As much as the audio geek world eschews grills, I sorta like them. Don't get me wrong, I like staring at naked drivers as much as the next geek, but in the real world with guests, curious fingers and non-naked-speaker loving significant others, some compromise is needed.
From my perspective, most grills look a lot alike. Black cloth stretched over a frame looks OK, but I'm shooting for something a little different that still embodies the pragmatic aspects but doesn't follow the conventional esthetic. Overthink? Probably, but I like pushing boundaries, so why not push a little here?
So here's my foray into what I'll call OCD sheer and sexy floating grills.
These were test mules to prove concept and explore some options
Frame stock en masse
Staple channel close up
Mitering Sled
The cut parts
And the glue. With the accelerator, this stuff goes off almost instantly. Perfect for fussy stuff like this
Ended up with these
Added cross pieces
And corner blocks
Ended up here
Drilled 1/8" holes in the corners of frames, centered the grills where I want them and drill a pilot in baffle
Drilled 1/4" hole 7/16" deep
Epoxy and 1/4" x 3/8" N52 magnets
End result
Because upper and lower grills gotta be aligned to satisfy my OCD, a little wax paper to keep things from gettin' stuck together
Drill out 1/8" hole in frame to 5/16", retape grills in position, add epoxy from top. Guarantees alignment just so...
End up with this after epoxy dries
And now for the final touch so they don't look so blocky
My "keep it from chattering" jig
And here's the result
Waiting for some epoxy filler for the holes, then they'll get sprayed in black and covered in no-see-up net like first photo
More later...