Zeppelin 1x8 SPEAKER CABINET KIT Assembly Instructions Manual

[Page 1] Zeppelin 1x8 Cabinet

Avant-Garde AUDIO & ELECTRONIC Products THE PERCOLATOR 2 WATT TUBE AMPLIFIER ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS SPEAKER CABINET ZEPPELINDESIGNLABS.COM • 2950 N. WESTERN, CHICAGO, IL 60618 Assembly Instructions 2 WATT TUBE AMPLIFIER 1 x 8 SPEAKER CAB...

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1x8 SPEAKER CABINET ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 3 CAUTIONS, WARNINGS & DANGERS ............................................................

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3 INTRODUCTION Thanks for buying a 1x8 Speaker Cabinet kit from Zeppelin Design Labs! We hope you will have fun assembling this kit, followed by many years of musical enjoyment. We think we’ve produced a pretty nice product, and we’d love to he...

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4 • Sharp pencil • 12” Ruler • Bar clamps, minimum 12” opening, two of them • Utility knife or X-Acto knife or scissors • Heat gun, or very hot hair dryer • Soldering Iron, good quality, 15-50 watt • Wet sponge or dry solder-...

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5 STARTING! The baffle takes less than an hour to assemble, plus paint drying time. The cable takes about 15 minutes. The cabinet takes about 3 hours spread over 2-3 days. Figure 1: What’s In The Box? ...

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6 Table 1: 1x8 Speaker Cabinet Bill Of Materials Loose in the box: Part # Description Notes Qty BB08 Baffle Board for 8” Speaker 1 CA04.1 Cabinet Top/Bottom Shorter parts 2 CA04.2 Cabinet Sides Longer parts 2 CA04.3 Cabinet Cleat 4 CA04.4 Cab...

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7 Figure 2: Parts Illustrations CA04.5 GC02 LS08 CB11 FT03 BB08 CA04.1 CA04.2 CA04.3 CA04.4 J2 JA07 NU03 PL20 PL30 SC13 SC61 SC65 SC66 WA06 WA10 ...

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8 BUILDING THE CABINET The cabinet is a beginner’s woodworking project, but it will take several hours over several days to complete! Take your time, be careful, and you should produce a lovely, great sounding solid wood cabinet to be proud of. ...

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9 A WORD ON COUNTERSINKS The overall success of this project depends somewhat on your ability to accurately countersink the wood screws, so that the heads lie just below the surface of the wood, but no deeper. There are several ways to do this: �...

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10 2. With the pencil, label the parts where it won’t show so you can easily fit them together again later. Put the labels all towards the front. 5 3. Marking the Jack Plate 6 : Install the 1/4” input jack (Part # J2) into the jack plate ...

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11 4. With scissors or blade and ruler, cut out the templates provided with your kit. 11 Tape the templates to the cabinet bottom, and to the right-hand side (as you face the front), and to one of the ports. 12 If the templates do not match th...

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12 6. Use the Cleat template to poke two holes in one side of each cleat (Part # CA04.3). 17 As long as you are careful, as shown, there is no need to use tape. 7. Installing the Cleats (Part # CA04.3): Place one of the sides face down on yo...

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13 8. Grab your drill with the 1/16 bit set to stick out about 1-1/8”, and drill two pilot holes at the marks, through the cleat and into the side. 21 9. Label the cleat and the side, so you can put it back in place later. 22 Set the clea...

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14 12. Run a bead of glue down the back of one cleat. 26 Spread it out into a uniform, thin layer with a stick. Place two of the #6x1-1/4 wood screws (Part # SC61) into the countersunk holes until they just protrude through the glue. TRIPLE-CHECK...

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15 15. Stand up all four pieces of wood on their FRONT edges on your clean, smooth, flat work surface. 30 Dry-fit them together. Use a bar clamp to snug the pieces together as shown. 31 Hopefully your clamps have plastic pads on the bearing su...

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16 18. Fit your drill with the 1/16” bit, sticking out about 1-1/8”. At the corner you lined up, drill two holes at the nail/awl marks, through the side, and into the mated wood piece. 34 19. Continue to the other three corners, loosening the ...

