The place to go for open baffle theory and practice is https://www.linkwitzlab.com/

2 hours ago, luvdunhill said:

I would probably build a open baffle speaker with a full ranger with an integrated h-frame or dipole sub. I have been wanting to try something called a slot load as well:

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/diy/0911/slot_loaded_open_baffle_speaker.htm

That's an interesting design for sure. Those designs generally tend to look unfinished from the side or back view, and the Valchromat would go a long way to correcting that.

5 hours ago, swt61 said:

That's an interesting design for sure. Those designs generally tend to look unfinished from the side or back view, and the Valchromat would go a long way to correcting that.

Why do people underestimate the importance of a nice rear view?

I call that the Kardashian conundrum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 24, 20224 yr by swt61

My war against cedar is wrapping up and now all is left the ones where the stump grinder couldn’t easily access them. I have a Porter Cable impact driver and corded Ryobi 3/4 HP drill and having issues with a 1” spade bit to cut the holes to put potassium nitrate in them. Should I just rent something bigger that’s corded, or is there a suitable cordless option? I probably have 7-8 left out of the original 29. They probably need 4 holes each (12”-18” stumps) and a vent hole for if/when I need to burn them out.

My 2c is rent a beast and get it done, just make sure it is designed for 2-handed operation as you don't want that much power/torque without it, in my opinion.  And it seems to me that this is a pretty task-specific tool so buying something is of very limited utility.

23 hours ago, n_maher said:

My 2c is rent a beast and get it done, just make sure it is designed for 2-handed operation as you don't want that much power/torque without it, in my opinion.  And it seems to me that this is a pretty task-specific tool so buying something is of very limited utility.

The rental options this weekend were pretty much only a Makita SDS hammer drill and I wasn’t sure they would have a wood bit or if even such a thing exists, so I decided to try this:

the battery life seems great but the tool seems to overheat way before the battery runs out. It was 100F outside, maybe that’s the issue? Hm.

I love my Milwaukee M18 Fuel gear. It is pretty much my whole arsenal from chain saw to leaf blower here. 
 

Spade bits are fucking awful bits for pretty much anything and if it is no longer sharp after hundreds of holes, I would ditch for a 1” auger bit. That is what I used to drill holes so I could fill a stump with kerosene before torching it.  No issues as all with the Milwaukee drills. There is no reason any drill cannot drill into cedar, unless the bit has been worn down to a spinning blunt object. 

Jeff is absolutely right. An auger bit will not only drill better and faster, but it will be more efficient for the driver as well.

However, an impact driver will not work with a standard auger bit, and I don't think they make a speed bore connection on an auger bit.

But IMO a drill is the better tool for that job. An impact is great for many tasks, but drilling is better left to a drill. 

I'm almost completely battery powered these days, but I keep a big corded drill for some tasks. Mostly mixing grout and such, but also for boring holes. 

This is the one I own. It's around $215. You could do as many people do...

Buy one at Home Depot, be careful with the packaging, use the drill, box it back up and return it. Tell them it didn't work well for what you need.

Edited May 30, 20224 yr by swt61

1 hour ago, VPI said:

I love my Milwaukee M18 Fuel gear. It is pretty much my whole arsenal from chain saw to leaf blower here. 
 

Spade bits are fucking awful bits for pretty much anything and if it is no longer sharp after hundreds of holes, I would ditch for a 1” auger bit. That is what I used to drill holes so I could fill a stump with kerosene before torching it.  No issues as all with the Milwaukee drills. There is no reason any drill cannot drill into cedar, unless the bit has been worn down to a spinning blunt object. 

I can’t find a 1” auger with 1/4” shank though. It’s going pretty well with the Diabolo bits. The impact driver won’t stay cool though, it’s insanely hot. 

It's too much friction. Your chances of burning up the motor are high.

It turns out that there are some speed bore auger bits...

 

Ok, returned the red impact driver and looked at the turquoise one but got the red screwdriver. Then left the orange store and went to the blue store to get the bit. Still overheats but works much better. Can get about 8 holes in before it’s too hot.

Did you have to pay a lot of Green?

34 minutes ago, swt61 said:

Did you have to pay a lot of Green?

No I traded it! It was the “free” part of the holiday sale.

Broke my first CNC bit. Clearance pass for a v carve on an inlay plug. Ended up being about .15 inches on the first pass, which evidently was too much for the 1/4” downcut bit. 

