Guessing that this being a holiday weekend, we will not get our usual "fix" with this project.

Well at least it´s not a month of sundays, Randy

Howdy paulc,

Your demand has been duly noted ..... and acted on .....

I was at Mike's workshop Saturday from about 2:00 PM until midnight.  A lot was accomplished.  All that remains is to install the braces and "fins" in the lower part of the enclosures, some trim pieces, mounting the drivers and binding posts (Cardas copper) and the staining (or whatever it is that Mike has planned for the finish) ..... ???

We took a good number of photos, but were too tired to upload them to my website.  Mike is supposed to bring the camera to work tomorrow (Monday) and I will get the photos on the forum.

It's hard to believe how bulky and hard to move these things are at this point of construction ..... and heavy.  We were moving one of the cabinets after the driver enclosure was mounted.  It was positioned with the heavy side pointing upwards.  We both had a grip on it ..... and Mike decided to let go to reach for something.  It caught me off guard and my eyeballs nearly hit the back side of my eyeglasses .....

It was painful to leave the shop with the Imperials this close to being functional.  Mike plans to work on them some more this week.  I'm not sure if they will be completed by this coming weekend .... if not, I'll be at the HornFest May 5-7, so it still might be the second week of May before they are in my listening room.

It has been said that patience is a virtue ......

Photos to follow .....

Randy

Good advice .....

If you notice, four pictures up, you can see little spots on the picture.  Those are my tears!

Sorry, just have to get a mop to wipe my drool................




OK, I'm back.  



Randy, I and I'm sure anyone who may plan to make these - would like to know how the hole including the football cut was acheived?

Thanks,

Simon

pics are better than a million words. they sure explained the football shape i didn't understand in the sneak preview of the plans.

Randy,

  I'm out here, I've been following yours and Mike's progress everyday. Lets just say your going to have one fine set of Imperial SO's when you all are finished. Mike's doing a fantastic job by any woodworkers standards!!!!

 My method might have been just a little bit of a variant from Mike's method, yet essentially the same. The jigsaw/pattern cutting method works well for all kinds of irregular shapes and you can get multiple pieces all exactly the same.  What I did was take and make a circle with an 1/8" larger radius then the out side dia. of the driver. I then layed out the football shaped cut out on a piece of scrape as well as on the finial piece. I then take the piece I cut with the 1/8" larger radius cut it down so it will lay on my lines and pin nail the pieces on the scrape piece of wood and flush trimed them to shape. You've now made a template for the football. Place the template on the actual piece, trace the lines, jigsaw all the excess material away, clamp the template in place and flush trim the rest of the material away.  From there out I use the actual piece to trace the lines and use it as the template for flush triming the rest of the pieces.  

 You can use the same method for straight cuts with lots of angles, such as the driver cabinet on the Imperials. It is also the inside flare of the horn and there are no 90 degree angles  anywhere. Just lay out the lines as per the drawing. Jigsaw outside the lines (I don't like to leave more than an 1/8" outside the line) pin nail a 3" wide straight board right on the lines and flush trim right to the line. When you have it all flush trimmed you have a perfect pattern and can make all the rest with exacting percision.

When you have inside angles meeting each other, you will have the radius of the flush trim bit left in the inside corners. You can either saw/file/sand  to the line, or use a roundover bit and round the edges of the wood to match the pattern, the latter is my preferred method. On the Imp's this is not necessary, as the inside cutouts are just for driver clearance.

 Hope this helps,
    BobZ

only clearence then...
thanks Bob
randy's patient man if he can wait any longer...
i wonder how many hours he will spend on his first listening 'session' ?  ???

I bet they never get shut off after they are installed, i know i wouldnt...
 ;D

Randy,
Steve's quote is dead on. I can hardly wait for you to set up the Imperials because you are very good at articulating what you hear.

The fun is about to begin!

Tim

Darth Deckert?  

Luke... It needs a crossover.