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Stevieb
07-03-2011, 08:23 PM
Okay, I am starting with two Leslie-type units from Dolphin-class Hammonds. The organs themselves are transistor and SS, and they do play- but intermittently, which is driving me mad- probably not worth repairing or keeping, so I am planning on cannibalizing the organs for parts.

I have gleaned some info from this thread, and I thank those who have gone before me. I still have questions, though...

One of the L-units is 2-speed, other is 1-speed.
The speaker signal and the current to drive the leslies' motors come via a small circuit board that mounts to the front speaker baffle board. They look similar, both having a relay(?) housed in a small clear box, a capacitor, and several connections. Are they interchangeable? Do I need them if I am building this leslie unit for use with a L-102?

Should (Can?) I use the rocker switches on one of these Dolphins to switch my leslie, or should I build a switch unit from other parts?

Which unit should be used for which frequencies- i.e. should the 2-speed unit be used for the highs, or the lows?

When I connect the 1-speed leslie unit to the organ that has the 2-speed unit, the motor turns, but no sound comes from the speaker. Turns out the 8" speaker is not functioning.

The rotating, stryo-foam baffle is about 14" in diameter, the center baffle section is about 8" wide. I have heard of folks replacing the 8" speaker with a 15" one- but wouldn't that cause reversion problems, or too much of the sound NOT be routed through the baffle, thus greatly reducing the leslie effect? Wouldn't a 10" speaker that is built for bass response be a better choice? Eminence, for instance, makes a 10" speaker that goes down to 40hz- (Legend BP102.) The 15's they make go down to 47hz, at the lowest. Installing a 10 would be much easier than shoe-horning a 15 in there. That Eminence speaker is an 8-ohm speaker, not a 4- but I think it will work.

I intend to put a 6" speaker that is treble-heavy in the other baffle, so I don't have to figure out how to make a horn fit on the pulley.

I read that leslie treble horn rotates at 48 RPM on slow speed and 400 on fast, and the lower drum rotates at about 342 RPM on tremolo and 40 RPM on chorale. I understand this speed difference contributes considerably to the leslie effect. (It seems to me I read somewhere that the horn turned at TWICE the speed of the woofer, but I can not confirm that.) If I put a larger pulley on the motor, that would increase the speed of the baffle, I am thinking a 1.5 or 2" pulley, in place of the 1" pulley, should do the trick. Agreed? HEY, WAIT! the 2-speed unit already HAS a bigger pulley on it! Maybe it will turn at a different speed than the other one.

I also read, on page 2 of this thread, that the upper and lower horns rotate in the opposite direction. No problem- I can just mount one of the units with the baffle on top, the other with it on the bottom- and they rotate in the opposite directions! I read somewhere that these units would only operate with the shaft of the motor horizontal, not vertical, but one of 'em worked fine for me in all directions.

What is a cheap source for a crossover? I am hoping some stereo speaker I can pick up from a thrift store has a crossover that will work just fine. What should I look for?

These Dolphins have SS power amps, of about 15 watts, I am guessing. Can I use one for each Leslie speaker? How to wire them into the L-102's circuitry?

That's all for now- I will return to this thread and read more of the 99 pages (got as far as 5, today!) and will no doubt have more questions.

Thanks.

Stevieb
07-04-2011, 04:38 PM
Bump- please, folks, I could really use some direction, here. Even if you can only answer one or two of my questions, please weight in. Thanks.

jdoc
07-04-2011, 11:56 PM
2 speed on the top got a run be back

jdoc
07-05-2011, 12:00 AM
flipping the rotor requires reworking the small motor spring at the opposite end of the motor and you may need a different spring. Easier to change motor rotation if you are patient, takes about 1 hour. I have a 15" with the same rotor and just cut out the board. Check posts started by me.

Stevieb
07-05-2011, 03:43 AM
Thanks, Joe. I am subscribed to this thread, so I will see other replies.

