Fixing tools

I borrowed my Dad's table saw a few years ago.  It came in quite handy while I was building shelves, and even more handy while I was making the 2x12 speaker cab.  On the very last cut I had to make, something went wrong.  The lights in my house dimmed, then I heard the circuit breaker pop.  Then smoke started rolling out of the table saw motor.

To quote Rick Perry again,  "Ooops."

Well,  No matter, I took apart the saw and pulled out the motor.  It took about an hour and some wrenches to figure it out.  I typed the model number into google and found a website that offers replacement motors.

http://www.ereplacementparts.com/

For a mere $200, I can repair my Dad's table saw!  I called up my pops to see if it was even worth it to go through the trouble.  He said it's like 25 years old, (makes sense the motor burned out, especially with the original, dull blade still attached), and that it was a middle of the line product, which it turns out is still quite expensive.  I looked around online and a new equivalent would cost about $1000.  My dad didn't want the saw back, and said that if I replace the motor it's mine!  Wooo!

New motor:  $200
New 10'' blade:  $30
The ability to cut off my fingers accidentally:  Priceless

Anyway, here's some pics.

Disassembled table saw

When I take stuff like this apart, I put the nuts and bolts back where they should be and screw it in a few turns just to remember where they went.  When you go months between taking apart and putting back together, it's easy to forget.

So I started by installing the new motor, and then bolting the chassis and motor mount back to the table.

New Motor!

Re-attach the wires.  This follows standard home electrical wiring.  Black = Hot,  White = neutral, Green = ground.  Notice that one white wire has a connector on it, and one is bare.  The green and black wires have the proper connectors, so this one probably fell off at some point.

Good thing I just happen to have a spare!

I re installed the wiring box and the clips to hold the wires down.

Now it's time to turn it on and make sure everything works before I install the new blade and the rest of the base.

WARNING:  I've learned a few lessons building and repairing things.  Number one:  Be safe.  Always be safe.  You don't want to lose an eye or a finger.  I know I sound like an old codger, but seriously.  I've tempted fate too many times.  Circuits exploding.  Razer blades snapping and flying at my eyes.  I've gotten wires shoved under my fingernails.  Metal shavings into my eye. I've seen people accidentally shove screw drivers into their hands.  In this situation, the table saw has a fuse, so I don't need to worry about electrical hazards.  The only thing left is to put on your safety glasses.  Always put on your safety glasses.

I'm taking to YOU. 

Well what do you know, I turned it on and it ran just fine.  Nothing shook loose, nothing flew at my face. Huzzah!  Now you take off your safety glasses.

Time to install the blade.  This is the old blade.  It's a 10'' blade, and has like 24 or 30 teeth... I don't really know.  As replacement, I purchased a 40 tooth Diablo blade for about $30.  All I know about saw blades is that the more teeth, the cleaner the cut.

25 years of gummy gummy crap

Left:  Old and busted     Right:  New hotness

Odd tip... most circular saws I've used have a reverse thread where the blade attaches.  It's righty loosey, lefty tighty.  I put the blade in, and couldn't resist a Tim Tayler grunt or two.

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I bolted the lower part of the base back on, and took in all of the awesome.

Well, I have no projects in mind yet... so I guess it's gonna be a while until I put it to the task.

AX84 Hi Octane with 2x12 cabinet

I never got around to posting a final picture of this...

Effects pedal power supplies

So I got all of these guitar pedals I've been building, but powering them is an issue.  At my house, I've actually been using a variable power supply thought I bought on eBay a few years ago.  It serves it's purpose, but I use the power supply for other things, and sometimes I forget to disconnect the pedals... oops.

Quad power, baby!

Anyway, this is how you can re-purpose old 9V power supplies for FX pedals.  I got this honker here out of the trash.

This is what you want to look for, a supply that will deliver 9V and at least 1000mA.  This is a typical connector configuration, with the positive voltage on the center pin, and the negative voltage (ground in this case) on the sleeve.  Most effects pedals are exactly the opposite.  Using this power supply as is on guitar pedals will, at best, not work.  Worst case scenario, you damage your expensive pedal, in a glorious flash of smoke, and a beautiful electrical fire.  No one wants that.

