rwillett

Stephen Thanks for this. Ambient temperature is around 7-8C, air moisture level is pretty much saturated as it's raining constantly such that flood warnings are in place and I am told Keswick Campsite is being evacuated which is a step into the unknown. Very little wind so air drying is probably not on. I do have a nice space heater courtesy of ScrewFix so may use that and see how it works. I suspect without artificial heat, we're into next year for painting Rob

That would look great. I did look at anodising some telescope parts years ago, the theory looks quite easy, its the practise that worries me...

Has anyone painted their cab with the Armacab from Penn-Elcom? Interested in the drying time, mins, hours, days or weeks? As it's 7-8c here, it could be a long time.

That does look good... Very tempting.... Spent an hour before torrential rain hit (again) Glue front and back panel Route the edges so there's a nice curve Nice 6mm routing bit makes this dead easy (as previously suggested) Solder speaker wire to the speaker Fill and sand any problems. Paint front baffle matt black. Take off side handles and rear speakon panel, and paint the wood matt black. I'll mask this area off before the Armacab goes on. Assemble, check all OK Check it all works. Wait for warm weather to do the Armacab. - July 2027?

I'd forgotten that one. Which language was that from?

There's some great ideas here. Lots of clever things to try which I would not have thought of.

Just looked at whether I could print a decent protective mesh. I could have done some clever measurements but I just plonked the speaker on the print plate. Its a fraction too big for a single print. A 300mm x 300mm printer would handle it, and would be easy to design for but I don't have one. Not sure if I want to glue two pieces together either Back to eBay and silly delivery prices, though as I need two grills I suppose that halves the delivery costs. Yes it's irrational 😁 Rob

I wonder if chicken wire would work? Pros: Cheap, little metal to space ratio, easy to work with. Cons: cheap, might look like crap, would bend easily. Probably better for keeping chickens in than protection. The round speaker grille is great but the delivery is the same price as the grille. 100% delivery costs feels wrong to me for some reason.

@Phil Starr Thanks for this. I'll work out how to mount the grill a few mm back from edges of the speaker cabinet. I should be able to get 15mm from the very front of the speaker to the grill. That's around 21mm from the cone. I'll look around for 10mm perforated aluminum and some acid etching primer.

The ^2 notation is nothing to do with imperial or metric but is a computer way of describing something to the power 2. So x^2 means x squared or x x x (which is really confusing) as we sometimes use x to mean times. We could also say x * x. Many computer languages use the ^ symbol as the notation for "to the power of" as you can't use a superscript as languages are based on the ASCII character set.

Thanks for the comments. So the Fane speaker is 11mm high from the front of the baffle. It has a maximum excursion of 5.5mm and I've just measured it and that maximum excursion is inside the 11mm rim around the outside of the speaker, so that's good. The outside edge of the speaker cabinet is about 27mm (or so), so that gives 16mm (or so) space for the grill (or cloth or whatever). Just looked up 10mm perforated aluminium and it's 1mm thick, so I have quite a lot of leeway for mounting it. It could 2-3mm inside the outer edge to stop it catching and that still leaves it 12mm or so away from the speaker. I think that answers the question as does @Chienmortbb's comprehensive reply on speaker cable width. I really, really wish we could throw away every non-metric measurement. 1.5mm^2 cable is easy to understand, a reverse sized number is just confusing. I am a child of the metric system (just). Rob

@Rosie C Thanks for this, I had a feeling it was just my latest dumb question in a long trail of them. Pleased its not only me

The weather here has slightly dropped off, however we have had reports of a bearded bloke collecting pairs of animals, and an awful lot of wood has gone missing. There seems to be some sort of structure being put up on the top of Ingleborough as well, no ones quite sure what's going on, but seems a dumb place to build a boat to me.... Anyway, I might get chance to do a bit more on the cab today after a week in London. I was thinking about a speaker grill and making sure I put some mounting points on, I rather like the metal grills that you can get on eBay. Is there a minium offset from the speaker that a metal grill must be, I look at the metal grill compared to speaker cloth and wonder does it either resonate or attenuate the sound. Clearly people use metal grills and they look great, but wondered if they need to be 10mm (or another minimum distance) from the speaker or the holes need to be a certain size, do you need rubber mounts on them to stop them vibrating? I can still put T-Nuts in if necessary for mounting points, even though the front and rear panels are now glued in, but I'd rather plan for it now than having to take it all apart again. Thoughts welcomed. Thanks Rob

Given the weather up here, we might come along so long as it's indoors...

Brilliant, Now I know who to ask...

Like it when things like that happen. I used to have a 73 Alfa Romeo 2L GTV. This is the old Giulia shape. Nice car, 90-100mph top speed. I was driving out of Brighton up the long hill toward the M23 and I saw two very large headlamps behind me. I thought it was a Land-rover. Put my foot down and they kept getting closer. Turns out it was a 2CV overtaking me at probably close to 90mph uphill. The two men waved and laughed as they went by me. I couldn't keep up. Q-cars are brilliant. I have no idea what the 2CV had under the bonnet but it certainly wasn't stock. There is a hill climbing 2CV with a BMW engine in but this was 30 years ago so it's not that one. I was humbled by the 2CV and I did try to catch them up but they were long gone. Rob

Phil Thanks for this. I did read an article that said AWG 4 (yep that's not a typo) should be used. Not sure I've seen anything that thick TBH. My AWG 16 will be fine then. I'll cut a bit off and solder it down. Does the cable need to be glued down to stop vibration at all? I'm assuming not but checking anyway. Thanks Rob

I think you are confusing me with somebody who has an inkling about what he is doing. Honoured that I am mentioned in the same sentence as real luthiers and semi-pro hobbyists, but these people know what they are talking about whereas I am merely one page away from disaster on each build. I am in awe of some of the builds on this site. No sarcasm, no irony, no snide comments from me, there are fabulous designers and builders here and I would love to have 1% of their talent. Thanks Rob

Misson control has allowed me to put the speaker on the dining room table to glue the front and rear panels in. It is basically freezing up here. Doing the rear panel first. The front panel is on the right hand side of the picture. Next jobs: Glue front panel in tonight. Route the edges so there's a nice curve Solder speaker wire to the speaker <-- What size wire is OK for 250W? I definitely have AWG16 and might have some thicker in a box somewhere in my basement. I've heard AWG 14 should be used Fill and sand any problems. Paint front baffle matt black. Take off side handles and rear speakon panel, and paint the wood matt black. I'll mask this area off before the Armacab goes on. Assemble, check all OK Check it all works. Wait for warm weather to do the Armacab. - July 2027?

Guess who has spent the week measuring, drilling, fitting and screwing in 34 M3 and M4 t-nuts? Now you tell me Rob

10C? That's a barmy sunny day in North Yorkshire. It's currently hovering between 0C and 5C during the day. Little chance of getting to 10C outside for a few weeks I know you lot down in Somerset have a Caribbean climate all year round, but we don't. The reason we put ferrets down our trousers is to keep warm I'll put the holes and t-nuts in, glue the front and rear panels in, round the edges and wait for it to warm up before applying the Armacab. I suppose it'll give me time to get the other speaker cab done. Thanks Rob

I think I'll drill the holes, fit the t-nuts, put some sacrificial M3 bolts through, and then cover it. I want to get the speaker working as I have another to assemble and want them done for Xmas.If the covering has to wait, I'll accept that. Rob

Did you get issued a mandatory flat cap and t'ferret? We will get back on track though Rob