RT 12 Speakers Rebuild

fatpiggy

Well not much happening with the speaker rebuild at the moment.Striipped the speaker grills down and gave them a new flat black paint job.Will try and make a start on the grill cloths tommorrow.

Washed the bike yesterday and went for a really nice ride down to the bike shop on the way home the clouds opened up and I get drowned bike got covered in crap.I live out on dirt roads.The joys of wet riding.I still had fun.I took a few pictures of the bike before I headed out.Hope you like my 15 year old bike as much as I do.I love that bike even more since I put a new cam in it a fews years back, best thing I ever did.

Fat piggy

PrazVT

Progress is progress - that's awesome that you got the vinyl crap off of the speakers. Looks like structurally they are sound so that's good. Looking forward to the next update!

messiah

Nice scoot Piggy Looks like you've made some progress on the speakers too. Keep up the good work!

Toolfan66

Who sits on the **** seat??


Nice Ride...:cool:

fatpiggy

Fatcow sits on the **** seat, she day tours with me..These days we dont get away much got too many cows and calves to look after,but when I get the chance Im gone.Some very nice country where we live, lots of steep mountains and beaches ,the day time temp year round is 75F average just lots of rain as it is sub tropical here.Best country for a Harley, just the coastal air eats metal and causes alot of rust.Everything rusts around here abit like me.

Fatpiggy

fatpiggy

Well today was very productive,Went and seen the timber guy up the road.Had alook at some nice rose wood but it was a bit too dark,Decided on some nice light Red Cedar.I have a huge plank 12 ft L X 14" W X 1" W thick. Should look very nice for the sides of the enclosures some very nice grain.$77 including tax.

Still waiting on the new drivers maybe take another week.I have decided to 2 pak black gloss the fronts, backs,tops and pedistials.I'll use the red cedar to panel the sides only.I'll re cloth the freshly painted speaker grills with new black cloth.Should look ok.

I think all timber would be too much so two tone it will be.The Lsi series looks ok two toned black and timber.I cant wait to get these speakers completed.

Fat piggy

PrazVT

I think that color combo sounds pretty classy. Should look nice.

fatpiggy

Thanks PrazVT,
Yeah I have been running ideas through my head for over a week now and that s what I have decided to do.Nice and simple.Im going to make the cedar panels 1/2" thick and bull nose the cedar sides edges to give the panels a bit of a rounded look.

Fatpiggy

F1nut

Decided on some nice light Red Cedar.

A bit too soft and oily, don't ya think?

messiah

How bout some lacewood Piggy? I'm sure you've got plenty of it down there.

fatpiggy

F1nut, Australian Cedar is not oily or soft only when it from a young tree.Its not like American red cedar.But thanks for your comment.

Fat piggy

Australian Red Cedar / Surian

Toona australis ( Cedrela toona )
Description

This large deciduous tree grows through eastern Australia, Papua New Guinea and across to India. The heartwood ranges from pale pink to a dark deep red, depending on the age of the tree. It has a course texture and can sometimes display a fiddleback figure.
Workability

Works well but can be a bit too soft if very young
Applications

Mostly fine furniture and craft work.
Availability

Scarce now. No longer a commercial species but can be source from private land. We keep limited quantities on occasion. Sometimes in slab form.
Hardness

Janka 2.3 420kg/m3.
Durability

Quite durable but no longer wasted in external applications.
At a Glance
Turning: Excellent
Machining: Excellent
Bending: Good
Sanding: Excellent
Nailing/****: Good
Glueing: Excellent
Timber Coating: Takes most coatings
Oil: Oils well
Note 1 This timber is a national icon. It should be used wisely.
Note 2

F1nut

So it grows up tough, eh?

Love this comment.....

Note 1 This timber is a national icon. It should be used wisely.

fatpiggy

If you new a little about the history of Australia you would understand why it is a national icon, but that not your fault you wouldnt know about Australian history would you.Lets just say Australian cedar is nice timber and Im very lucky to find a nice rare piece of it to restore a couple of cheap vinyl polk speakers.Possibly is a waste some might say.But they will look ok in my place.

Heres a picture of a desk that is the same color of the timber I picked up today.

fatpiggy

Messiah,
Didnt see your post thier.Lacewood or silky oak as we call it here is very common, but its hard to get also.I could have got some silky oak but I wanted some thing close to cheery to match my other polks and the cedar was the closest.The silky we have here has a bit too much red in it for my liking.The cedar will be very nice you wait and see.And fro the price it was a real bargain.

Fat piggy

messiah

Cool, cant wait!

fatpiggy

Messiah,
That reminds me....Happy birthday old man !

Fatpiggy

F1nut

fatpiggy wrote: »

If you new a little about the history of Australia you would understand why it is a national icon, but that not your fault you wouldnt know about Australian history would you.

Does it have anything to do with it being a penal colony for England way back when?

Heres a picture of a desk that is the same color of the timber I picked up today.

Looks nice.

fatpiggy

Finut,
Red Cedar, was called "Red Gold" in the early days of Australia.The highly prized timbers were the foundation of wealth that started Australia down the road to prosperity.Long before the discovery of gold and other minerals.Many convicts on completion of thier sentences became cedar cutters as they were called. Much blood was shed both black and white as thousands of tons of Beechwood, cedar, and native pines and other prized timber were removed from the lands of the aboriginal.Alot of timber wars with the natives as lands were opened up for logging.Some of these timbers were hundereds of years old..It was common to see cedar 10 - 20 feet round being hauled by Bullock teams and carted across the country side right up until the late 1880's early 1920'.Sadly most of the coastal giants are gone and only young trees left.

