[allensound]

LOL - dude, that gif is spot on.

[allensound]

Iteration TWO

Alright, you've seen all the sanding photos and now it's time to try and build things back up.  I mentioned that nick I found in the base where I did something stupid so I tried to correct that as best as possible without going too crazy.

Here's a closeup of right after spraying the first coat of the automotive filler primer



And here's another photo after that first coat dried



And...here it is after doing three full coats and letting it dry



If we zoom out a little, this is what it looked like after I finished priming the bits that needed it.  FWIW, I ended up priming quite a bit more than I had initially planned on simply because I went through the primer in a few spots right along the bottom edges.  So to make things easier on myself, I just primed anywhere that MIGHT have needed it.  I figured that was better than thinking I got everything and missing something.


Next step, I wet-sanded the prime coat with 800 grit. 


Then it was on to "touching up" the base with black paint.  Due to the amount of primer I had put on previously, it just made way more sense to go ahead and paint the whole thing.  So, that's what I did.


If you look closely more towards the middle of the base, you'll see some of that orange peel look in the wet paint - look near where the light is reflecting off the paint.  It is very likely because I put the paint on a little too thick - not thick enough to develop a run or sag in the paint, but not as light a coat as I probably should have put.


I made sure to paint along that back edge to fix the spots where I sanded through the finishes and the primer.


Having pointed out the orange peel in that photo a couple images up, what I'm deciding to do is let this paint dry completely for 24 hours and then wet sand it using 800 or 1000 to try and eliminate the orange peel.  After doing that, I'll do one more coat of the black paint - this time I'll do a better/lighter coat of the paint (not go on as wet) - wait another 24 hours and then wet-sand that before going onto the clear coat step.

Also, I ended up getting a smart power strip that allows me to see energy being used.  I thought I'd share some of those photos too...as mentioned previously, I bought a two-pack of garage/worklights from Costco that are just awesome.   Here's a wide shot of my setup for spraying:



The energy for just the fan running that is acting as my air cleaner - 53W isn't too bad.



Then, with the lights set on their medium brightness and the fan running



So the interesting thing here is on medium brightness, it's about perfect for working in the tent.  When I had them on the brightest setting, it was almost too bright AND at the full brightness the two lights were using 145W just themselves.  On medium brightness, they're right at 72W combined for the two. 

So, knowing that I'm going to be sanding, painting, sanding, clear-coating, sanding, clear-coating...it might be a few days before I have another "real" update.

[allensound]

Alright...it's been a minute since an update, and the reason is I didn't want to keep reposting more cycles of failing (I did plenty of those). 

Where I left off is I was going to try and spray the clear on closer and thicker...so I did the 4" away spray thing and the problem is the aerosol/liquid that forces the spray out was too close and not turning into a gas...so it embedded itself in the finish.  I thought it looked weird while I was spraying but being that I'm fairly new to this I just assumed it was something that I didn't know and it would be ok...well, it wasn't.  Here's a photo after I let the base dry for over three days where I was hoping that it was the solvents in the finish that would flash off.  Yeah, that didn't happen.  All the clouds you see in the finish are the aerosols that are part of the finish...



At this point I get super frustrated.  I'm GLAD that I decided to focus on a single part rather than doing them all again.  So, to anyone out there, for sure, practice on a single piece until you get it right.  In this case, the right piece to practice on (for the NX-Tremes) is the base because MOST of it won't even be seen, but you can really hone in your techniques on that piece.  That said, Lloyd, I think you got me off in the right direction.  Because I was sort of at my breaking point with this thing - basically wondering if it's even possible to get a smooth finish with a spray can, I started trying to find out everything I could about the SprayMax product.  I watched videos, read literature, etc.  Well, on the contact us page, they say to call for "Product/Application Advice" - I'M IN!!!!  They put me in touch with a guy name Pete...just an amazing phone call.  He put my mind at ease and let me know that it is indeed possible to get a great finish but you have to do it right...

So, Nlitworld (Lloyd) you were right in the approach you were telling me to do, but I think maybe some of the details won't work well for SprayMax.  Here's what I found...

