sparrowho Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 bluesboy OK, must be a regional thing. 11 ply 3/4 inch birch or oak plywood is 42 bucks a sheet here. I think you need 3 sheets for a pair of LaScalas. I'm sorry, but any 42 buck a sheet plywood I've seen has voids in it. I don't care how many ply's it has. I would agree with blueboy on this after buying 11 ply from Lowes last week. It was not only full of voids but the finish ply was VERY thin. To make matters worse I let Lowes cut it so it was close to my final size and figured I would recut with table saw and good Freud blade. The blade at Lowes was so dull that they splittered the finish ply back so far that I would have needed to make each panel 1" oversized to avoid the splintered cuts. Basically I ended up with firewood but will use it anyway as already paid for it. I did manage to locate void free Baltic Birch 13 ply 3/4 inch plywood at $120 per sheet and 50 miles away. Too far and too expensive for the project I was working on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest " " Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 sparrowho Those are just the challenges of working with hardwood plywood. It has no bearing on Lowe's. When buying hardwood plywood, there are potential issues with scratches to the wood on the shelf as folks rummage thru it, damaged to your home, as well as planning the cuts. The veener is very thing on the finished side. Unfortunately, this means you have to check each peice of wood tha tyou take off the shelf. I went to home depot to buy wood for an upcoming LaScala project. I pointed out to the department manager that all their wood had blemish areas on at least one of the edges, which would alter my cut pattern. I idicated that I would need 4 sheets now instead of 3, just due to the blemished edges. They said fine, and sold me 4 sheets for the price of 3. And sure, if store staff pre-cut your wood, it won't be a clean cut, or an acurate cut, reguardless of the wood type you by, MDF or birch ply, certainly adding to the size of a store pre-cut cut pattern gives you some room to work with when you get home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparrowho Posted November 18, 2006 Share Posted November 18, 2006 speakerfritz You are quite correct about not allowing the store to cut it to finished size. My problem was I failed to allow enough waste in my calculations. I had them rough cut another piece of 4x8 material a month earlier and the blade must have been in much better shape as I only lost about 1/4 inch on each side. I have learned my lesson and will now allow at least 1 inch of waste on each edge when asking the store to cut it. Ideally I would do all the cuts myself but handling full sheets on my table saw is not something I do well without lots of helpers. This was my first attempt at using the 11 ply material from Lowes and not likely to try it again. I have very good luck with the 2x4 panels from there and much fewer voids, but it is also different number of plys and thickness as well. It would also have helped if I had thought to bring or buy masking tape and tape all the cuts prior to letting the saw blade chew through the wood. Again my bad as I didn't figure it worthwhile since I was going to recut it all again on my table saw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarheel Posted November 21, 2006 Author Share Posted November 21, 2006 An update on the new Scalas. The Beyma tweeters came today from US Speaker. I am using the 511b and 902 drivers and new k-33s as planned. I will be using the BEC xovers for now and have changed the tap position as recommended. We are mounting the horns and tweeters in a piece of Paduak I bought Saturday at a hardwood import shop. Very nice looking grain pattern. The facade will look a little like a bell shape with a more gentle slope with the baby cheeks on top and center. These will sit exposed on top of the bass bins. I will be able to toe in the top part without moving the bass bin and this should solve my restricted corner problem. I think the black bins and the natural finished ( think rosewood color) top should look okay. The bass bins are built and have all but the final top coat of black laquer. One problem we are having is trying to seal the edge grain of the 1" mdf. The edges keep soaking up the paint. At this point I am a little concerned about the finish. We used semi gloss which is not looking too much like a black lacquer piano finish I am use to so we may go to high gloss for the next coat or two. Any tips appreciated. I still have my LS clones with the Altec 416 woofers if anyone is interested. Bluesboy will post pics later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mas Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 You can seal the edges with shellac - it dries quickly too so you won't soak much up. Or, as I have become used to using it anywhere a rigid non-shrinking permanent patch or seal is needed (and you do not need a 'natural' wood finish)...Bondo is the one-stop permament solution! And if you are already using it in other places and already have it mixed, thinning it with a bit of acetone and applying it to edges in a thin film with a putty knife works too. And yes, you can apply it in a thin film...But wear a respirator with an organic filter or you may end up 'repairing' the neighborhood! But if you aren't using it (Bondo) for other purposes, for the small area to which you are referring, I would probably just use the shellac. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesboy Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 Here's some construction pics of Tarheel's new LaSala hybrids. The first one is attaching the bottom to the motor board and back assembly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesboy Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 Here's a tip. I found out that nail gun oil works pretty good for lubricating screws during assembly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesboy Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 With the woofer installed.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesboy Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 Doghouse assembled............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesboy Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 Ready for primer............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesboy Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 First coat of black laquer.............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesboy Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 Here's what I rigged up so that Chuck could try out the 511s and 902s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesboy Posted November 21, 2006 Share Posted November 21, 2006 Another view.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmc Posted December 23, 2006 Share Posted December 23, 2006 Where can one get plans for making LaScala clones? Any help would be Greatly appreciated as I have been scouring the web for this information, and so far no luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarheel Posted December 27, 2006 Author Share Posted December 27, 2006 jmc.....Bluesboy can probably help you with the plans and I will ask him to contact you. The bass bins are pretty much regular La Scala bins but made of 1" mdf rather than 3/4" plywood. We designed the top hats ourselves and that really did not require a plan just a little creativity. You have to cut the front panel pieces to fit the 511b horn and decide where you want to locate the tweeter and that is it. The top hat has no sides or back so I can toe in as needed. If you don't want to tackle the top hat job Bluesboy can do that for you but it is rather labor intensive and priced accordingly. BTW he can also do a precut kit for the bass bins. Let me know if you need more details. PS.... ALK Engineering is designing a special xover for this application. Chuck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmc Posted December 28, 2006 Share Posted December 28, 2006 Thanks so much, Chuck! I pretty much only need the plan for the LaScala bass bin, as I am toying with the idea of different than stock drivers for tweets, possibly midrange. So probably would need to customize top part anyway just like you were saying. I do want to make the one piece LaScala (professional type cabinet), rather than the two piece kind w/ detachable top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesboy Posted December 28, 2006 Share Posted December 28, 2006 JMC, I'll try to get those plans to you tomorrow. Pm me with your e-mail address. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m8o Posted December 28, 2006 Share Posted December 28, 2006 Sorry if I missed the post saying so, but are the La Scala clones still for sale? If still for sale, anyone in his area interested in just one, for a center? I'm in need of a single for my center, and would love to go in 1/2s with you; however I need that single shipped up to me in LI. I bought my current La Scalas from down south and they were shipped up to me here in nice big boxes. Boxing seemed pretty easy, just big. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesboy Posted December 28, 2006 Share Posted December 28, 2006 Sorry if I missed the post saying so, but are the La Scala clones still for sale? If still for sale, anyone in his area interested in just one, for a center? I'm in need of a single for my center, and would love to go in 1/2s with you; however I need that single shipped up to me in LI. I bought my current La Scalas from down south and they were shipped up to me here in nice big boxes. Boxing seemed pretty easy, just big. The LaScala clones have been parted out. However I can build you a single cabinet for a center if you're interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m8o Posted December 28, 2006 Share Posted December 28, 2006 Hmm... interesting proposition. Would you be providing the bass driver, mid horn & driver, and tweeter, or would I? I don't need passive x-overs. E-mail me through the board to let me know what the price would be. Thanx very much, Steve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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