Fat piggy

messiah

fatpiggy wrote: »

Messiah,
That reminds me....Happy birthday old man !

Fatpiggy

Thanks Piggy, it was a good one :biggrin:

Joe08867

Nice scoot Fatpiggy. I have a similar vintage FXDL (96) that I added chrome, some loud pipes, 80 spoke front mag rear and forwards on.

Love my bike..

I like the cedar color. Stands out.

greyford1979

Can't wait to see these things finished. I'm sure it's gonna look great with that cedar and the black. That cedar looks real nice.

fatpiggy

Hi Joe,
Ya cant beat the Harleys built mid 90's they were good years.Im not that impressed with the new bikes they are built a bit light in my opinion.One thing for sure I'd hate to have to fork out for a new bike these days they getting very expensive.

You will have to post a pic of your bike Joe when you get the chance.Have you done anything to the motor.I can highly recommend the Andrews EV27 Cam really makes the motor that much more fun.

Fat piggy

fatpiggy

Hey Greyford you found my thread, cool.Yeah these speakers should come up ok.I think the cedar sides will really jazz them up.Im off to see a carpenter friend today to get the boards sized down.I'll let you know how things go.Might even get a few pictures.

Fatpiggy

fatpiggy

Got back from my friends wood shop.He wants to do the enclosures in all Cedar said the cost would be cheaper than doing the two tone wood and black.I will have to do a bit more research.Im back in two minds again.Bugger..I hate that.

Postie dropped off a parcel.Some new tweeters to go.

Boy things move fast.

Fat Piggy

F1nut

fatpiggy wrote: »

Finut,
Red Cedar, was called "Red Gold" in the early days of Australia.The highly prized timbers were the foundation of wealth that started Australia down the road to prosperity.Long before the discovery of gold and other minerals.Many convicts on completion of thier sentences became cedar cutters as they were called. Much blood was shed both black and white as thousands of tons of Beechwood, cedar, and native pines and other prized timber were removed from the lands of the aboriginal.Alot of timber wars with the natives as lands were opened up for logging.Some of these timbers were hundereds of years old..It was common to see cedar 10 - 20 feet round being hauled by Bullock teams and carted across the country side right up until the late 1880's early 1920'.Sadly most of the coastal giants are gone and only young trees left.

Fat piggy

Thanks for the history lesson. I knew it had something to do with convicts.

I have relatives there....guess I should visit them sometime.

fatpiggy

F1nut,
Actually "Cedar" as an icon has to do with a young country growing towards self determination and Independence and moving away from the barbarous act of penalization.ie convict slavery. Cutting timber allowed a free man to own land and gain wealth as was his right at the time.

Fat piggy

fatpiggy

Today the speaker enclosures went down to the shop to have a make over.Took the plank of cedar with me as well.They buzzed the plank of cedar to show me the grain.Look very nice.I rang around to find a shop that could spray the fronts back and sides with 2 pak black, couldnt find anyone that would do the job for me.

My friend at the woodshop suggested I go with a black gloss laminate.I did a hunt on Ebay and found a local guy selling half sized sheets of black gloss laminate for $20 the fiberglass stuff.So I grabbed a sheet and took that down to the shop as well.

We finally decided to black gloss the front panel where the speakers go with laminate and box the rest of the enclosure with the Cedar timber top sides and back.It will be very fancy with 3/4 inch Cedar timber cladding, bull nosed all round.It will looks a bit chunky but they will be solid.

The enclosures will sure have some weight in them.I decided to cut the top off the box and run with a flat square top rather than the rounded top.A new piece of Cedar timber will be added to the MDF bring it back to size.It worked out I could cut the speaker grill and square that off as well.So the RT 12 will have a flat top and not round.

Maybe will take about a week as this is a love job and will be completed on the side of my friends normal work.He makes doors and cabinets for kitchens.As soon as they are finished I will get some pic's to show you all.Still waiting for the rest of my drivers.

Will have to start on the blown crossovers, still working that one out.Plenty of options to think about.But it looks like I will run with the SL6001 Tri Lams and just replace the 10uf capacitors with something a bit better and the 2 ohm blown resistors maybe bypass the 10uf's with .01uf film foils whilst Im at it.Still just thinking at this stage.

Will be freeze branding some cattle over the next few days, that time if year.

Fatpiggy

cheif pontiac

It is interesting to learn that I have some of the worst Polks ever made. I must have cabbages for ears. Can I pay someone to take this worthless junk off my hands? Man for 16 years I have been tortured by these RT16's. Hard to believe I wasted thousands of hours listening to them. JUNK!

dorokusai

Sounds like its going well FP and I'm looking forward to the pictures.

fatpiggy

Hi chief,
Good to hear you like your Polk RT 16's, I have being given crap about these RT 12 speakers Im doing up.I have been told they arnt worth doing up and that Im wasting my time and money.That these speakers are cheap low quality units and dont sound that good.

Well I have other Polk speakers and they sound great.Every one of them.I cant see how these speakers would be that bad.When I get them rebuilt and running I will have a better idea as to whether all the time and money Im spending will be worth it.

I will just have to wait till they are finished and I will give a full review.

Fatpiggy