The proper clear coat technique for a near perfect SprayMax Satin 2k SMOOTH finish

1. After painting, sand the paint to 800 grit (I used the Super Assilex - love it), then follow up with the gray Scotch pad (or Dura Gold gray ultra-fine) - what you're really looking to do here is remove any orange peel that may be hiding in plain sight.  What I mean is this - after painting the flat black, it looked PERFECT, however, after doing a light sanding with the 800, I could see that it was actually removing some peaks in the paint, which would tell you that there was a texture hiding in plain sight.  So I just continued to LIGHTLY sand until it all became uniformly dull. 

2. Spraying the clear, the best method I've found after many attempts and several $$$'s later - these steps apply for both the FIRST and SECOND coats

• Back up to about 8" away from the piece you're spraying. You really don't want to get any closer otherwise you'll have the problem I showed in the image above with those aerosol clouds in the finish
• The technique - Make sure you are holding the can as vertical as possible and spray pretty quickly (how quickly?  maybe 2 feet every 3-4 seconds) back and forth overlapping the horizontal spray passes by like 75% - that's right, you're overlapping A LOT - you want a wet look...this is where practice comes into play...What I've found gives you the absolute best finish is once you've gotten the wet look, you need one more quick pass over the same area again just to give it a little more volume - why?  What I found is if I do it to where it just gets "wet" (or looks like glass), when it dries you will have a texture because there wasn't enough of the product there to "lay down" or smooth out before it dries.  So if you put it on just a bit wetter than when you first see that glossy buildup, that's where you are in the right spot between not wet enough, and putting too much on to where you'll have a run.  Use the same technique for all surfaces (edges, and larger flat surfaces)
• Start on the sides / edges first (in my case, because it's the NX-Treme base, all around the edges)

[ii]After you finish the edges, move on to the flat surface [/li]
[li]If you will be doing another coat, DO NOT RUSH THE FLASHING / DRYING PROCESS!!!  The directions say to wait like 8 minutes depending on temperature/humidity conditions - my suggestions, give it a good 15 minutes and the come back.  Don't chance it - it's ok if you wait a little longer (don't want to go an hour - anywhere from 15 min to 30 min should be fine) and then spray the next coat[/li]
[/list]

Here's where I finally did it pretty dang good - this is a super close up and it looks like there's some texture in the photo but I can tell you at any (non pixel peeping distance), this looks nearly as good as a factory finish on satin black speakers I have in my house.  It was super exciting to see this - oh, and this is just an hour or so after spraying the first layer of clear...


UNFORTUNATELY, I THOUGHT I could get a whole first coat with what I had left in the can I'd used for the other base and I ran out about 3/4 of the way through painting the flat surface of the base  You can see about midway up the piece in this next photo where it starts looking cloudy - yeah....that's where I ran out of clear 





A couple of additional notes

• There is a reason you need to keep the can moving fairly quickly - I said between 3 and 4 seconds over a 2 foot section - in theory you could get the same product buildup but the problem is that when the can is moving slowly, you'll get that same concentration of aerosols that will get in your finish.  When you're moving the can at a better pace, those aerosols don't have time to concentrate in any area and they don't stay in your finish.
• I recommend working in sections - for instance, on the speaker base, because I have the base mounted and rotated at about a 45 degree angle it ends up being a pretty wide piece - like over two feet wide at some points.  I basically divided the thing vertically in half - I would paint one half and then go back and do the other side - this makes it to where the clear is staying wet while I'm spraying in a particular area and makes it easier to get a nice finish - if you're spraying in long runs, it will be very difficult to get a smooth, consistent finish

And one last note...I've thought about this several times and before I paint the baffles I'll make my final decision.  As you've seen in previous photos, I had the baffles mounted sideways so it'd be easier to reach and see everywhere (7' is pretty high even though I'm 6' tall myself).  Mounting them vertically and painting them would be the easiest because the side to side motions would be fairly short and easy to do consistently, however, the top and the bottom would be a problem getting properly without having a ladder and a larger area set up.  So, for that reason, I'll probably still paint the things horizontally, and again, the plan is to work in sections. 