Call it a learning curve. Or a learning V, in this case.

3 hours ago, VPI said:

Broke my first CNC bit. Clearance pass for a v carve on an inlay plug. Ended up being about .15 inches on the first pass, which evidently was too much for the 1/4” downcut bit. 

See if you can figure out what exactly caused it.  That's not all that deep a cut (just over half bit depth) so there's probably something else at play and it's always good to see if you can run that to ground before things get really expensive.  The only time I broke a bit was incorrectly zeroing the stock and cutting about 3x the bit diameter at standard feeds/speeds.  Other close call was an inadequately tightened collet, which caused the bit to slide out and progressively increase depth of cut without warning.  Oh, and the one time I put a hold down too close (in) the tool path.  Uh, yeah, be careful taking advice from me...

This one was a strange cut as it was the for the plug of an inlay. In VCarve Desktop I cannot see any way to change the depth in the VCarve function by adding passes so I just went with it. Did the top of the clear out and then went to the middle and was not set to ramp so it plunged and started doing its loops and snapped off. It was an Amana Spectra Coated 1/4” down cut which had a nice clean shear right at the collet mark on the bit. Collet should have been pretty damn tight as I tend to be paranoid about random flying 19000 rpm projectiles. 
 

In better news I finished the carve of the next yard sign with no drama. This one has such interesting grain, I am not sure if a basic brown text resin will even stand out. Going to paint the Texas, as I was not smart enough to come up with a way to carve it that I could fill with three different resins without having a big purple Texas. 
 

 

17 minutes ago, VPI said:

This one was a strange cut as it was the for the plug of an inlay. In VCarve Desktop I cannot see any way to change the depth in the VCarve function by adding passes so I just went with it. Did the top of the clear out and then went to the middle and was not set to ramp so it plunged and started doing its loops and snapped off. It was an Amana Spectra Coated 1/4” down cut which had a nice clean shear right at the collet mark on the bit. Collet should have been pretty damn tight as I tend to be paranoid about random flying 19000 rpm projectiles. 
 

In better news I finished the carve of the next yard sign with no drama. This one has such interesting grain, I am not sure if a basic brown text resin will even stand out. Going to paint the Texas, as I was not smart enough to come up with a way to carve it that I could fill with three different resins without having a big purple Texas. 
 

 

What was your feed rate? You could also have a bad collet. Pull it out and inspect it carefully, they can cause a score mark that weakens the carbide. That being said I’ve had those Amana bits just break when running them properly, shouldn’t have an issue having it replaced under warranty if your speed/feed/chip load was within limits. If doing it with ToolsToday it’s a simple process of an email with a picture of the bit and a screen shot from VCarve of how you were running the bit. 

So you're telling me that robots are not completely ready to take over the world yet?

Good! I've got a few more years 'til I'm ready to draw Social Security. 

Jeff, why did you make Texas so tiny?

Oh wait. Now I realize that it's just that ATM I happen to be looking down on it from Alaska.

Carry on.

Edited June 8, 20224 yr by swt61

41 minutes ago, swt61 said:

Oh wait. Now I realize that it's just that ATM I happen to be looking down on it from Alaska.

Carry on.

Savage Steve, savage. $7.2M dollars seems quite the deal, surely Texas could have swung it themselves?

New war of Northern Aggression?  Alaska v. Texas - this time, for all the oil. 

22 hours ago, luvdunhill said:

Savage Steve, savage. $7.2M dollars seems quite the deal, surely Texas could have swung it themselves?

They could have, but like most of the country, nobody wanted it. They thought it was a waste of money. It was labeled Seward's Follies. But William Seward got it pushed through and President Johnson signed it in 1859. 

Now it's given us more oil than Texas, more gold than California, more timber than Washington & Oregon, more seafood than all the other coastal states combined and more TICE than anyone knew possible.

It also gave us Sarah Palin, so doing the math we still come out ahead, but just barely.

41 minutes ago, swt61 said:

They could have, but like most of the country, nobody wanted it. They thought it was a waste of money. It was labeled Seward's Follies. But William Seward got it pushed through and President Johnson signed it in 1859. 

Now it's given us more oil than Texas, more gold than California, more timber than Washington & Oregon, more seafood than all the other coastal states combined and more TICE than anyone knew possible.

It also gave us Sarah Palin, so doing the math we still come out ahead, but just barely.

Just don’t remind Putin!