TheAdmiral
07-05-2011, 03:08 PM
I read that leslie treble horn rotates at 48 RPM on slow speed and 400 on fast, and the lower drum rotates at about 342 RPM on tremolo and 40 RPM on chorale. I understand this speed difference contributes considerably to the leslie effect. (It seems to me I read somewhere that the horn turned at TWICE the speed of the woofer, but I can not confirm that.) If I put a larger pulley on the motor, that would increase the speed of the baffle, I am thinking a 1.5 or 2" pulley, in place of the 1" pulley, should do the trick. Agreed? HEY, WAIT! the 2-speed unit already HAS a bigger pulley on it! Maybe it will turn at a different speed than the other one.



What is a cheap source for a crossover? I am hoping some stereo speaker I can pick up from a thrift store has a crossover that will work just fine. What should I look for?



Your speeds are about right. The horn DOES NOT rotate at twice the speed of the lower rotor. The pulley diameter will certainly effect the speed of rotation.

The important thing on the crossover is it needs to be at 800HZ but in your experiment may not be that important unless you add a horn later. Part Express has 8 ohm, 800hz crossovers that work very good. Many stereo crossovers work at 1500hz or even much higher, like 3000. Not good.

Stevieb
07-05-2011, 04:24 PM
Jdoc, which way is "UP" for these speakers? They are mounted in the Dolphins with the motor shaft horizontal, which is not how I want them orientated in my cab.

Thanks, Admiral. I do plan on having a "horn," not in the literal sense, but insofar as the upper speaker will be one that does a good job of reproducing the frequencies above, say, 800hz. I am thinking a paper-cone type speaker, of the same size as the one currently installed behind the baffle (6 inches, it appears) that is chosen for it's high-frequency reproduction. Thus, I won't have to build a horn assembly and find a way to attach it to the pulley, nor buy a horn-type HF driver.

CABINETS I HAVE:
1. The cabinet I think I am going to use for this project is a former Perkins folded-horn cab, with the folded horn baffles removed. It's exterior dim's are 36H x 20 W x 24 D- pertty close to the 33 to 41" H x 29 W x 21D that the best-known Leslies are.
2. I also have a home-build box- originally built as a gig rack- that has ext. dim's of 36 x 25 x 25, with a lower section of 27 x 25 x 25 and an upper section of 9 x 25 x 25.
3. Finally, I have two speaker cabs that are 27 H x 23 W x 18 D. Both leslie units will fit in either one of them.

If I go with the former Perkins cab, I am thinking it is big enough for me to install a 15" speaker and another low-freq.
crossover, for only the low frequencies- the pedals.

I don't think the upper section of the former gig rack is big enough to be much good as a speaker enclosure, so I am thinking that I would use it for amps and cable storage- except for two 1" holes, it is separate from the bottom.

The smaller cabs have little extra room for a sub, but the are made of 1/2" plywood, the other of 3/4", so the smaller cabs have the advantage of being considerably lighter, but may buzz and resonate too much- they are not as well-built as either of the larger cabs. They currently have 15's installed in them, so I may just sell them, as-is.

I am rethinking using the SS amps from one or both of the Dolphins- concerns about reliability, and 15 SS watts is not much. 100-200 watt rack-mount PA amps are common as nails, so I might go with one of those- later, if the project warrants it, I might replace that amp with a 50-100 watt tube amp or two.

jdoc
07-05-2011, 10:24 PM
My speaker fires down into the drum Brendon on here has a double unit that is worth looking at.

Brendon Wright
07-05-2011, 11:59 PM
Ah, yeah!
Sorry, I've been lax in watching the forum.... I'm finally starting to mess with recording and work is BIZZZZZZ-zeee!!!!
this monster's my DIY:

http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq42/ancient-troubadour/Heroshot.jpg

I'm quite pleased how the unit sounds and plan to record with it too.
Make sure you allow enough space in the bass cavity to produce the deepest tones satisfactorily.

Search for Subwoofer designs online and work your measurements out from that.