So...all said, I've learned a lot.  I think I can finally get the finish I want on my speakers, and it only cost me about 6 or 7 cans of SprayMax satin 2k and hours upon hours of sanding, repainting, re-clear-coating.  It's not the most fun I've ever had, but I'm excited to finally be making some forward progress again!

That said, it'll probably be several days before I'm back with another update because now I've gotta sand down this freakin' base that I just screwed up because my can emptied out in the middle of the clear coat, and then I've got to sand and clear the baffles. 

As I've mentioned before, I've recorded a LOT of video on this and plan to create a new YouTube channel at some point after I make some good progress so people can "see" how some of this is done rather than just read about it. 

Thank you again all for the tips and encouragement.  It's been a journey.  I still have the veneer work and crossovers to do!   

[allensound]

So last night after I posted that new response, I realized that the closeup picture I took of the finish made it look like total garbage - I couldn’t really see it well until I looked at it on a larger screen later…so, I thought I’d share a couple of additional photos that show how good the clear actually does look.  So on the left of each picture you’ll see some off the shelf purchased speakers, and to the right is the base directly touching so you can (or can’t) see the difference in the finish.  Like I said before, IMO, the finish on the base looks reallllllly good.  Good enough that I would be more than happy with it on my finished NX-Tremes.

Full shot of both together - you can clearly (pun) see where I ran out of clear on the bottom of the base…


And here’s a closer in photo that will show you (IMO) just how good the clear looks on the top of the base now that I’ve learned how to apply it properly



It’s crazy how hard it is to take a photo of black and get it to look like it does to your eyes. 

Anyways, I hope this illustrates better than my previous post just now nice the base turned out…

[nlitworld]

Allen,
 It sounds like you're finally on the right side of the learning curve. Nice work so far! Once you get the feel for timing and muscle memory of spraying, it gets a lot easier and more fun from here. 

[jmimac351]

Great job sticking with it, Allen!

And Thank You for taking time to share thoughtful details to help others. 

You're helping people.  Many people won't share mistakes because they are worried about what people will think of them... but you still did.

That's your nature, and that's a really good thing.  The more gooder people around, the better. 

As for your painting grind... let me know when you lose track of an NX-Studio flatpack and realize it's been thrown away by mistake. 

We're playing with speakers, not saving lives.  Have Fun.

[allensound]

Lloyd - you're totally right.  After you get the feel for it, you no longer wonder How am I going to fail this time?! - it's actually nice to look forward to seeing some nice results!  I just cleared the first of my two front baffles and I'm pretty stoked because I'm pretty positive it turned out great!

As for your painting grind... let me know when you lose track of an NX-Studio flatpack and realize it's been thrown away by mistake. 

jmimac351 - ouch man!!!  That's a rough one.  And yes - for sure, we're not saving lives.  If anything, hopefully enriching the lives of others!

I started sanding down the speaker base from the pics above where I ran out of clear coat - so hopefully I'll get the other baffle and this base clear coated t his weekend and I'll be onto the Bubinga veneering! 

Oh, that reminds me - I saw a picture of the back of Danny's NX-Tremes - I think I'm going to buy some satin black spray paint to paint all the mdf inserts that go in the backs of the speakers...I totally forgot about those and I don't want them to be bare MDF!  Problem is, I need to shellac them before I can paint them!   

[allensound]

So it's been a little more than a month since I last replied here.  Just a quick update.  I REALLY took my time and learned how to get the paint to lay down so I'd be happy with the outcome.

A few notes....

For the front baffles, I stuck with the SprayMax but I ended up going with the Hot Rod Satin Black - this is a paint / clear coat in one.  The primary reason I did this was because every single time I had to redo something with just the clear coat, I'd inevitably go through the clear coat to the paint, so I'd have to repaint and then re-clear...so this just saved me a step and it costs just a tiny bit more than the clear coat itself.  ALSO, one nice thing is it allows me to more easily get all the edges looking nice with just one product.  Also, this lays down just like the clear coat itself, so you can put it on thick and it lays out really smooth.  I think I mentioned I talked to one of the support folks from SprayMax, Pete, and he basically told me that you spray it on and get it to look like what you want it to finish like after it dries - meaning, you need to get it looking nice and wet and smooth, and that's how it'll dry.  The key is to not slow down when spraying.  If you want a slick/smooth coat, you need to spray quickly like with a regular paint, but you'll just go over it several times to build up that layer.  It took quite a bit of practice to get this down but I'm really happy with the results.