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17 22. Inspect the inside faces of the wood pieces for splinters or “blowout”: bits of wood standing above the surrounding surface. Clean these off with a bit of 120-grit sandpaper. 39 23. Dry-fit the four sides as before, with the front edge...

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18 25. Add the second clamp right across the joint and apply moderate pressure to hold the joint securely for screwing. 44 26. With a #2 Philips screwdriver or cordless screw gun, press in hard and drive the two screws barely snug. 45 You will t...

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19 28. Now apply glue to the remaining exposed ends of both the TOP and BOTTOM. Fit four screws into the remaining SIDE and maneuver them into all four little pilot holes. Align, clamp and screw the joints (barely snug) one at a time. 51-54 51 5...

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20 29. Check the box for overall squareness: measure diagonally across the cabinet to see if it measures the same in both directions. 55, 56 If not, clamp the baffle board into one acute corner as shown. 57 This will pull the whole box into pe...

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21 31. Move the bar clamps to the ports and clamp them tightly to the top and bottom. 59 32. Drill four holes 1/16 x 1-1/8” deep through the ports where marked and into the cleats. 60 33. Re-drill the four port holes with the 9/64 bit 61 , and c...

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22 34. Remove the clamps from the ports, set the cabinet on its back, and check the front for square again. If the cabinet is not square, place the baffle back into the cabinet and clamp it tightly into one of the acute corners. 64 This will pul...

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23 DANGER Routers are dangerous, tricky machines that can do you serious harm if misused. If you are unfamiliar with routers, get a friend to help you! 37. Remove the dust with a vacuum or compressed air and inspect the seams between the Sides and...

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24 FINISHING THE BOX There are lots of ways to apply a beautiful, durable finish to a solid wood box. Following is how we finish our cabinets here at the Lab. You may finish your cab any way you like. Please send us photos of your completed proj...

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25 b. “Ease” the square edges; that is, strike off the sharp square edge the mill applied to the wood. 72 Your finish ingredients cannot accumulate on a sharp edge. Don’t use the orbital for this, at least not for the inside edges; sand th...

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26 4. With a rag, apply a liberal coat of MinWax Dark Walnut Wood Finish #2716. 75 This is an oil- based stain, one of the easiest to use. Coat the entire cabinet inside and out, paying attention to the inside corners. 76-78 There is no point i...

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27 6. Use a clean rag to apply a coat of MinWax Wpe-On Poly Clear Satin. 83 This is a remarkable product that is thin enough to soak straight into the wood but thick enough to provide a decent finish without running or dripping. Pour a little ...

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28 8. Clean up your work space as best you can. Remove all the dust from the cabinet and the work table. It is dust in the air that affects the final finish. 9. Apply a second coat of Wipe-On Poly to the exterior. Allow to dry thoroughly. ...

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29 BUILDING THE BAFFLE BOARD 1. Cut out the paper template of the baffle board and tape it to the baffle board (Part # BB08) with masking tape. 89 Line up the outside edges as best you can. 90 2. Use the awl, or hammer and nail, to mark t...

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30 4. Use the hammer and awl or nail to mark the locations of the four 7/32 holes near the edge of the round cutout. Remove the template. 93 5. Use the drill and the 9/64 bit to drill the four holes in the corners of the board. If you have a d...

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31 7. Use the hammer to tap the four t-nuts (Part # NU03) into the four holes near the round cutout. Keep tapping until the t-nuts are flat against the board. 96 8. Paint the side of the baffle board with the t-nuts and the inside surface of...

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32 a. Set the grill cloth face-down on the table. The face is the side with a distinct grid pattern and broken black lines. Set the baffle board black-side-down neatly centered on the grill cloth. Align one of the edges of the baffle board with ...

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33 c. Place the baffle board back on the cloth with the edges against the two folds. 105 Now find the line on the grill cloth (one of the threads) that is parallel and closest to the the other side of the baffle, opposite the first fold. Remo...

