Altec 821A Cabinet Project

**rghinton** · March 7th, 2007, 11:52 PM

The reason that I am posting the photos is to help others avoid the same mistakes that I made and give them some ideas. I will be cutting the wood for the other horn this Saturday at school. I will also cut some wood for external bracing of the horns. I will post photos as the project progresses.

**rghinton** · March 8th, 2007, 04:30 AM

I am back. Winter always slows the progress on my projects. We have had quite a bit of snow this winter and it is cold so I cannot work on my cabinets out in the driveway. My space in the basement is very small and my time at the woodworking class at the Tech. School is limited. Remember that I have started over because nothing was square after my first attempt. This time I build forms to stabilize the horn assemblies while gluing. There is a stable base screwed to 2x4's. The forms are mounted to the base with 1/4" bolts into tee nuts. The holes for the bolts are slotted so that they my be adjusted to match the dado joints in the sides of the horns.

form

I temporarily screwed the horn ribs to the forms. I chose this method instead of using clamps as the screws hold the pieces together better. I used 4 screws. One in approximately each of the 4 corners of the ribs. I will later fill these holes with wood filler.

formandribs

I spread glue on one edge of each horn rib and placed the horn side onto the ribs. I nailed the horn sides every 1". Note that the horn side extends beyond the ribs. I will mill the excess off with a router.

oneside

Detail of inside corner.

corner

Finally a picture of both sides glued to the 3 ribs.

bothsides

**rghinton** · April 1st, 2007, 07:09 PM

<center>Picture of both new horns.</center>

side

<center>Picture of side of one horn.</center>

millededge

<center>Picture of milled edge.</center>

edge

<center>Picture of top edge.</center>

The next step will be to secure the bottom of the cabinet and the center divider of the cabinet to the horns. I will then mill the side edges of the horns to be flush with the edge of the cabinets. I will take photos of the milling operation. I mill with a router. Each step is a new learning experience. I am pleased with my second attempt at making the horns. By bolting the pieces to the temporary frame and then gluing, everything is square. Note the excess Gorilla Glue. I am going to leave it there as it adds additional strength and it is on the inside of the cabinet and will not be seen. I added ribs to the rear of the horns to reduce the ringing of the horns. I will also insulate the back side of the horns with fiberglass.

**rghinton** · April 13th, 2007, 08:17 PM

The weather is now nice again so I have started working on the cabinets outdoors at home. Yes that is snow in the background. I am still making the parts at school and assembling them at home. I glued the bottom of the cabinet to the horn assembly and the divider to the top of the horn assembly. I milled the front corners.

beforemilling

<center>Front corners before milling. Bottom view of cabinet.</center>

millingsetup

<center>Temporary milling setup with router.</center>

millingcloseup

<center>Milling setup closeup.</center>

aftermilling

<center>After milling the corners.</center>

**misterdwayne** · April 30th, 2007, 04:39 PM

How are they coming along. In your last set of photos the cabs looked like they were going to be great.
DwayneB

**rghinton** · May 3rd, 2007, 02:15 PM

The cabinet with all of the bracing installed. Note the cabinet is upside down in this picture.

upsidedown

This is a photo of one of the walnut sides being glued onto the cabinet. Guess what is in the cardboard boxes that I am using for weights.

walnutside