Then, on the inserts for the back of the speaker...I really tried to be lazy and skip a step by just painting one of the inserts with satin black spray paint and it really turned out looking like crap.  SO, I just went back to the tried and true formula that worked.  I used spray shellac, sanded to 320 grit, then used Rustoleum Automotive filler primer, wet-sanded with 800 grit, then  spray painted.  I was going to use the SprayMax hot rod satin, but at $30 a bottle, that was going to take between 8-10 bottles and it just didn't make sense to do that for something that is mostly never going to be seen / touched.  So, I ended up trying two other paints...

• Was ok, didn't love it - https://www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/consumer-brands/painters-touch-2x-ultra-cover/satin/sku/350373
• Ended up using this one - https://www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/consumer-brands/american-accents-2x/2x-satin/sku/327916

The American Accents just seemed to spray better and ultimately looked better when it dried.  I can't remember exactly what I liked better about it, but whatever it was it seemed like a much better choice, so that's what I went with.  I think in the end, I used something like 9 or 10 cans of the stuff for all the pieces that mount to the back side of the speakers. 

One thing I've learned is different spray paints require different techniques.  The SprayMax paint above you can repeatedly go over it in quick, thin passes and it won't run - it just gets thicker and lays down super nice.  With the American Accents Rustoleum, it needs to be one really quick pass and be done.  If you try to go over it multiple times, you WILL get runs/sags in the paint. 

All that said, I'm in the final stages of this.  I've got to repaint one of the front baffles because I did one with a clear coat and the other with the hot rod satin - and the one with the clear coat I had a spit in a spot right on the front baffle that I couldn't live with.  It was so frustrating because it was the only blemish, but you can't get rid of it without redoing the entire thing. 

Also, I've got a few touch-up spots to do on some of the back pieces and then I'll be onto veneering the sides.  As soon as I'm done with all that I'll post some finished pics of all that.  It's been a rather long process but I really wanted to be happy with the results so I took my time to learn how to get the finish I wanted.  The only way to learn this is to practice it.

I am REALLY good at sanding now 

[nlitworld]

We need pictures or it never happened...  lol. It sounds like you've finally got things where you're happy AND the results are consistent. Really looking forward to your continued progress.

[allensound]

Alright, back with what I hope everyone will think is a good update And I've got pictures to boot!

There's a few reasons it's been a little while since my last update.
1. I think I mentioned it before, but I realized I had to paint all the bracing that goes in the back - I had to go back through the whole process - sand, shellac, prime, paint.  It just takes time (and baseball season cranked up for my sons) - so this took some time
2. I was constantly unhappy with the finish results I was getting on my baffles.  I redid these things I don't know how many times - let's just say I spent some time and money on sandpaper and spray paint!

Quick notes on painting the backs of the speakers (and the bracing / parts).  I don't have any pictures of the bracing pieces yet - I'll add those later, but for those I did NOT use the SprayMax simply because they won't be seen that much and the cost is 5x that of the Rustoleum satin paints you can get in the store.  The SprayMax Hot Rod Satin black is consistently $30/can.  You can get the American Accents Rustoleum Canyon Satin Black for ~$6/can.   I want to say I used maybe 8 cans of paint to finish all the back bracing pieces plus hitting the baffles a couple of times.  Come to think of it, I don't think I got a picture of the back of the baffles either - I'll add those later as well.

As mentioned above, I did do the entire process for finishing the bracing - shellac, etc.  I tried to finish those things off decently well.  If I got a run or something that just was an eye sore, I would go back and redo it.  If they weren't 100% perfect I did't stress too much about them though because like I mentioned, they won't be seen that much.  I just wanted them to look nice at a casual glance.  If you were to scrutinize the finish on them, I'm sure you could find some issues...

