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Compact Wedge Part 2 - Assembly and painting

Assembly
Having assembled the two Side plates we are now ready to assemble the rest of the wedge
The rear baffles (for want of a better name) A, B, C and D fit around the Sub plates as shown below, you may want to put off gluing the pieces together until you have made sure they all fit nicely.
 
Note that you will need to cut a couple of pieces of wood from the angled lengths O and P for mounting the front Baffle.

While gluing, make sure joins between the rear baffles are Glued well by running a bead of glue between them as all joins need to be air tight:

Make sure that the screws are driven well into the wood, confirm that the handle is comfortable (sand down any sharp or rough edges) and give the glue time to dry (24 Hours is good).

Fill all Screw holes, any imperfections and any gaps with filler (I used Selleys Plastic wood) and allow to dry.

Sand the wedge/wedges down - if you are merely twice as good at woodwork as me (I am not very good at all) then you will find that the neatness of the resulting wedge is largely dependant on how well you fill and sand.

Before we start with the painting it is a good idea to make up a stand that the wedge can sit on while being painted and while drying- I made mine up with scraps of wood lying about (Right hand picture above).
Mix up the liquid Epoxy Resin as per the instructions adding a dessert spoonful of Lamp black (if the wedges are to be painted black) I found that 4 x 30mL measuring cups of both the Resin and Hardener (i.e. 240ml total) was enough to do two wedges.

Using a throwaway brush (I found cleaning brushes of epoxy resin to be fiddly and time-consuming and I could get cheap natural fibre brushes for less than $2 each (NOTE Plastic bristles will melt) start painting the front rim of the foldback wedge, let the first coat soak well in and then apply a second and third etc until no more soaks in Stir the epoxy and lamp black regularly as you paint.
When you have finished the front rim of the wedge place the wedge face down on the stand and start painting all the edges and around the handle etc again paint these well - when you have finished protecting all the corners and edges use the remaining resin to paint the rest of the wedge.














Timing for the paint may vary according to the Resin you use but is usually half the cure time for the resin (check the instructions for your Epoxy Resin).
I used Dulux enamel to provide the top coats and this has (so far) turned out to be reasonably durable Rockard is also worth using.
Build up the paint good and thick to get a smooth finish - if you have access to a spray gun that would be good. Note be careful not to get any paint in the thread of the T nuts for the stand mount.

Line the inside of the wedge with foam and mount the crossover - Note that it fits best mounted at the front of the wedge next to the stand mount with the Relay towards the front (as per the pictures below) for it to clear the speaker.

Solder wires to one of the Speakon connectors making sure that the wires to the other connector are long enough to reach through the mounting hole on the other side of the wedge. Mount the connector using self tapping countersunk screws, pull the wires through the opposite hole and solder them to the other connector. Mount and screw in the other connector and connect to the crossover.

Line up the front baffle and spacer and screw them together - check that these fit the front of the wedge and plane the edges back as required.
Mount the front Baffle and Front spacer and trim mesh to fit the front of the wedge.  I managed to find a countersunk screw that neatly fitted the holes in the mesh.
Note that I have since found that the grill may loosen over time causing a rattle, so it is a good idea to use a piece of felt or foam rubber (not shown in the pictures above) behind the grill to dampen any rattles.

Connect up and mount the speaker - Remember that the tweeter is connected out of phase according to the markings on the crossover.

Stick Velcro strips around each edge of the mesh as this is used to hold the Speaker foam (also sold as Air conditioning Filter) in place.

Your wedge is now complete and ready for use.

Kit costs $xx (Australian) and includes:
PCB
Assembly instructions 

Email for more details or Paypal instructions (to order) - note at this stage I will have to work out mail costs on a case by case basis...
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