Lucky for us, switching the leads is easy, and takes only a few minutes.

You will need:

Solder Iron
Wire cutters/strippers
Solder (I recommend lead free solder.  Lead is poisonous, take precautions if you use it.  A little lead solder here and there shouldn't hurt you, but prolonged exposure is not good)

Heat shrink of various sizes. I bought a huge pack at Ax-Man surplus for less than $4.00.  It's lasted me for more than a year, and the heat shrink also makes great cat toys.  Seriously...

Voltmeter (a cheap one will run you about $5.00.  A high quality meter can cost a $200 or more.)

Optional:  Hot air gun to shrink the heat shrink  (a hot air paint stripper works best, hair dryer will work, but you can also use a solder iron)

First... plug in your power supply, make sure it works by measure the voltage on the connector.  Use the red lead in the center hole, and the black lead on the sleeve.  It should read 9-12V.  Wait a minute... why is my 9V power supply reading 12V?  Well, when there's no load (I.E. Guitar pedals) sucking power, the voltage can be higher.

So, you power supply works?  Great!  Unplug the supply, and continue monitoring the voltage with your voltmeter until it reads 0V.  These power supplies can still have energy stored in them, and you can get shocked if you don't let the power supply discharge.  Power supply doesn't work?  What I usually do is snip off the wires close to the plug.  You can use the connector and wires on your variable power supply, like me!  Or you could use the extra length of wire/connector to extend the range of a working power supply.

Second.  Cut the wires.  I usually do this 3-4'' from the connector.  Pull the two wires apart, and strip a small amount of insulation from each wire.  Using your soldering iron, place a bead of solder on each of the exposed wire tips.  This is called "tinning the leads".

Next, the miracle of heat shrink!  Seriously... you need heat shrink.  It's far superior to electrical tape.  Since I'm going to be soldering the wires back together, I need to put the heak shrink on before I solder.

Do you notice that only one wire has a white strip on it?  This is how you can identify the correct way to re solder the wires.  It's nice to have a third hand, or a clamp for this part.  I just popped the connector end into a pedal to hold it on place.

Solder the wires together by melting the beads you applied when you tinned the wire, do it as fast as you can so you don't heat up the wire too much, and then just hold the wires in place until the solder sets.  It's usually only a second or two.

Once your wires are re soldered, you can move the heat shrink into place and use the collar of the solder iron or a hot air gun to shrink it.

Slide the heat shrink over the solder bonds and use the solder iron to shrink  them.

A larger diameter piece of heat shrink holds the two wires together

Plug in your supply and measure the voltage on the connector.  If you put the red lead on the sleeve, and the black lead in the center hole, your voltmeter should be the same voltage as your first measurement.

That's it.  It's a 5 to 10 minute endeavor, and you can save yourself the cost of purchasing the expensive effects pedal power supplies.

Only sorta electronics related

So I got this phone, right?  And my girlfriend has the same model phone, do you follow?  

We took these pictures right after one another with our respective cameras.

There's no filters involved in this trickery... just a good old fashioned broken lens.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, I have a custom made one of a kind analog instragram filter.  For only 2 easy payments of $44.95, I would be willing to make this modification to any camera or lens you have.  Just think... no more waiting for your instagram to finish processing!  You can claim your photos have an obscure one of kind analog filter!  (I'm looking at you, hipsters...)*** 

Here's more examples of this amazing filter!

Make rainbows glow!

Give that "vintage" look to your "vintage" electronics!

Amazingly low resolution!

Raspberries?  More like gray berries!  Am I right?

Fool your friends into believing your house is haunted!  See that grey blur?!?  It's a ghost!

***Warning, results not typical, actual analog filter may vary, analog filter may not be removed. ***

Light Attack Drums in action

So, Battle Toys played a show last weekend and I got the video footage.  The sounds is a little funky, as we are so darn loud that it overloads the camcorder, which goes into some hi volume compression mode (I think).  Either way, here's the light attack drunk kit in action!