On the backs of the baffles themselves, I didn't do anything special here because MOST of the area will be covered by speaker drivers or NoRez.  There should be very little of this exposed and for that reason I simply hit the back of the baffles with some black primer, and then I sprayed a few coats of the Rustoleum American Accents Canyon Black Satin over that.  I did tape off the groves where the bracing go (to keep a clean spot for glue to adhere) and I did mask off the fronts of the baffles with paper and tape through the driver holes to keep paint off the front.  The tape in the driver holes MOSTLY worked - I did have a spot or two where some overspray made it through which really ticked me off...In hindsight, I would have done things right and sprayed the backs of the speakers FIRST before doing anything else.  Live and learn I suppose.  Here's some photos of the primer and the masked off baffles...

Primer I used for the back of the baffles:


Here's the baffles masked off so I could spray on that primer:


Like I said, I'll get some photos of the back of the baffles and post those later.

Now, onto the heart of everything...getting the baffles RIGHT.  Man it took a lot of learning.  I really...REALLY got tired of sanding those things down all the time, but I got better at it all the time and got way more confident.  A couple tips I can share that may help some people along the way.  If you're sanding off a finish coat you put on (a clear coat or a paint/clear combo) - don't be afraid to go straight to 150 grit - hit it until all the dark spots disappear, then go to 220 - hit that lightly just to smooth out the 150 grit sand marks - you're not really trying to take off any finish at this point.  Then, same thing - move to 400 (I was using the Assilex blue at this point), get smooth out the previous scratches - removing very little finish.  Then onto 800, again, just smoothing things out.  After you do that, hit it with the gray scotchbrite pad (or the Duragold in my case) and get the ultra fine, shallow scratche on the surface.

Sanded baffle - the entire thing looks nice n' dull

 
Closeup of the sanded tweeter - have to be super delicate when sanding in and around this thing.  Easy to burn through the layers if you're not careful!



Sounds like a lot of work, and it kinda is.  I'd say every time I had to go through this process it was probably 45 minutes per baffle.  I did get faster at it though as time went on.  One thing I learned is it's much better to hit it with the more aggressive grit to start to take off the finish faster (with less effort) and then just smooth that out along the way.  It seems counter-intuitive, but it absolutely works better if you do this rather than trying with a high grit number like 320 because you're afraid to burn through the finish.  Ironically, what I found is that using that higher grit, you have to spend more time in a single area to try and get rid of any high spots and you inevitably burn through those areas because you have to focus on smaller areas so much, whereas using the lower (more aggressive grit) allows you work less strenuously and cover a larger area faster so you have less of an opportunity to accidentally sand through an entire layer of finish.  Again, counter intuitive, but I got more comfortable with this as I went.

Also keep in mind - if you want a PERFECTLY smooth and SATIN finish with ZERO orange peel, the sanding step is critical - don't skimp here - you'll just be mad at yourself later!

So, painting the perfect finish.  I honestly thought it wasn't even possible.  I swear to you I probably painted one of those baffles more than 10x.  OMG is it frustrating to feel like you're so close only to screw up ONE little thing - this would happen to me nearly every time.  What do I mean?  Like maybe I didn't go thick enough in one area so it had overspray look to it or stippled, or maybe I went back over an area after it'd already dried so now it stuck out like a sore thumb.  If you could make the mistake, I made it!  I do have the answer though...

For the Perfect Painted SprayMax Hot Rod Black Satin Finish with ZERO Orange Peel
I've got to thank both Pete from SprayMax and Lloyd from the forum here.  The combination of information the provided me got me here...so here's how you do it (for my setup).
Keep in mind, I had my baffle mounted horizontally due to space (the things are freakin' 7' long!).
The key is spraying in the direction of the narrow part of the baffle...so in my case because they were laying horizontally, I needed to be spraying up and down over the baffle and overlapping a good 50-70% with each pass.  The SprayMax paint cans come with nozzles that can be rotated to have a spray fan that is either vertical or horizontal.  I changed the spray fan to be horizontal that way I was overlapping each vertical stroke nicely.  There are a few reasons you absolutely NEED to spray across the narrow part of the baffle...
1. You want that paint to be very wet when you pass back over it with each pass
2. You want the entire fan of that spray to hit the edge of the baffle - when I was trying to spray longways with the baffle, VERY LITTLE spray paint was hitting the very edge (the back side lip) o the baffle so the coating was hyper-thin to non-existent there.  When you have the fan in the same orientation as the edge of the baffle, quite a bit of paint is hitting it on each pass which is key
3. The same went for the top and the bottom of the baffle (the extreme left and right because it was lying horizontally) - going over these edges in multiple passes allowed me to build up a nice layer of paint as I worked my way onto the flat baffle surface - this will be more clear when I post the videos

