[Vapor Audio]

Haha, give that girl a putty knife!

[Bob in St. Louis]

  That will be on lesson number two when we build something else.

I can't show her the easiest ways "right off the bat", least she not appreciate the fact that she's doing it the easy way.

I let her go nuts with the nail gun last night, but tonight she appreciates having to fill all those damn holes.
Next time she'll be more selective with the nail gun.

Although...I'm very proud of her. She's got great aim. Out of all those nails, only one of them came through the "seen" side of the speaker. 
She's cool. 
Having to fill that massive hole after I used a grinder to remove the offending nail, she now appreciates taking her time and shooting the nail accurately.

...Speaking of "good aim", she loves shooting your .22 pistol.
Ryan, Thanks for the loaner. 

Bob

[Nick77]

Nice work Bob, enjoying the thread! Thanks for sharing...

[mcgsxr]

Lots of fun to be seen here, and excellent to share one's passion with one's kids.

I am looking forward to the "creative finish!  My best friend has a Phoenix tatoo (native style) so colorful I can imagine!

[Vapor Audio]

That will be on lesson number two when we build something else.

I can't show her the easiest ways "right off the bat", least she not appreciate the fact that she's doing it the easy way.

I let her go nuts with the nail gun last night, but tonight she appreciates having to fill all those damn holes.
Next time she'll be more selective with the nail gun.

Although...I'm very proud of her. She's got great aim. Out of all those nails, only one of them came through the "seen" side of the speaker. 
She's cool. 
Having to fill that massive hole after I used a grinder to remove the offending nail, she now appreciates taking her time and shooting the nail accurately.

...Speaking of "good aim", she loves shooting your .22 pistol.
Ryan, Thanks for the loaner. 

Sounds like a perfect example of cause/effect being learned down there, as well as trigger control!  A few more days and she'll have things together better than most college students    Looks like sanding lessons will be coming soon, that's big! 

As smart as she is Bob, get her into this and there might finally be somebody at your house who can DESIGN speakers 

[Russell Dawkins]

I think this is a fantastic scheme - individual caves - plus getting the kids involved in building something must be valuable as a life lesson.
That picture of your daughter with the circular saw made me cringe, though, got to say. I have known intelligent, seasoned - and strong - carpenters do themselves nasty injuries with these. I think it is the most dangerous tool in the workshop.

[Don_S]

I too cringed at the circular saw photo.  I immediately saw it was going the wrong way. i.e. saw not supported on the main piece. But then I figured there was some support under the cut-away piece I could not see. I always use C-clamps with the handles pointed down so the saw body will clear. But to do that the whole set up needs to be elevated.  I also knew there was no way a child could handle the heavy saw so I figured there would be daddy help.

I think it is totally cool that your daughter is so engaged in building the speaker. But so far nobody has mentioned the end result. Listening to speakers that she built. Bragging rights and a real sense of accomplishment every time she uses them.  She will probably keep them forever even long after they are replaced by the next pair she builds. 

Bob, I have said this before after seeing your family vacation pics but I will say it again.  You are an awesome father. 

[Occam]

I'm jealous. Both my sons, now in their late 20s, with degrees in 'STEM' fields wouldn't know WTF to do in a shop. I've a drill press and a chop saw in the basement and they scare the boys. I took shop for 2 years in Jr. HS, my sons learned to use an electric screwdriver for scenery building in theater class...
I taught a lab class to Seniors with EE majors at Brooklyn Polytech (now part of NYU) and 70% of them had never held a soldering iron...

PS - I'd be scared to get anywhere near them if either was holding a pneumatic nail gun....

[Bob in St. Louis]

Nick - Thank you very much man, it's my pleasure. Truly.

Mark - Yea.  That creative finish is going to be the hardest part for me. It's going to be so far away from anything I'm interested in.
But as we all know, this isn't about me, not even a little bit. Not even purple, red and pink mythical birds.   

Ryan - Man, I'll tell you what. She's got a problem with trigger control. I can't keep her finger off the (damn) trigger. It's always on there. 
You're 100% correct, sanding lessons came tonight. As did the putty knife lesson. I did that one just for you buddy. I even told her that you yelled at me.
Turns out that she loves the putty knife. So much so that when we were finished using it, she discovered that it works great for removing glue drops from my concrete workshop floor.
She loved every second of it. 
As far as that comment about "designing speakers", you can laugh it up now, but give her a couple years and she'll Vaporize the competition if she puts her mind to it. 

Russell and Don - The circular saw picture was staged. It didn't take me long to realize that her little hand can barely grasp the handle of the saw much less control it if it happens to kick back. When the cut was actually made, I hand my fist firmly grasping the saw.
Trust me, the couple cuts we made racked my nerves. She was fine and wants to do it again, but I'm thinking she won't use that tool for quite a while.

Don - Yea man, I can't wait for these to play in her room. I've got a bunch of my tunes on her PC, so she's loaded up already.....
I've actually thought about taking a video of the "event".
And "yes", these should last her the rest of her life, with a driver replacement here and there. These aren't cheapo speaker quickly thrown together by any stretch of the imagination.

