fun begins ...... I'm in the process of gluing up cabinet 3 at the moment, taking a cure time break. I'm finding that I can't glue as many layers as I would like, due to having to get all the dowels to line up, slide the pieces together, etc. before the glue starts setting up. With your cabinet being a different design now, it will be interesting to see how yours goes together. Looking good so far.

[JonMarsh]

Looking good, guys!

Hey, that Estonian saying must be one of my favorites, especially as I get more "mature"!
I usually do my best work in the AM, sometimes very early AM! But today I actually got some good modeling and simulation work done in the airport- but then I'm a lot more relaxed checked in, through security, and hanging out in the Lufthansa gate, which today is almost right next door to a very full service Starbucks (beer and wine in addition to sandwiches and coffee).

Anyway, proof of concept stuff done for Isis LF mod, for mid bass using S280-6-282, and combing the S280 with the NS12's given the enclosure simulation and passive + active crossovers. All done in VituixCAD. Getting the hang of some user interface features and probably found a possible bug to report when combining active and passive crossovers- will need to recheck the manual before jumping to conclusions. I am liking the program more and more.

[5th element]

It scares the crap out of me that idiots who can't handle scheduling and paperwork are in charge of putting me in a metal tube@30,000 ft. ,traveling several hundred miles per hour , and then dropping it out of the sky in the right spot , gently , after traversing half the planet.

Off topic but I think the fact they can't handle scheduling and paperwork are the reasons why it's safe to fly in that metal tube at 30,000ft! Their time is spent on the things that really matter. Well at least that would be my excuse, I'd be putting all my time into making the right stuff work!

[ergo]

I went for 2 step process. 1st the top/bottom layers and then all the rest. Box 1 is now 'under pressure' and Box 2 will follow late today or tomorrow.
After that I'll of course see how much sanding is needed and I can also take measurements for cutting the outer front and back panels.

[JonMarsh]

Some nice looking progress there, Ergo! :T

I'm going to have to get cracking when I get back to home in two weeks and make some progress on the 2nd stage table saw prototypes.

[Steve Manning]

Work Bench Load Test ......

Figured I'd give the work bench a little workout ...... all four cabinets are now glued up.

[JonMarsh]

Looking good Steve- how much do you think this part of the cabinet weighs?

[Steve Manning]

Looking good Steve- how much do you think this part of the cabinet weighs?

My guess is 50 - 55 lbs ..... a quick crunch of the volume says they should be a bit over 56 lbs.

[Steve Manning]

New Router Bit

Well the new chamfer bit from Whiteside arrived ....... big difference in performance over the other one.


Did a nice job with filling the dust collector bin, which is 17 gallons in size. This is all from the chamfers.



Nice large chips indicating a sharp bit.



All sides ready to go as far as machining at this point.



A better feel for what it will look like on the cabinets.





Jon ...FYI, these will add another 30 lbs (per pair) to the cabinet weight, so we're at ~85 lbs at this point.

[sdl2112]

Looking good Steve...lots of progress. Did you do the chamfers on the router table?

[Steve Manning]

Looking good Steve...lots of progress. Did you do the chamfers on the router table?

Thanks Scott ..... yep used the router table, a little easier to control things and not have to mess with clamps. Even though I could have used the additional power of my plunge router, things worked out o.k.

[Horio]

Nice looking Roubo style bench Steve. What do you think of that benchcrafted tail vise?

[Steve Manning]

Nice looking Roubo style bench Steve. What do you think of that benchcrafted tail vise?

Thanks Horio ..... Love the tail vise comes in very handy. I also did my own version of their leg vise (the one that was available at the time) for a lot less than Benchcrafted was selling theirs.

[Horio]

I'm currently building a Paulk style bench (the stowability was a big plus due to limited work space), but a Roubo is on my list for down the road.

[JonMarsh]

Well the new chamfer bit from Whiteside arrived ....... big difference in performance over the other one.


Did a nice job with filling the dust collector bin, which is 17 gallons in size. This is all from the chamfers.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]25379[/ATTACH]

Nice large chips indicating a sharp bit.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]25380[/ATTACH]

All sides ready to go as far as machining at this point.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]25381[/ATTACH]

A better feel for what it will look like on the cabinets.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]25383[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]25382[/ATTACH]

Jon ...FYI, these will add another 30 lbs (per pair) to the cabinet weight, so we're at ~85 lbs at this point.

85 lb.? Mmm, manly! That's closing in on the weight of an empty Ardent cabinet! What do you think the stands will come in at?

Don't you just love Whiteside router bits? I miss having a local Woodcraft store where you could just walk in on a Saturday afternoon and buy stuff like that, since the one in Dublin CA shutdown. We do have a Rockler store, but they moved a little farther away last year.

[BobEllis]

My Ardent Cabinets are only 80 pounds with bases. I know I cut a bit more out of the bracing than you specified, but only a pound or two and my front panels were 4 layers of bamboo. Got Isiris and Tesseracts on the brain?

[JonMarsh]

Probably. Actually, probably thinking about the weight of an Ardent loaded with drivers and crossovers.