While this next bit of information doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the horizontal position, this was crucial in me finally getting the finish I wanted.  DO NOT spray all the way around the edges of the baffle first before going on and spraying the main portion of the panel.  I was doing this every single time and I finally realized that doing this was putting micro amounts of paint on the baffles (think overspray) that were drying before I'd get back to putting the real layer of paint on the baffles and that little amount was enough to screw everything up!  Rather that going all around the edge first (like you'll see in many car painting tutorials on line showing how to paint a panel) - simply start at the extreme left or right of the baffle (if horizontal) and work your way around the edge of it all the way down the entire length and off the other side. 

And LASTLY - as Pete from SprayMax told me - and I believe Lloyd even alluded to but I didn't fully understand it at the time - you want to spray this stuff on the way you want it to look.  ie - you're not spraying on a "tack coat"...you're not spraying on a thin layer or even medium layer...no...if you want a glass smooth finish, you need to continue to spray thin layers (overlapping thing layers up and down) until you achieve the look you want.  For me, I wanted perfectly smooth, no orange peel - so that meant I needed to continue overlapping my spray layers until I got a beautifully smooth and glossy finish - once I saw that, I'd move over to get a good 75% overlap until that looked the same, and keep moving down the board like that.

Now, another thing that just about sucked the soul out of my body at some point.  1 can of SprayMax Hot Rod Black Satin is NOT enough to spray the entire baffle...just don't try it.  If it starts spitting paint rather than the beautiful fan it should be putting out - you're toast.  Might as well stop because you're going to have to redo it if you care.  Do yourself a favor and just bite the bullet and know that you're going to spend $60 and use two cans of paint to fully coat ONE baffle.  I'm telling you - I screwed this up at least 3 times thinking I could get by with a single can - it's not worth it.  I guarantee you I lost days and $$$ trying to save money.  Shake up two cans of paint, bust the bladders and have them both at the ready when you start painting the baffle.  After you get to the halfway point on the baffle (ie to the other side of the tweeter) - put that first can down (don't try and pinch pennies here, you'll regret it), go pick up the other can of paint and finish off the baffle.  I PROMISE YOU, you'll walk away much happier if you just commit to this up front. 

The super frustrating thing is I absolutely tried to get by with a single can and for SURE came up short just by inches at least three times.  That was three more times of having to sand all the way back down and start over.  And every time you do this, you lose at least two days.  SOOOOOOOOOOOO not worth saving $30.  If you've decided you want to do this just commit to spending a little extra money and saving some sanity and time (and ultimately money).  You'll be throwing away about 1/3 of each of those bottles....live with it and be happy :-p

Here's some shots of what that paint looked like wet when I finally did it right - you'll see it looks just beautifully smooth....here's the corner where I started


And here's the tweeter when it was wet right after I finished painting the entire baffle


Again, have two of these things shaken and ready to spray...just make it a foregone conclusion!


Here's a nice shot showing how nice the black looks just sitting in a room


This shot shows the speaker base of a purchased "black" speaker where you can see that the base is a dark gray but the baffles actually look black - I LOVE how the SprayMax Hot Rod Satin Black turned out!   What you see there is a pretty accurate representation of what my eyes saw - it wasn't that the light was way brighter on that speaker stand, it was just that the black on those baffles was much darker than the paint on that speaker stand...


Here's an extreme closeup of the tweeter...I didn't even notice I had an area in there I need to clean up / smooth out...but, if you look at the surround, you can see just how beautiful that finish turned out - it really does look like a professional paint job!