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34 d. With the baffle board resting between the three folds, find the line that is parallel and closest to the remaining side of the baffle board. 108 Remove the baffle board and cut the grill cloth on each of the folds crossing this new line...

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35 11. Place the assembly face down on the table. While holding the grill cloth in its proper place, use your staple gun to put one staple into the edge of the baffle board in the middle of each side. Make sure the staple is right in the middle ...

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36 14. Fold the remaining grill cloth over to the back of the baffle board and staple it down. Leave about 1/2” from the corners without any staples. 116, 117 15. At one corner of the baffle board, hold both corners of the grill cloth down, ...

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37 16. Use a lighter to singe loose threads at the corners. 122 WARNING: The grill cloth is flammable! Be extremely careful to only singe the tips of loose fibers without setting your baffle board on fire. 17. If the grill cloth seems loos...

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38 19. Place a #8 Flat Washer (Part # WA06) on the shaft of a #8x3/4 machine screw (Part # SC13) 126 and run it through the speaker rim and into one of the t-nuts. 127 Be careful not to cross-thread the nut and screw; it should screw in easily...

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39 22. Take one of the zip wires (Part # CB11), split both ends about 1/2”, and strip about 3/16” (5 mm) insulation from all four ends. 130 Note one of the conductors has ribbed insulation; the other has writing on the insulation. By conven...

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40 25. Double-check that you have marked the jack plate so you can put it back onto the port later in the correct orientation. Remove the plate from the jack. Mount the 1/4” input jack (Part # JA05) in a vise or clamp in a way that you can sol...

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41 26. Now tin the terminals on the speaker and solder the other end of the wire to the speaker terminals. 138 Be careful to solder the ribbed wire to the negative terminal (the one marked with a “-”). 139 Solder the wire with writing on i...

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42 MAKING THE SPEAKER CABLE 1. Take the remaining 6” zip wire (Part # CB11) and split the ends about ½” (13mm). Now use your flush or diagonal cutters and cut off about 3/16” (4-5 mm) from both ends of the ribbed wire. 141 Now strip a...

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43 3. With the needle-nose pliers, carefully open the crimp ring at the rear of the jack. 145 4. Mount the jack in some sort of clamp, vise or fixture, with the solder terminals exposed. 146 5. Tin the two contact points on the jack as s...

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44 6. Solder the slightly-shorter ribbed wire to the negative lug as shown. 149 Now solder the other wire (with writing on it) to the positive lug. 150-152 7. After the lugs have adequately cooled, carefully squeeze the crimp rings back dow...

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45 9. Slide the jack barrel along the wire and over the jack. Screw it on tight. Take the jack out of the clamp or vise. 156 10. Unscrew the barrel of the other jack (Part # JA07) and slip the barrel over the wire so it can be screwed on to ...

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46 negative against the other positive for discontinuity. If anything shows any sign of being other than the way it should be, repeat Steps 12 and 13. That’s it! You have just built a quality speaker cable for your cabinet! This cable is the impe...

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47 PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER 1. Install the Ports: If you chose to leave the Ports loose (see the note in “ASSEMBLING THE BOX” above step 30), put them back in the cabinet now. Be careful to put them back in the same position and orientation ...

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48 6. Place a #6x1-1/4 wood screw (Part # SC61) through one of the holes and use a screw driver or screw gun to drive it into the cleat just enough to mark the cleat. 163, 164 Repeat for all four corners. 7. Remove the baffle and use the 1...

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49 10. Repeat for the other three corners, then go back and tighten all four screws. 168 11. Flip the cabinet over face-down. Push the jack out through the port hole. Put the jack plate (Part # PL20) back on the jack and bolt it on tight. Plac...

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50 USING YOUR NEW SPEAKER CAB BREAKING IN Your 1x8 Cabinet features a Jensen C8R speaker. We have found that these Jensen speakers are typically a bit stiff straight from the box. They tend to soften up the more you play through them, and they rea...

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51 REPLACING THE SPEAKER Some people like to swap out the speaker in their cabinets from time to time, and for various reasons – usually because they destroyed the original speaker, or they obtained a special or vintage speaker and they are dying...

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