Getting closer

The time has come!  I removed the two 12'' speakers from a Crate GLX212 that I purchased about 10 years ago, and secured them to the baffle.

I used #8 Brass screws and Tee nuts to secure the back plate

Connect the speakers!

Screw the baffle on.

Amplifier put in it's case.

Booyah!

So... there's a problem already.  That cabinet is enormous.  I can barely get my arms around it.  I brought it upstairs from the basement and wasn't able to get my hands on the side handles.  I had to just squeeze either side to get a hold of it.  By the time I got it up two flights of stairs, my forearms were like jelly.  I could barely play a bar cord.  I have a looper pedal that has some stuff recorded already, so I just turned on a loop to see how the amp sounds.  There's something off about it...  I think I hooked up a speaker backwards.  There's some point where ones head is directly in front of the speakers where it's very quiet, but it's quite loud a foot to the right or left.  Hmmm...

Vinyl! Vinyl!

Vinyl finally arrived from backorder!  Wooo!

My phone was out of batteries so I didn't take any pics during the vinyling.  I found some tutorial videos online and got at least an idea of how this should be done.  I used 3M Super 77 spray adhesive, which was recommended on every tutorial I found.  I ended up running out of it and switched to Super 90 adhesive, which I happened to have.  The odd thing is, the super 90 seemed to dissolve some of the adhesive between the vinyl and the backing, and it caused some bubbling.  Lo and behold, a few hours later the bubbles were gone...  suspicious... closer inspection to follow...  

Also annoying, I completely screwed up the vinyl covering on the corners.  I thought the corners would extend farther, but I was wrong, and had to cut off some of the vinyl and add some tiny squares... oh well.  Without a close inspection, it shouldn't be noticeable... I hope.

Anyway, I got the vinyl and most of the hardware on the head and cabinet, but I ran out of time, so here's where I leave you!

Amplifier head case... looking pretty!

Notice the corners... extra square of vinyl

Soon...

This is so close to being done... I can taste it.  I'm terrible excited.  The time for guitars is nigh!

Waiting...

I've was practically peeing my pants all last week in anticipation of that sweet sweet vinyl so I can finish up the amp and cabinet enclosures...

To my dismay, the package arrived with the grill cloth and piping, but no vinyl.  Evidently my vinyl was back ordered and I have to wait another week or two.  Bllllalaaarrrhhghghgh!!! /shakes fists at sky

In the meantime, I constructed a frame for the grill, and painted the inside of the amp enclosure.  Also, I built an amp enclosure.

Amp enclosure, unpainted (in case you couldn't tell)

Since the inside of the enclosure will be partially visible, I just hit it with a few coats of black spray paint.

I also put the cabinet pieces together and stared longingly at it.

It says to me "I'm naked!  I need my vinyl covering!"

I guess all good things come to those who wait, and I'm stuck until the vinyl arrives.  I can only hope that the package is delivered by Gandalf, on his mighty steed, Shadowfax.  I heard that horse can run fast.

No more Outkast puns for my guitar cabinet

Not much time to work on the cabinet last night...  Did manage to get the edges rounded, holes for the handles cut, and test fit the hardware.

Used 1/2'' round router bit for those smooth as a baby bottom edges.

Harsh edges

Smooooth edges, like yacht rock

Better be sure to draw the proper outline for the handles.  I did it right on the first try, which rarely happens.

Finally, the cabinet and I turned the lights down, and I dolled her up with some corner hardware, a side handle, and just for fun, a top handle (which will eventually be on the amplifier enclosure)

I'm a pretty girl!

This must be the feeling that young ladies get when they dress up their dolls...

Well, silly me.... I'm not getting my vinyl and grill cloth delivered until next week, so I'm kind of at a stand still.  Maybe this weekend I can get proper enclosure ready for the amplifier, but other than that, I'm stuck until the vinyl arrives.