So now you're mostly caught up!  My next step is to get started on the veneer!  I'll be getting rolling with that in the next couple of days...super excited to share that soon!

Oh, one last note...I had run out of the Hot Rod Satin Black at some point and I thought I'd just try and do the Clear Coat and HOPE the two baffles would match....NOPE....the baffle that had the sanded down hot rod satin black with a true clear coat over the top of it ended up looking very much like the gray speaker stand above.  On its own it looked decently black, but put right next to a baffle that was finished with the top coat of the hot rod satin black...it was just no contest.   So I HIGHLY recommend if you want a beautiful, strong, durable satin finish, go pick up some of that hot rod satin spraymax paint...it's just awesome when you finally get it right!

[nlitworld]

Wow, Allen those look absolutely perfect!!! I know you ran yourself through the ringer trying to get that look, but the end result is worth it. Seriously one of the best satin black paint jobs I've seen, pro or hobbyist. 

[Danny Richie]

Looking good!

[jmimac351]

Awesome Allen!  Even better that you take the time to share such thoughtful advice. 

Sometimes I do wonder what NX-Treme would sound like in my room. 

You are definitely going to need some copper foil caps for those beauties! 

[allensound]

Wow, Allen those look absolutely perfect!!! I know you ran yourself through the ringer trying to get that look, but the end result is worth it. Seriously one of the best satin black paint jobs I've seen, pro or hobbyist. 

Thank you Lloyd!  I really do appreciate all the tips you provided along the way - it’s amazing having a community of people like you to help push us along.  I think I passed my 300 series class (FINALLY).

Looking good!

Thank you Danny!  I’m hoping to have one of the best looking sets of NX-Treme’s on the planet when I’m done 

Awesome Allen!  Even better that you take the time to share such thoughtful advice. 

Sometimes I do wonder what NX-Treme would sound like in my room. 

You are definitely going to need some copper foil caps for those beauties! 

Dude….don’t think they’re not constantly bouncing around in the back of my mind (those copper foil caps).  Now that I’m making some real forward progress those things seem to work their way more towards the front of my mind

I really do love this community - from the interactions on this thread and reading all the other awesome build threads and advice out there, it’s a great place to hang out!

[allensound]

Ok, so a quick update.  Didn’t want the grass to grow underneath me now that I’m making some real forward progress!

I’ve started cutting the veneer for the sides of the speakers - hanging here (one behind another) are one set for one of the speakers…I think this Bubinga is going to be gorgeous…


And here I’ve cut all the edge banding I think I’ll need for both speakers - 3 pieces per speaker.  1 piece for each outside banding of the speaker sides, and one piece for the cutout for the tweeter on the outside speaker side. 


FWIW, I bought the veneer, tools, glue, etc from veneersupplies.com - I started out trying to use the veneer cutting saw for doing the vertical cuts, but that’s NOT what that thing is for!  It’s for doing a cross cut on the veneer…once I moved over to using a razor blade/box cutter things were much easier and faster

Now it’ll probably be a few days before I can get back to this, but man am I excited

[NXSTUDIO-DRUMMER]

I really like your veneer choice, for your NX-EXTREMES!

Since this is your first experience with veneer, exert patience,.. lots! If you have extra veneer, and want to practice with scrap wood and a piece of veneer, like I did, you'll get a better feel for handling the material itself. You'll definitely have more confidence for sure. Prior to starting my veneer project, I had some scrap lying around, to see if I could wrap the veneer around a radius on my front baffle. The practice paid huge dividends!!!!  I was able to achieve the results, I hoped for. Experimentation with some extra material will benefit you IMO. Being your speakers dwarf mine! LOL
Take your time, these speakers are world class, and deserve the attention spent!

Steps that may come to aid with your veneering:

If you are able to clamp down the the veneer and metal level without splitting the veneer, it will free up your hands, to focus on cutting with the box cutters. I approached trimming out my veneer the same way. Of course, I was going to use the router to clean up the sides on my NX-Studio cabinets, because I allowed for overlapping veneer. 
 
One can never have sharp enough box cutters!

