Gallery :: Slideshow

Gallery »
Slideshow

Gallery

Speaker double refined MDF. - 2 sheets of 3/4" and 1 sheet of 1" MDF (4 x 8' sheets) was enough to finish the speaker. I had them cut in half for easy transport	The raw wood before cutting and a picture of the Moradillo to be used for the baffle	Putting some Sonic Barrier Acoustic Foam on before assembly - I highly recommend doing this before assembly	Moradillo cut into 1" x 1" strips for the front baffle - The board of Moradillo was 1" thick already and a perfect match for the 1" MDF baffle I was building. Sanding made it perfectly flush once assembled.
Flush trimming the 1/8" overhand of the hardwood trim flush to the sides of the speaker	The front baffles finished and ready to mount	Clamping and gluing, also using a Bradley nail gun. - I glued the wood and clamped it. Then I used a bradley nail gun to shoot nails into the wood to hold it, let the glue set for a few more minutes and unclamped. This probably saved at least a day of waiting for glue to dry. With the glue and bradley nails these speakers are really solid.	The main box glued
Sealing the cracks with wood filler, then sanding them down.	An RC-5G ready to veneer	Pau Ferro bookmatched and ready to press - I bought the veneering starter kit from www.joewoodworker.com and used the hand saw from that kit to make the seams. Had to route a board with a guide to make a near perfect strait edge. I placed that routed board on top of the pau ferro and cut the wood. This works pretty well, though I still need practice as not all edges came out perfect and seamed together as tight as I wanted.	The Pau Ferro flitches unrolled. I bought 9 flitches running over 120" each. - I bought the Pau Ferro flitches from www.certainlywood.com per Rick Craig's recommendation.
The assembled V2 - Venturi vacuum press pump - This took me a weekend to build and figure out. Also took a long time to research to determine I wanted to buy, assemble, and use it.	I used cold press glue and a roller. - Using a colored veneer glue was the way to go because any gaps were hidden by the underlying closely matched glue color. I think my seams were tight enough that I didn't have to worry so much, but buying the right glue color is the way to go. I think they have light, medium, and dark and this is dark.	The veneer being pressed to the speaker. - I used the Project: V2 - Venturi Based Model (Using an air compressor) kit from joe woodwooker and a 4' x 6' 60 mil vinyl bag from www.joewoodworker.com.	The first side of the speaker (back) is freshly pulled from the veneer press. - Actually I flush routed the edges and then took the picture.
Getting closer on veneering the entire speaker	The first hole cut in the speaker! - This is the back of the speaker and this is the hold for the rear port.	All the holes on the speaker were routed. - For the record this took 3 passes per hole. I used a 3/4" router bit to cut the outer seat, then used a 1/4" inch cutting bit with the router to cut the inner circle and create the hole. For the inner cut I cut 1/2" down, then another 1/2" down to get through the baffle. The holes of the inner brace were already cut before assembly and the front of the speaker is 1.5" thick. I highly advise you precut a scrap board and make sure you are cutting the holes the right size.	I feel like slapping the UPS guy for the condition of these boxes with my expensive drivers and crossovers.. - The UPS driver left them on the sidewalk on Christmas eve at the bottom of my front steps and on the sidewalk stacked on top of each other!!! Not even hidden behind a column on the porch and ready for anybody to take. Fortunately I alerted my neighbor they were being delivered as I was at my parents and he kindly grabbed them for me.
The sanded RC-5G before adding the topcoat. - These are pretopcoated and there is no finish on these shown. There are so many selections for topcoating. I chose to use Waterlox original sealer and finish (4 coats) followed by 3 coats of Waterlox original gloss finish (see next photo). I made a mistake and overdid it on the sealer. Apparently you can get the same results with 4 or 5 coats of strait gloss. In the future I'd probably do 1 coat of sealer and 4 coats of gloss, cutting out 2 of the coats. Actually, as nice as these came out in the future I'm getting a spray setup.	This is after my first or second coat of Waterlox original sealer/finish - Waterlox is normally used for floors and really brings out wood's beauty. Because it is a combination of tung oil, resin, and other solvents it dries faster than tung oil. A member at AC suggested I try it and I'm really happy with the results. It dries pretty fast and self levels pretty well. Also, scratches are easy to fix down the road as any additional coats blend right in. Apparently repairability and getting the "almost sprayed" look is easier with products like this and that is why I chose it.	The drivers needed per speaker	Screwing in the back ports...the fronts are next.