18" Neo Sig with Ti Frame -- build pics and recone tips.

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

OK, first of all, let me say that this isn't the end all-be all of sub building, simply a method that I use for consistant results plus some things I've learned the hard way. There's reasons why I do and don't do certain things, some of this isn't 100% what I'd like to do but it will be noted.

Step 1. Get yourself a Shocker Neo motor. (U jelly?) OK, get whatever motor you have and continue on.

Step 2. You will want to clean the gap. Get yourself some clear tape or painter's tape and roll up a thin tube with sticky side out.

Step 3. Stick this down into the gap and roll and spin it around. Repeat until you don't see any scraps of anythign down there.

Step 4. Attatch the frame. (Frame should be cleaned of old glue and softparts..... an angle grinder works quick if you're careful, or you can just whittle it off with a utility knife, or some claim that a bath in engine de-greaser will clean them up nice). Since the bolt pattern on this frame isn't standard I had SPLaudio machine me an adapter ring.

At this point if you plan to keep the sub for a good long while you may consider putting a drop of glue on the edge of each bolt where it meets the frame.... don't soak it or it'll never come apart, but just enough to keep the screw from losening (you can break it with a chisel or flat head screwdriver later assuming you use CA glue which is rather brittle if you nail it with a sharp edge).

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[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Step 5. Check the base of your coil. Shocker Mike began doing coils like this so to help against coil going slinky. As you can see the former extends a little bit beyond the winds of the coil. Take the edge of a screwdriver or other round smooth piece of steel or hardwood and fold the former to make a lip over the winds (see 3 pic series)... This is not rocket science. If your coil looks like the first pic, third pic is what it should look like.

Step 6. Align the coil. I like to glue the coil to the former at this point. First I drop the coil down into the gap and mark where it bottoms out. Ideally the center of the coil should be around the center of the gap (some subs want it offset, but shoot for center unless someone who knows tells you different), but just keep an eye on where you secure the former to the spider so that it won't bottom out too early.

Obviously, make sure the tinsels line up with the coil leads. Use whatever method you like to fix the spider at 90 degrees to the former, Some spiders have a line in them, you can use a quick square, make a jig, use the motor, whatever you like.

At this stage you might want to mock it up and set the cone in place. If you have a lot of coil former sticking up above the cone you should trim it back with a utility knife or some shears or heavy scisors (cut thin strip round and round like you're making your own slinky). If the former is sticking way up through the cone your dustcap won't sit right and you don't want to try to cut it down after you have the cone on!

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Step 7: You will want to make a bead of glue at the top and bottom where the spider meets the former. If you use a thick spider pack or stacked spiders (they should be glued together by their outside rim) you'll want to put a bead of glue on the former then slide the spider(s) into place. You don't have a lot of work time so make sure you get it square pretty quick. You could just bead the glue on heavy and hope it wicks down in... and depending on the spider material it just might.... either way, use light beads and a couple layers as opposed to one king kong bead. Thick CA glue + activator is all I use. You may use rubberized CA glue if you like. CA glue is good because it's strong and you can build fast.... even faster if you use some spray activator. Also if you want to tear down the woofer later a bath in acetone will disolve the CA glue and you can often save the coil!

Step 8: secure coil leads to tinsels. With this woofer I'm doing it below the cone because of where the cone sits when assembled. IF the cone goes right down to the spider you should glue the top of the spider to the former then do this step much later when the cone is in place. For woofers like this, or assuming you used a spacer and another spider on top of this, you would do this in between spiders.

At this point I'd like to mention that if you're running big power where the tinsel meets the coil lead is a weak link. If you have a weak connection here it will burn up (resistance = heat). Best = solder, mid tier = crimp connect, OK = just use some pliers to pinch the coil tight onto the tinsel. The more permanent the bond the less likely it is to fail, but the less likely you'll be able to save the coil if you need to tear it down later. I have done the latter here since I really don't care and can build it more permanent later if I decide I like the specs. If this connection is happening under the cone, glue it down right now otherwise you want to glue to the cone just before you finish. You do NOT want this wiggling around. It should be firmly glued to SOMETHING.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Step 9. Glue the spider assembly to the landing: You will want to be quick for this since CA glue doesn't allow a lot of work time. You will need to throw a bead of glue around the landing, drop the assembly into place, then quickly shim up the gap and make sure it's centered. You can shim with the spider suspended an inch above the landing then slide it into place once you're tightly shimmed but you'll need to work around the spider to run glue on the landing which can be a pain in the arse depending on the frame you're using. MAKE SURE YOU ALIGN THE LEADS WITH YOUR TERMINALS!

You shouldn't need a ton of glue for this to hold really snug.