If the veneer isn't paper backed? I approached gluing up my veneer this way. Once it's dry, removing the tape on the veneer it will be stable, and shouldn't curl up. Now your ready to layout veneer on the speaker for ironing. Since your surface is much larger than my Studio's, you possibly may need to glue up in sections? If so, just tape down the area's in sections to secure veneer down, preventing curling up! You could use 1/4", 1/8" Fineline automotive tape. Or the example below.





Note:
Tape the entire outside parameter of veneer first, then do the cross sections. Now you can roll over the entire surface now without curling, based on how you laid out your cross section tape. After the glue dries completely, only remove the 1/8" or 1/4" tape. Use a small modelers paint brush apply glue and brush on the area's covered up by the 1/8" or 1/4" cross section tape. Now you off to the races, removing all tape carefully!!!!

 I realize this is tedious, but not having it held down and stable, while rolling, can be a disaster. Under no circumstances do you want any glue getting on the finish side!
 











Are you planning on wrapping the veneer around the front radius of baffle like I did on my Studio's?

[allensound]

Hi NXStudio-Drummer!  Thank you very much for the advice!  Fortunately my veneer is paper backed so I think it’ll be a touch easier to work with.  I’ve been reading ALL the pages on the veneersupplies website regarding things to consider when doing the veneer.  Turns out that Bubinga has a tendency to crack after ironing if not treated with care - so glad I read the website.  I bought some of the spray they have that allows you to bend veneer easier, and it says to spritz the Bubinga before starting with the ironing process.

Also, the tips you suggest about taping down the veneer and making sure to not get glue on the finish side completely align with what Peter Rawlings said in his super-in-depth video where he walked through veneering an XLS Encore - about 8 minutes in is where he shows the taping down of the veneer
https://youtu.be/pb5KiJmIWII?si=kpe1pJBmAwgYOw8E

Honestly, I think it would have been disastrous without tips like yours and this video - so many little things you would overlook as a first-timer that would trash some pricey veneer!

I’m actually not veneering the round-over on the baffles.  In that regard, I THINK my veneering job is probably going to be easier than what you had with the Studios because I’m not veneering a box - I’m only applying veneer to the outsides of the sides of the speakers and the edge banding.  My plan is to do the edge banding first…then do the side.  I THINK that it should be pretty straight forward….

My current plan is to:
* Do one speaker side at a time (all the steps below) seeing as how the glue has a 6 hour working time (based off what I’ve read on the veneersupplies site).  After 6 hours it’s almost impossible to reactivate the glue apparently…
* Use a glue roller to coat the edge and outside of the side speaker panel - then let dry to the touch
* Tape down the edges of the veneer to the 3/4” plywood you saw in the photos above and roll on the glue there so it dries at the same time as the glue on the speaker panel

I do need to figure out how I’m going to support the speaker side panel so that I can put the edge banding on there - hadn’t even considered that until now….I’m also going to be buying a very small “travel” iron so that I can get into the tweeter cutout on the outside panel.  So many little details to consider.  I’ll try and get some photos and things together as I move along.  Unfortunately I’m likely not going to get back to this for the next week with other things going on - but on the positive side, it’ll give me time to think about all the little things I’m missing 

[NXSTUDIO-DRUMMER]

Hey Allen,
Your Welcome!  Glad your veneer is backed, that makes a difference in the veneering process. The more I thought about you executing round-overs on a 7' foot speaker, that would be a challenge to say the least. I had less than 24" to deal with on my NX-Studio's, round-overring the veneer onto the front baffle.

Perhaps the suggestions I made regarding un-backed veneering, could help other newcomers, with their un-backed veneering projects.


I'm sure other Extreme builders can chime in, helping you out, with a solution for holding your panels while edge banding.

Your train of thought, is on point, doing the edge banding first too. Just make sure you have plenty of adhesive on them, so as the years go by, it doesn't separate from the cabinet.

Allen,
If you decide you want to ad tag logo's on these magnificent speakers, let me know. I have a resource to assist you with that too.
May you have success with your build, and we're looking forward to your progress. Danny and Hobbs are very supportive with any questions that may arrive.

Look forward to future updates and photo's!