But I did move around the Isiris modules and bass cabinets last week, which reminded me of how much I like the size and weight of the Ardents!

[Steve Manning]

These will loose a little weight once I cut the driver holes, but they will still be stout .......... Imagine doing the Ardents in translam 8O

[JonMarsh]

These will loose a little weight once I cut the driver holes, but they will still be stout .......... Imagine doing the Ardents in translam 8O

Well, something akin to that will be featured in the "Munich Report". Said report may be delayed a bit, I am making it back on time, but the last two days didn't go anything like I'd planned, due to issues that turned out to be kidney stones, which, take it from me, are NO FUN AT ALL! (Got out of the Munich horsepistol this morning about 11, am sitting at my Lufthansa departure gate as I write this. - fortunately has some very considerate support from local colleagues.)

And there will be some info about some intriguing but incredibly flawed commercial speakers using Accuton drivers and an interesting form of Translam construction. Mixed in with some fairly weird other design choices...

[Steve Manning]

Well, something akin to that will be featured in the "Munich Report". Said report may be delayed a bit, I am making it back on time, but the last two days didn't go anything like I'd planned, due to issues that turned out to be kidney stones, which, take it from me, are NO FUN AT ALL! (Got out of the Munich horsepistol this morning about 11, am sitting at my Lufthansa departure gate as I write this. - fortunately has some very considerate support from local colleagues.)

And there will be some info about some intriguing but incredibly flawed commercial speakers using Accuton drivers and an interesting form of Translam construction. Mixed in with some fairly weird other design choices...

Jon that sucks ...... hopefully you got them passed, I'd hate for them to rear their heads again in the middle of the flight home.:E

[TEK]

Ouch - I have heard those are some nasty beast. Hope you got it sorted out.

[csmielke]

Jon,
Safe travels home. Long ago in my career I had a boss, who I thought was having a heart attack when he was in fact passing a stone. Scary thing to witness let alone to go through. Luckily we were across the street from a hospital. Hope for a quick full recovery
Chris

[JonMarsh]

Hi Guys!

Appreciate your concern and well wishes! What was done in the hospital was the first step in how they handle kidney stones these days, as passing them the old school way is both very painful and dangerous. So what they did was to install a urethral stent between the affected kidney and the bladder (a stent is a tube like structure intended to help keep a natural tube connector such as a small artery or urethra open). This has to heal for a week or two, then they do another endoscopic procedure to remove the stone, and remove the stent- the stent is OK to leave in for up to 3 months.

Believe me, even doing just that roughs up the hardware quite a bit, cannot say it is at all comfortable right now, but I'm coping, and having flown back on my scheduled flight (just made with with some big assist from my friend in Munich and his access to resources at the company- one of the driver/bodyguards for top brass took me to the airport and got me checked in). I also got my seat reassigned to an optimum location for restroom access and storage for items behind my seat, and had wheelchair/electric car service at Munich and again at SFO. Made a HUGE difference in dealing with every thing- but even so, this morning after a night's sleep in our own bed which was only interrupted every 45 minutes or so by trip to the bathroom, I feel so much more alert and clear headed than I have at any time in the previous two days, that I truly realize how out of it I was!

It was an interesting and worthwhile trip, though I sure could have done without the complications. That I got the first steps taken care of and back home on my original schedule I view as something of a minor miracle, greatly assisted by efforts of friends and loved ones.

I am NOT flying to Long Beach for the APEC conference today, as formerly planned, and instead will have a much lower key (and much needed) week at home. And I'll start outlining my "Munich Report" content for a thread to start- since there are aspects which are clearly DIY, and it's aimed more at the DIY crowd though off the main track for that, I'll post here in Mission Possible. It's NOT an equipment report per se, though there are comparative comments about some experiences, that's not the main point, so I didn't feel this would fit in Audio Hideout all that well.

~Jon

[BobEllis]

Sheesh, Jon. Speedy recovery. That all sounds so miserable. Wincing in sympathetic pain. Taking it easy sounds like a wise course.

[ergo]

Uhh, health issues are always much more worrisome than any of the DIY progress. Take it easy and I wish a speedy recovery.

[ergo]

I've had some progress too.

First - Bauhaus after week of mulling about it gave me a 30% discount on 4 worst boards that I asked to be replaced. They claimed that as the main surfaces have no issues the problems with lamination in mid layers is "normal". Well I did take the opportunity and bought the new boards for next projects as I had replaced the ones I needed already a week ago to get some progress and not wait for them. Now I have some extra stock fro that 'next project' Don't quite know yet what that'll be.

I cut the front and back panels out today. One of the huge plusses of CNC is that one can keep the stock on machine and then dry fit the speaker units. This way making 0.1-0.2mm extra runs for flange pocket can result in a super nice fit.

I also ended up using the 'multi tool' with a knife blade to remove the excess glue before sanding. Worked nicely and did a cleaner job than the manual scraper that I also tried.

[ergo]

Also did most of the sanding.

Added the 1.5mm buitumen layer between panels and glued the front and back panels.

