Slanted Soffits

Post by **John Sayers** » Fri Nov 07, 2003 11:27 pm

Well - here's a pro looking studio but if you analyse the plan the monitors are at 70 degrees

I must say frederic - why don't you work out which speakers would be best soffit mounted and mount them - then use the other pair as nearfields??

cheers
John

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 2:16 am

Just the opposite, Frederic - I'm an admitted square tube junkie, but haven't scored a wire machine yet - lotta fun doing lighter weight tube with a stick welder (can you say "swiss cheese" - oh well, practice and thin rod helps.

I think your instincts re the race car applications are right on the money. It's still vibrations, after all. And you're right, doing it the way you are you can always experiment with chunks of plywood later.

Hey, if your sweet spot gets too small, just get one of those machines the eye docs use to immobilize your head, the ones with the little spikes (rubber tipped) that they make you lean your forehead against - cut away all but the forehead rest, and voila - perfect sweet spot (albeit with possible point source headaches - no plan is perfect :=) Steve

frederic · Post by **frederic** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 8:48 am

John Sayers wrote:I must say frederic - why don't you work out which speakers would be best soffit mounted and mount them - then use the other pair as nearfields??

Because I have nothing to stand them on, and if I get stands, the monitors will hit the ceiling as they'd have to be further back, as nearfields

frederic · Post by **frederic** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 9:02 am

Just the opposite, Frederic - I'm an admitted square tube junkie, but haven't scored a wire machine yet - lotta fun doing lighter weight tube with a stick welder (can you say "swiss cheese" - oh well, practice and thin rod helps.

If you want my opinion on welding, arc welding is really tough on thin materials. If you're going to weld cracks on cast iron engine blocks, repair .500" thick steel on bucket loaders, bulldozers and other such items, nothing beats arc welding. its cheap, its easy, the splatter isn't terribly awful, you don't need any shielding gasses, and you can weld in very windy areas. The big attraction to arc welding is the material you are welding, can be dirty. best to clean, but if you're too lazy, who cares. This is because of the high current and the thickness of the material (.5"-1.000") a little garbage on the surface doesn't matter.

MIG welding produces a lot more splatter, and isn't really good for really thick materials, or softer stuff like aluminum. I've done aluminum welding with my MIG, but I have to tell you its a real pain in the arse. The aluminum wire turns into a birdsnest inside the machine, because its soft. The solution to this is drop cash on a teflon liner for your gun/hose, or, simply lay the gun/hose straight from the machine, across 6-8 jackstands so its level with the machine. Tight bends causes it to clog up.

MIG for steel is great, because you can use a shielding gas such as argon/co2 mix (80/20 or thereabouts) and use regular wire, or you can use flux-core wire which has the shielding built in. I use the latter, just because I'm lazy and not into refilling bottles. Just requires a hair more grinding after the fact, but thats what grinders do best

Mig is the easiest to learn, because its a single hand process. Essentially, point the gun, squeeze the trigger, and make zapping noises and nice smoke. If you oversize the welder slightly, you can ignore the 80/20 rule (80% sit, 20% weld) and just make a 48" long bead if you feel like it. Rarely do you need to run a MIG at 100% current anyway, unless you're welding together 1/4" plate, which at that point I'd seriously consider TIG or oxy/acetylene (gas) welding.

Gas welding is a two hand process, essentially a welding torch is a giant soldering iron. Welding with the torch takes a lot of getting used to, but its an easy way of welding aluminum (and cheap too - gas, rods, goggles). Aluminum is tough to weld or braze only because it has two modes, a solid, and liquid. The transistion from solid to liquid is a small range, so its very easy to warp or have run down your welding table. Once you get the hang of it, you can make cool things with aluminum. I made an aluminum intake for a rover v8, actually fairly recently.

For steel, gas welding is actually easy. When the metal turns red, apply welding rod, dabbing in and out like solder, then move over slightly. Very easy to do, but it gets tiring if you have a lot of beads to make.

TIG is welder's paradise. Steel, aluminum, but the machines are much more expensive and of course you need a shielding gas as well. I'm waiting for the new Miller "pocket tig" to come down in price, and I'm going to snag one. Instead of a giant power transformer, its all solid state, and only slightly larger than an AT/ATX power supply. Talk about portable. Right now they are priced at about $1100 on the street, $1000 mail order here in the USA. Saw a brand new one sell on eek-bay for $950, so its coming down fairly quickly.

I think your instincts re the race car applications are right on the money. It's still vibrations, after all. And you're right, doing it the way you are you can always experiment with chunks of plywood later.

