Getting started. 3 sets of XLS-encores - here we go. Best value in DIY!
Tweeter recess measured and cut. Having the sacrificial work jig seen below the actual baffle is a huge help, as I can "lock" my workpiece in place, preventing any annoying movement while I have my router bit spinning a billion RPM waiting to kill me.
Woofer cutout completed. Another advantage of the work plate is that I can affix the center cutout to the board, preventing the router mounting pin from coming loose when the cut is completed, wreaking havoc, and ruining my life.
6 baffles! Much easier to do many at once rather than just 1 set.
Relief cuts on the rear of the baffle allow better airflow to the woofer and prevent reflections from the backwave. I didn't extend the cutout all the way around in order to leave "meat" for the screws to bite into.
Wooooah
This is where the efficiency of my project took a huge nose dive. I knew doing 3 sets at once would save me some time, but I need more damn clamps. Or some magic that makes wood glue dry faster. I purposely oversize the top and bottoms of the cabinets and will flush trim them later. MDF comes in crazy dimensions (what's the metric system?) which makes it hard to anticipate exact sizing.
Got the edges all flush trimmed up and the cabinets square. Next step is a light skim coat of body filler on the seams. I want my speakers to look "molded" instead of pieced together, so covering any any seams is ultra important.
Let the body filler dry and sand with 150 grit. Voila.
It may seem like the body filler didn't do anything, but here's a close up of the seam and exactly what I'm trying to combat. The body filler is blue and did its job. It filled tiny little gaps in the crack that may show later during paint. The black parts between the body filler is dried glue (also good), so the seams are completely smooth at this point.
Yay for rulers! Here's the feet mounting points.
First operation on the router is a 3/4" roundover bit on the vertical edges. Thank god for dust collection - chewing up 3/4" of MDF is a a cancer causing nightmare.
Here's a family shot 1/2way through the 2nd operation (chamfer bit on the top and bottom edges). I usually take 2-3 passes for each operation to take it easy on my bits (unlike my teacher Jessie who is all go no quit 1 pass-kinda-guy).
Here's the full 2nd operation with the chamfer bit fully engaged. My goal for the roundover and the chamfer operations is to end right on the wood seam. Wood expands, glue expands, whatever - but as long as I finish the roundover and chamfer right on the seam, any potential "telegraphing" of the edges will look natural and be unnoticeable.
Right on the edge of the joined pieces of wood. Yay.
Took some time to build this handy fan cart. Pretty awesome. Can be positioned to cool your hot body, or to help with exhausting paint fumes. After testing it on my hot body, I used it today to help exhaust the paint fumes.
I use shellac based primer. Dries ultra hard and sands very well. It's also alcohol based, so it dries unbelievably fast. Basically the best thing ever when it comes to sealing MDF which tends to swell all weird if you use a water based primer.
Safety first.
That's it for today, They are actually dry enough to sand, but I got lazy, sorry.
Sanding sucks. I use a combination of my random orbital sander, sanding block, and good ole hand sanding. Really important to use a mini sanding block for the chamfered edges. Any waviness from hand sanding will really show when the final paint is applied.
Shot a layer of high build primer. Still seeing a bunch of imperfections, so more sanding is in order. Will probably have to repeat process 1 more time before moving to final coat. The finish paint is going to be ****** though. Totally unique.
Filler primer sanded back down to even. Looks like I wrecked the cabinets by sanding too much, but better to take the extra step to level everything out now, rather than deal with an uneven finish coat. The goal is to get the surface as level and as smooth as reasonably possible before doing final coat. I'm doing a finish (surprise) that can't be rubbed out or polished, so I have to take my time here.
I usually use painter's pyramids for drying the cabinets, this time I got smart. I drilled a predetermined depth (used the good ole' tape on the drill bit trick) as a guide hole for some temporary drywall screws.
Screwed in the drywall screws an equal amount of turns (14, I can count), and everything is nice and level.
Yay, speaker is floating and has built in feet for drying. After I'm all done with painting and drying, I'll remove the screws, and cap the holes off with some nice felt or rubber feet.
Tried a new filler primer. It was ultra heavy, the can was about 50% heavier than my other primer, which is a good thing. It means that it has a lot of solids in it so it will fill in imperfections better (won't work miracles, so better to start with a level smooth surface). Always like trying new products and the fact that the color is different than my last coat allows me to see coverage more easily.
Shot VERY well. Nice, even coverage. That's what I like to see with a primer coat. Always nice when hard prep work pays off. Very nice seam coverage and even finish. When you prep a smooth surface, you'll get a smooth surface after paint
Seams looking great, looks like the cabinet is molded from one piece rather than jointed together. Just need to wet sand a couple of places and it should be ready for the final coat of color.