Step 10: Solder tinsels to terminals. Red is on the left. You can always solder the tinsels to #8 or #10 wire if you prefer direct leads. I've used combinations of glue and zip ties to secure direct leads into place.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Step 11: Attatching the cone. I like to do the surround first and then the tripple joint. leave your shims in place and begin attatching the cone. You may try to run glue around the whole thing and do it in one go.....good luck to you. I do between each set of screw holes at a time. Lay glue on the basket, roll back the surround lip and give it a spritz of activator and just pinch with your fingers. It should be secure in under half a minute. You shouldn't need a huge ammount of glue either. If you do you'll get sticky fingers as it oozes out around the edges of the surround.

 

[Fireitup 10+ year member]

Sticky!!

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Step 12: Now we attatch the cone to the former. My method is to leave the shims in place and do just a drop of glue at 12, 3, 6, and 10 O'clock. Let that glue set up and pull the shims. From here you can go around the cone pushing down on one side gently. You will see quickly if your coil is out of alignment tilting one way or another. If your shimming was good you won't need to worry, and typically with a very thick spider pack it'll be right on. If you are off, just break (or cut with utility knife) one of your glue drops and adjust the angle of the coil in the neck of the cone so that it is properly aligned in the gap. Provided you're relatively close to a right angle when you affix the spider to the coil former and you glued the cone on straight it is quite simple to make fine adjustments in alignment at this point.

At this point if you're happy with alignment start making a bigger bead around the cone/former joint. If your tinsels and coil leads are sticking up through (or if you use loose coils you can drill through the cone about 1/2 inch from the neck and feed them through), be sure to attatch them together at this point using methods discussed above. Glue them right down to the cone once they're securely attatched. Build up the joint here in layers. Thin layers of CA glue cure fast and strong (especially with spray activator). Thick gobs don't always cure right.

If you have a gap between cone and spider and can get your glue bottle in there another bead of glue around the bottom of the cone won't hurt. If they sit tight don't try this. Gobs of dripped CA glue aren't great for the longevity of your spiders!

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Lastly, fasten the dustcap. Some people use CA glue for this but mine fail almost every time I've tried it. Amazing Goop is the way to go here. I can vouch for Original or Shoe goop. Others may work, but I haven't tried them.

Double up a piece of tape so you have a nice way to "hold" the dustcap and position it into place. Goop up the lip and drop it into place. In this case I don't have the proper dustcap for this cone with me so this HX2 cap doesn't sit right and I had to get a bit aggressive with the glue to get it to stick. I don't care. If you care and your dustcap fits the cone properly you won't need a ton of goop and what does seep out can be picked off with your fingernails like a booger in about 5 minutes when it starts to get a little tacky.

Right now if you used CA glue and activator it's pretty much ready for beating on. Sometimes you'll blow off the dustcap if you don't let the Goop sit for an hour, but pretty much beat the thing like you stole it right out of the gate. If you breaks you did it wrong.... return to step 1.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Mods, feel free to modify the title of this into general recone tips if it'll help anyone

Addendum

Example of drilling holes through cone and running direct leads

Solder up like this. On shorter baskets feel free to run the tinsel out at 90 degrees.

And heat shrink if you want to be cute. OR simply cover it with goop glue to insulate and keep it from shorting on the basket (though it's unlikely to happen)

Obviously make sure you line up the holes in the surround with mounting holes before you drill through the cone.... if you screw up just put a gob of glue in the holes....shouldn't matter.

How to stack spiders:

Glue like so.....

Stack and clamp (or work it with your fingertips....it's rough on fingers but works). If you need to stack more than 2 spiders I'd suggest only adding 1 at a time and wait for glue to dry between additions. (this is all done with CA glue)

Possibly more to come if I can find any other pics or if I missed something..... keep in mind some things I need both hands to do and if I can find someone who knows how to video edit, I'd be glad to make a vid and upload to youtube.

 

[SPLaudio 5,000+ posts]

looks good.

I glue totally diff.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

looks good.
I glue totally diff.

Yes. Very interesting discussing your methods, I can't really compare having never tried them. Really I like your idea of stacking spiders, if I ever have a problem breaking tripple joints I'd give it a whirl, but so far that hasn't been a weak link for me. Feel free to post here if you don't mind putting out your trade secrets.

 

[SPLaudio 5,000+ posts]

always sand id of cone with 36-50grit before gluing.

i put the spider inplace on the former then glue, the glue i use wicks. i use 700 and 4000 thickness.

if the cone meets the spiders i put a bead of ca around the former on the spider then put the cone inplace and ca the top. let dry then solder the leads trim and fold flat to the cone and incase them in a 1oz bead of 3500psi epoxy joint i do cone to former ontop of the cone.

i glue all the spiders to the basket at the same time. i use the 700 thickness glue and it soaks thru them all, let cure then do a bead around the outside of the stack with the 4000 thickness. if its on a 18" i put epoxy over that.

i glue my surronds and caps with black e6000

always sand the backside of ur dustcap to rough and the spider landing too!