Thank you, I hope i'm correct. If not, I guess I'll find out very quickly

Hey, if your sweet spot gets too small, just get one of those machines the eye docs use to immobilize your head, the ones with the little spikes (rubber tipped) that they make you lean your forehead against - cut away all but the forehead rest, and voila - perfect sweet spot (albeit with possible point source headaches - no plan is perfect :=) Steve

No plan is ever perfect. My other option is to install pontiac fiero seats in the studio, which have speakers in the headrests

Construction has begun. Here are the two monitors sitting on a plywood template:

frederic · Post by **frederic** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 9:03 am

Here are the tools of the trade... for cutting anyway. Ignore all the pine needles everywhere. You never weld near pine needles. Just don't look at them

frederic · Post by **frederic** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 9:04 am

Here are all the front pieces of the cage, cut out and placed near the monitors and remeasured to make sure I cut them in the right place. I now measure everything three times, because I'm an idiot.

frederic · Post by **frederic** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 9:08 am

And here are the results of two short (6") pieces I butt-welded together with the mig, to see if I really need to bother getting the right wire. I used "standard" wire thats been sitting around for about a year in the garage, thus slightly corroded, and of course my argon bottle was empty. I should have used flux-core wire which has built in shielding, but it wasn't handle so I gave it a hearty try. Not to bad considering it was cold, windy, and as I was welding pine needles were falling all over me, the project, and my tools.

But it works

And there you have it, I'm ready for a nice day tomorrow of monitor cage welding. The rest of the steel should be arriving at the ace hardware store tomorrow, so I can cut everything out and get it ready.

frederic · Post by **frederic** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 9:16 am

John Sayers wrote:Well - here's a pro looking studio but if you analyse the plan the monitors are at 70 degrees

Hey John... sorry I only half responded... I didn't see the studio picture you posted the first time. Not sure why, but I see it now.

70 degrees, huh? I am always astonished how you guys can eyeball such stuff so easily.

Post by **John Sayers** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 11:58 am

no eyeballing involved

cheers
john

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 12:07 pm

Got gas torches and a 250 amp AC-DC arc, only use the gas for heating/bending/brazing anymore. Too much heat, too much distortion. Arc is bad enough for trying to get angles to stay where you put them after welding. Keep drooling over a Miller 251 wire machine, and TIG would definitely be nice (use it at work occasionally)

So many toys, so little time...

Steve

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 12:13 pm

John, glad to see you're back from "Incommunicadoville" - now, if you can just stop "cheating" by "knowing where the rocks are"

frederic · Post by **frederic** » Sat Nov 08, 2003 2:45 pm

knightfly wrote:Got gas torches and a 250 amp AC-DC arc, only use the gas for heating/bending/brazing anymore. Too much heat, too much distortion. Arc is bad enough for trying to get angles to stay where you put them after welding. Keep drooling over a Miller 251 wire machine, and TIG would definitely be nice (use it at work occasionally)

So many toys, so little time... Steve

Too much heat?

Buy yourself a jeweler's oxy/acl torch. I actually use mine more than the big torch these days, especially with aluminum. I can actually braze an aluminum can to another can (top to bottom) with minimum distortion, with that torch.

The whole torch is like, 6". It makes for a very small heat spot and because of the size, you have tremendous control. My other torch is good for bigger jobs, but you're right, its easy to burn holes.

Just takes practice, and lots of it. Remember when you soldered your first wire how it looked?

And BTW, with two $7 fittings, you can run the jeweler's torch off the big bottles.

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Sun Nov 09, 2003 12:26 pm

"Remember when you soldered your first wire how it looked?" -

No, actually that was just BEFORE I invented dirt

but I know what you mean - the micro torch sounds fun - bet my size 5 tanks would last a while using that...

Yeah, practice is definitely the key to ANYTHING that requires any kind of coordination - I built a keyboard stand out of thin-wall rectangular tubing a guy gave me several years ago, and by the time I finished I could weld 16 gauge steel with stick and not make holes. I need to keep in practice more though, each time I start a project I end up re-learning half of it again. gonna find out before too long, got a design started for a new desk with tilt-out racks all of 1" square tube... Steve

frederic · Post by **frederic** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 7:54 am

you mean - the micro torch sounds fun - bet my size 5 tanks would last a while using that...

I can run the smaller torch about 50% longer than the larger torch, and its just as hot. Very easy to control. I bought it for brazing aluminum, because the larger "normal" torch was giving me grief because I have limited dexterity these days.

again. gonna find out before too long, got a design started for a new desk with tilt-out racks all of 1" square tube... Steve

We should swap console designs

I'm not that far away from that myself.

frederic · Post by **frederic** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 7:57 am

Progress continues, even though it was 45 degrees outside. Brrrrr. I didn't dare wear a coat until it got cooler as the sun was setting, simply because I already set one on fire