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BFM omni10.5s


nedsbeds
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I have just started building a pair of omni 10 cabs. for those that don't know what they are have a look here.....http://www.billfitzmaurice.com/Omni10.html

I have been assembling all the parts for a few weeks now but finally got round to doing some building today :huh:
Here is my box of stuff. I'm still missing some tweeters and carpet though.

I started by chopping up some strips based on common dimensions. I could then slice off the individual panels fairly easily

Some of the first panels.


The nice thing about having a dad who is a photographer (apart from being able to borrow nice cameras) is that he has lots of tools, clamps and workmates!
Just a few of them...
I Forgot that when you are cutting wood, there is sawdust!
My poor tea :)

So after waving a circular saw around for a few hours I have most of the parts to create two omni 10.5 cabs


After my tea (or dinner as most people round here insist on calling it) I started making the braces. I needed to have them a bit lower than center so that the handles I have chosen will fit.
The PU adhesive is really nice to work with, but I really do hate latex gloves! There is something very disconcerting about them

So that left me with one side of the horn assembled


More tomorrow hopefully!

Nick

Edited by nedsbeds
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[quote name='Chopthebass' post='39204' date='Jul 30 2007, 08:24 PM']The Omni sounds interesting. The pic on his web site shows the cab with what looks like a vertical row of piezo tweeters. Is that what he recommends in his design?[/quote]
Yes he does. Apparently the array of piezos flattens the response and they sound every bit as good as an expensive compression driver.

[quote name='mhuk' post='39294' date='Jul 30 2007, 11:23 PM']I think you're trying to shame me into actually starting mine... :)[/quote]
Do it man!

[quote name='Bigwan' post='39311' date='Jul 30 2007, 11:49 PM']Interested to see how you get on with these. I've just bought plans for a few of Bill's cabs and the Omni 15 and Omni 10.5 are the 2 designs I'm most interested in building.[/quote]
I wish I had had the 10.5 the other day. went for a practice and had to lug my ashdown cab. A single 10.5 would have been awesome. The omni 15 looks like a great cab, but for me I really wanted small. I only play in original bands so the majority of gigs there is a house PA. If I were in a covers band I think that the omni 15 would probably be what I would go for.


I shall try and update the pics later today. I have them on the camera but they need resizing etc, and I'm at my girlfriends house too.
Thans for all the interest guys!

Nick

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Right, here are parts two and three.

The next step was to create the 60 degree angles on the front of the horn plates. This involves lots of clamps, plenty of thinking and again the over sized circular saw.

This left me with some nice straight cuts like this

Another mock up to check the fit


Now I needed to install the tweeter baffle. I only have one tweeter to hand, due to cpc not having any in stock.
Long clamps came in very handy for holding it against the horn plate.


The sides are next and if everything has gone fine so far, should just fit nicely. They do :)
The handles I have chosen require a circular cut out, but they also need to be positioned fairly accurately so that they avoid the horn plate and the baffle braces on the opposite side to the tweeters
This image shows where those parts are!

I cut a piece of wood that held the handle at the correct depth and also allowed me to slide the handle along to find the best position, which I then mapped on to the sides and cut out the holes using my scrolling jigsaw.


Now it was a case of putting the sides on, then the top. Because my hands were pretty gluey I decided I didn't want to get glue all over one of my dads cameras! So, skip a few steps and here it is with the flanges installed. I cut the 45 degree angles on the flanges with the jigsaw which actually worked very well.


Still to do is chop up the laminated strips of ply that will hold the back in place and cut the hole in the baffle for the speaker.
I should be getting some more tweeters today from a great bloke called David Perry who has solved the dilemma of cpc not having any tweeters for another month. He also sorted me out with some grills a little while ago. I still live in hope that the carpet will arrive some day soon too!

The wood for the second cab is all cut so should hopefully come together more quickly than this one.
More in the next few days.

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Well, I have one cab finished!

I didn't manage to get many pics due to the electricity being of all day and the camera batteries being flat and the memory card full. It was also a scorcher of a day so I couldn't be bothered :)

I did get a couple though.

Here is a quick shot half way through carpeting. I think I did a fairly good job but it certainly isn't easy!


I then mounted the driver, soldered it up and plugged in.

WOW!!!!!

this thing is bloody awesome. I tried it with music first and it's just so clear. The bass is so well defined.
Next I plugged in my bass and fiddled with the eq for a bit. It took a while to get a tone I was happy with but when I had I was so happy. I like quite a full sound with a fair bit of mid. With my old cabs the definition and clarity of notes were often lost and it was a trade off between the mellow sound I like and inteligibility. With this cab I can have both!

I tried it at a practice yesterday and when turned up a bit it shines even more.
I have a gig on saturday so am looking forward to using it again.