So getting closer to the next step... internal wiring and damping material is waiting for a turn already. Measurement round is not far off....

[TEK]

That looks very nice ergo.
It must be so cool to have your own cnc.
Could you share a bit more info about your cnc setup? Some pictured, what software you are using, where you got the cnc itself, was it a diy setup, a kit or a complete machine? Does it require a lot of space?

[ergo]

Machine is from CNC-Step in germany

http://cnc-step.de/en/products/cnc-router-ball-screws/1194-s1000t-cnc-engraver-linux-windows

Software flow is
RhinoCAD 3D -> Vectric VCarve Pro does the CAM function -> and then WinPC-NC drives the machine.

I also have a 'Filou NC12 für WinPC-NC' as a CAM. Using that for other than wood projects (like the waveguide/tweeter milling for Modula MT-s )

I did have some 'financial help' buying the machine, but that's a longer story.

I added few photos of some other interesting milling done here

https://flic.kr/s/aHskwxBJoY

[JonMarsh]

Very nice progress, and a very nice setup for your CNC! I would say I'm jealous, but even if someone gave me one, I have no where to put it right now! Looking very good.

I hope to be back in the saddle and getting the first of the 2nd stage prototype cabinets for acoustical test done soon, but this will be affected by subsequent treatment steps, so may be delayed a bit- we'll see, hopefully I can get a bit of work snuck in here and there.

[Steve Manning]

Nice progress Ergo ..... looks like your multi-tool did a nice job on removing the glue for you, (did not think of trying that trick) looks like your glue might be a little more pliable than the stuff I'm using.

I'm with TEK ....... I'm jealous of the CNC, I'm in the process of getting the driver holes cut now, though mine are getting done the old fashioned way.

[ergo]

I did some more good progress today. Cut the V grooves around the front and back panels.

Then made a bit of mix and match of electronics parts --> tools for woodworking. Managed to make the tip of the wood filler applicator fine enough and I'm very happy how things turned out.

Now only last fine sanding to do and then the final finishing... I know that I'm gonna leave the bamboo shade as is, so have to find some lacquer that'll protect it well. Problem is that I do have a spray gun but no place with enough room. It turned cold outside again and some 2 inches of snow today. So the official calendar 'start of spring' does not really hold up in north.

[JonMarsh]

Looking very nice, Ergo! :T

I think you've done quite well in optimizing the grain pattern for the appearance of your build, based on a clear finish of some kind. Looking forward to seeing more about how it turns out. I've got to get back out into the woodshed now that I'm back from Europe, and finish at least one of the acoustical prototype cabinets, but the new medical issue may slow me down a couple more weeks. However, there's lots of hard thinking and computer modeling to do, so the time will be spent productively (I hope) one way or another.

Yeah, sometimes the calendar means nothing when it comes to spring- a highly variable event! We're still hoping for more cool temperatures and rainfall here in Northern CA, due to our prolonged drought- we've had a fair winter so far, but we're not out of the woods.

[Steve Manning]

Did some tests with one of the router templates over the weekend, unfortunately the guide bushing came loose and took a little abuse from the router bit. Carbide one .... brass zero. New bushing on order along with a tension spring for the bushing.

[Steve Manning]

With cutting driver holes off the table, I moved on to playing with some of the many brass inserts that will be installed.

These were on the stand ......





Though I don't think it was necessary, I added some CA glue to keep things in place.



Top bolted in place ....

[Steve Manning]

Bottom and top of the stand attached with 1/4 - 20 SS screws ....










Of note, only half the bolts/inserts have been installed. The vertical section of the stand will have two additional layers of lbl attached, one to each side after painting/finish has been applied and the remaining inserts will be installed then.

[JonMarsh]

Looking very nice, Steve! It's fascinating to me to see the wood coming together and realizing the renders, in a manner of speaking.

[ergo]

Good progress Steve. With much fever laminated parts and only 2 boxes I already saw how much effort it takes to glue and scratch and sand these. Making 2 pairs and stands is really a LOT of work.

I was thinking to myself number of times that ideal would have been to actually build 1 extra box... the practice one. On so many small jobs it would be nice to be able to practice first and then make the 'money cuts'.

[JonMarsh]

I was thinking to myself number of times that ideal would have been to actually build 1 extra box... the practice one. On so many small jobs it would be nice to be able to practice first and then make the 'money cuts'.

Isn't this the truth! You can imagine the number of times I take deep breaths and think things through carefully to avoid yield loss, as I'm no where near the wood worker most of you guys are!

[Steve Manning]

Your right Ergo, just because all the parts were cut for me, has not eliminated a very large amount of work to put this all together.

I'm with you there Jon ....... There is still a pucker factor that goes into some of this stuff. I always cut test samples for things like driver cutouts and what not. With this lbl I've been doing tests just to determine appropriate hole sizes for the threaded inserts, since this stuff is so hard the holes need to be larger. If something goes wrong with the driver cutouts, there is not really the option of making a new baffle, the entire cabinet is trash. 8O I try not to think in those terms .... those deep breaths you were talking about turn into hyperventilating.