The Cab Below

Yo ho!  Had an interesting time tonight working on the cabinet.  I know my speaker needs a circular hole of 11'' diameter... so I pounded a nail into the center, and tied a string (5.5'' length) around the nail and to a pencil.  I don't have a proper compass... oh well.  I drilled a 1/2'' hole near the edge of the cutout region, and then cut the circle out freehand with my brand jigsaw... the one that I bought JUST for this project.  Hooray for new tools!

Gonna cut me a hole... gonna put a speaker in it

Black spray paint for the baffle. 

I learned from searching forums that you should probably paint your baffle black... otherwise the light wood will show throw the speaker grill.

In order to secure the backplate and baffle to the enclosure, I added battens (I still am not sure that's what they're called) of 3/4x3/4 all the way around the interior for both sides.

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Then I still had time to cut a hole for the jack plate in the back panel  I cut the hole a tad too big... but it's still going to be workable.  I'll remember to cut the holes for the handles a wee bit too small; you can always make the hole bigger!

That jack plate, by the way, is awesome.  You hook up two 8 ohm speakers to it, and by using different inputs, you can get either a 4, 8, or 16 ohm impedance... awesome.

I also stopped by ax man to pick up that awesome red vinyl... but they were sold out!  Oh well.. that's what I get for not purchasing right away from ax man.

I ended up purchasing some similar vinyl from Mojotone.com, as well as some piping and grill cloth.

ETA for handles/corners, tomorrow night.  ETA for the mojotone stuff, two days.

Awwww yeah!

Speakerboxxx

Allrighty... I got the frame built, glued, and screwed.  Since my table saw is el busted, I used a circular saw (and a straight edge) to cut a speaker baffle and a back plate out of my 3/4'' birch ply.  Things are starting to take shape, and I'm totally stoked.

Yeah, I'm a speaker box and I'm tough, natch.

Speaker baffle with speakers outlines penciled in

I think my next step here is to cut out the speaker holes... I'm thinking I can draw the cut out hole, and then it with a jigsaw.  It doesn't have to be pretty, since it's going to be covered by a speaker grill.  Any tips on cutting large (11'' diameter) holes in wood?  I was considering fabricating a jig for my router... but that might just be more work than it's worth.

I will also need to add some battens to support the baffle and back panel, cut a hole for the jack plate in the back panel, and cut holes for the handles in the side panels.  Then I'll need to round all of the edges for that special feel.

This amp will also be covered in vinyl... I saw some awesome vintage looking red vinyl at Ax-Man, so hopefully they still have it in stock... maybe I can even find some grill cloth!

Speakerboxx/The cab below

After much ado, I've finally gotten around to assembling the cabinet.  I'm going to make a 2x12 cabinet with some speakers out of a crate GLX 212.  Crate doesn't want to release the Thiele Small speaker parameters, so I'm just gonna make a cab, pop 'em in, and see how it sounds, because I'm flying by the seat of my pants, and have only a small clue as to what I'm doing.

Construction begins with 3/4'' birch plywood.  Unfortunately, while I was ripping the pieces down to size, my table saw decided to lock up, and start spewing thick clouds of smoke into the basement, setting off the fire alarm, and terrifying the cat.  Luckily, I have access to another (nicer) table saw, and was able to get the pieces cut to size.

I'm cutting what I think are called Dado joints to join the sides.  The table saw left some nasty ridges, so I hit 'em with some sandpaper to calm them down.

Pre sanding

so fresh and so smooth, smooth

In order to strengthen up the joint, I put what I think are called "battens" in the corners.  I'm not too familiar with carpenter lingo, so someone yell at me if I got that wrong.  Also, praise me if I got it right.

Clamp 'em down and screw 'em in!

It turns out that clamps are expensive... I'd spend hundreds of dollars on proper clamps if I wanted to get this box done all in one shot.  Instead I got a couple of 90 degree clamps and I'll do one side at a time.  I suppose I could have gotten 8 of the corner clamps, but they're $8 a piece... I guess I'll just have to take this build slow.

A ton of glue, obviously.

Time to let the joint cure, and then it's time for side #2. I'm hoping to get the rest of the sides done tomorrow night, then I can start working on the baffle and the back plate.  Wooo!