Here is a pic of it finished



I also had an idea to try it with a little amp I have. When I was in gamlins in Cardiff last christmas, I saw some tiny little combo amp type things. It was 20 quid so I bought one for my sister. I soon went back and got one for myself though! Now, it is tiny so you can't expect too much, but it is pretty much fart city. I was sure this was only due to the tiny speaker in there. So I whipped it out, built a little sleeve for it, plugged it in....... And BLOODY HELL!! the little thing is actually fairly potent. Its not rock band loud but it can certainly annoy the neighbours. Playing music through it sounds pretty decent but best of all, it weighs absolutely nothing, and is tiny.



Since I am doing mainly acoustic stuff at the moment, I can see this occaisionally taking the place of my racked mark bass amp for practice duty. I'm even contemplating leaving out one of the tweeters in the next cab and mounting it there for the ultimate combo.

So what do you think? I'm pretty chuffed with myself and very impressed with the actual design and performance of the cab. All who have heard/seen it so far are also very impressed.

BTW, I would like to say a big thanks to David Perry who hangs around on the BFM and finnbass forums. He has supplied me with the grills and some of the tweeters (due to cpc not having any in in the forseable future) He's a very helpful chappy!

Nick




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Well I have never done any woodworking like this really. I've done some more laboury housy building type stuff before but no precision stuff. I am lucky that I had all the right tools to hand though, and have watched my dad build stuff for years.
You soon learn how to do stuff. I anticipate the next one taking a lot less time. Most of the build time was working stuff out and getting to grips with the tools.

Nick

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Thanks Johngh. I can't wait to gig it!

I've just found the little amp for sale online at dolphin. [url="http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/flypage/product_id/16018"]http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/fl...roduct_id/16018[/url]
When teamed up with a decent cab it's very useful!

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That looks fantastic mate! I have the plans for most of the omni full range cabs (except the omni 12 tallboy) and plan to build 2 10.5 cabs and an omni 15 at some point in the next year. Seeing this has just spurred me on! Good idea with the wee ibanez amp too.

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The grill was done like so...

when cutting the grill, masking tape and a metal blade in the jigsaw.
For bending I clamped two pieces of wood on the face and back of where I wanted the bend and then just used another piece of wood and pushed down. then I used a mallet to hammer it against the clamped wood. The most of it was masked and the hammered part wont be seen so I wasn't worried about damaging the paint too much. In the end it didn't actually damage it. (apologies for the 2 minute diagrams!)



The grill is mounted like this



It isn't actually attached to the sloping horn (only the bottom and top plates) but the 60degree bend does mean that it is a, very rigid, and b held fast against the horn so that it can't move. It's pretty heavy duty grill this!

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Just found this - nice looking job, good pics and review. I hope it inspires more people to have a go. you don't need to know anything about wood to have a go and turn out something that sounds great. I must say, yours looks a lot better under the carpet than mine! The carpet covers a multitude of sins!
well done
max

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[quote name='TheRev' post='42918' date='Aug 8 2007, 03:16 PM']That's a really neat job. I like the way you've got the grille mounted at the front of the cab - how did you attach it to the sloping horn?[/quote]
+1 for the Front Mounted Grill. IMHO it makes it look a lot more professional. Also where did you get the handles from?
Ah well better get going on mine

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Hi bassbunny,

I really like the grill too!

The handles are from blue aran [url="http://bluearan.co.uk/menu/index.php?id=JAM34062&product=Plastic_Bar_Handle!comma!_round_cutout&browsemode=category"]http://bluearan.co.uk/menu/index.php?id=JA...semode=category[/url].
They are plastic so they are nice and light, but once screwed in (I used a piece of wood behind the handle part to double the thickness and strengthen everything up) it is extremely strong.
They aren't too deep either and fit very snugly so making them airtight isn't a problem.
which cabs are you building?

Nick

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[quote name='nedsbeds' post='43184' date='Aug 9 2007, 10:28 AM']The grill was done like so...

when cutting the grill, masking tape and a metal blade in the jigsaw.
For bending I clamped two pieces of wood on the face and back of where I wanted the bend and then just used another piece of wood and pushed down. then I used a mallet to hammer it against the clamped wood. The most of it was masked and the hammered part wont be seen so I wasn't worried about damaging the paint too much. In the end it didn't actually damage it. (apologies for the 2 minute diagrams!)



The grill is mounted like this



It isn't actually attached to the sloping horn (only the bottom and top plates) but the 60degree bend does mean that it is a, very rigid, and b held fast against the horn so that it can't move. It's pretty heavy duty grill this![/quote]


Nice job!
What sheet does the grill material come in? Where did you get it?

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