Paul - You're jealous? I've seen your posts about what your son accomplished. I know your pain though. My son is 14 and he and I have had a couple failed attempts at (very small) workshop projects. That boy needs to learn which end of the hammer is the handle, that's for sure. ha ha
He's a bit excited about seeing his little sister building speakers, so maybe that's lit a fire under his ass.
Before these kids leave this house, it is my goal for both of them to use every tool I own, at least once. That's important to me.

Ok...here's the results of tonight:


Had to recess a few stubborn nails with a center punch and 3lb sledge.



Filled the low spots again;



And filled some more...



Then did some sanding...



Not a "lot" of progress today. It is a school night after all.

[Occam]

Bob,

One thing I've learned is I couldn't make my kids participate in an activity with me unless they wanted to participate.
When both boys were in HS, I decided each would make a family dinner with me one night a week. Inevitably, someone would end up crying and usually, it was me.... Now that both are married, and like their father, married wonderful women who have no interest or talent for cooking, they call regularly for cooking advice. [too much hot pepper in the chili, add black coffee]
My boys are quite good at book learning, but power tools, fugedaboudit. Maybe someday they'll graduate from pots and pans to a table saw. - Paul

[Bob in St. Louis]

One thing I've learned is I couldn't make my kids participate in an activity with me unless they wanted to participate.

That is an excellent point.
Something about "leading a horse to water" comes to mind.

For now, the girls is mine. I've been told that in a few years, she'll think I'm just another disconnected old man and will hate me. Once she gets to about twenty(ish), she'll regain some love for me. That's going to be strange. I'm not looking forward to that part.

The boy....Well, he thinks I'm cool simply because I have "Mad skillz" (as he calls them), but those skillz extend no further than the bubble he lives in. Outside of that, he smiles and pats me on the head when I do something he thinks is worth of such praise. I can snake the drain he'll pat me on the head. It goes unappreciated since he doesn't know the repercussions of snaking the drain, or....NOT snaking the drain. It doesn't affect him, so why bother. Hence the patronizing pat on the head.

All that sounds like I'm bitching, but I'm really not.
My kids kick ass. They're both being graded on levels higher than they're in. Not a day goes by that I don't thank God for how awesome they are with regard to intelligence.   
I just can't stand the idea of them growing up to be some dolt that stares blankly at a screw wondering what's the best way to hack at it.

Bob

EDIT: With regard to cooking, I've been working on that as well. I've got the boy appreciating what is truly awesome product that comes from the kitchen.
The girl....well...everything must have ketchup on it. ugh... 

give me time...... They'll be in the kitchen too.

[JohnR]

That is awesome, Bob! Very cool. Hope she enjoys the final result too 

[jtwrace]

Hopefully she doesn't join AudioCircle and see a thread about her.   


  Daddy will be in big trouble.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Thanks John. 

jtwrace, I've never said anything I'd regret, so I should be in good shape. 

[jtwrace]

Gotcha.


Have you asked her what she wants to play through them first? 

[JerryM]

I've been told that in a few years, she'll...

Not true, in my experience, anyway. Keep talking with her, just like this, Dad. That's what matters.

This Topic ROCKS, the pics are fantastic, and the build is awesome.

For St. Louis, you're alright, Bob. 
Good job. 

Have fun,

Jerry

[Vapor Audio]

Ryan - Man, I'll tell you what. She's got a problem with trigger control. I can't keep her finger off the (damn) trigger. It's always on there. 
You're 100% correct, sanding lessons came tonight. As did the putty knife lesson. I did that one just for you buddy. I even told her that you yelled at me.
Turns out that she loves the putty knife. So much so that when we were finished using it, she discovered that it works great for removing glue drops from my concrete workshop floor.
She loved every second of it. 
As far as that comment about "designing speakers", you can laugh it up now, but give her a couple years and she'll Vaporize the competition if she puts her mind to it. 

In a few years if she wants, I know somebody who would let her take over the rights to an established speaker brand ... by then the owner will certainly need an extended vacation! 

Scraping glue off the concrete floor huh, that's a new hobby.  You could keep her busy down here 

In the meantime, finger off the trigger ... and keep the updates coming!  Looks like you're having a great time! 

[Kenneth Patchen]

Great post, sweet kid. Nurture that talent.

And if you'd consider cloning, we'd be up for adoption. My wife thinks the empty nest is a little too empty. And I could use some help getting the KEF 104.2 s back up on the bench for some mods.  Is it just me or did they get heavier?

In the meantime, if your daughter knows how to free-up a frozen rod cap in a Chevy straight six, have her pm me.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Ryan - Thank man. I'll tell her she's got a brighter future in the speaker building industry than she thought.
Not too shabby. She's nine and has her first offer as a business parter.

Kenneth - We adopted her, so I understand. If we could figure out that cloning thing, we'd be in good shape.
She's not good with the lifting of heavy things, but once she builds a set of crossovers, she might be able to help with the KEF mods.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Whoops...missed a couple somehow.

jtwrace - I hadn't thought about asking her, but when we were reading this thread we had some tunes (on her YouTube Playlist) rolling in the background.
Of course the song she wanted to hear first was the one playing at the time. 

Jerry - Thank man, I need all the positive encouragement I can get. Thank you buddy. 

Bob