Thanks for all the compliments. I need to publically thank my dad for teaching me how to do woodworking. I had zero interest in it but he forced me to learn and I can't thank him enough. I can pretty much do anything mechanical because of him. Don't be afraid to take on a project like this if you are considering it. You MUST have patience and be willing to spend some money on tools though. Oh and actually enjoy doing things yourself. For me personally I find nothing more enjoyable than doing things myself. The sense of accomplishment is huge for most. I can’t wait to get my theater done.
I'll try to answer everyone's questions in hopes that this thread will be a resource and inspiration for others. Here goes.
Guy 13 wrote: Can someone post some pictures of their wood shop and the minimum amount of power tools required to do a decent job?
I don't have my shop complete yet so I can't post a picture that has any relevance to it but I can tell you what I used to build these speakers. Table Saw, Orbital sander, Router with a trim bit and a 3/8" corner round bit, Veneer roller from woodcraft ($15 bucks), air compressor and air nailer, lots of wood glue, silicone to seal a few joints that I was nervous didn’t get sealed with the wood glue. Razor blades- Exacto style and a heavy duty blade attached to one of the newer flip out locking knives. For sand paper I used 80 grit on the orbital to knock down any uneven areas on the raw MDF and smooth everything out. On the veneer I used 220 to do a light sanding- CAUTION! Be very very careful when working with veneer, you have VERY little wood to sand so go slow and easy. Drill and drill bits. Various Squares. Lots of clamps to hold things together while you nail and to make tight bonds. Soldering iron. That’s it for the most part. I’m sure I forgot a few things but you could do this will less I’m sure, especially if you have a friend that can cut all the wood for you. The assembly part requires a lot less tools.
Zerogravity- What type of Veneer did you use, (paper back) If I may ask?
I used 10 mil paper backed Flat Cherry Veneer. I bought it locally at Macbeath Hardwood but they do have a website you can order it from. Here is a link to the cherry I bought.
http://macbeath.com/products/veneers/veneers.html#cherryI bought it in 24”x96” but wish I would have done the 48” by 96” as it would have prevented me from having to do a seam on the towers. My seam turned out great but it is a lot harder than I thought it would be. You can buy it will a peel away self adhesive backing which is called Cherry (Flat Cut PSA) but I’m a cheap bastard and will save a penny everywhere I can. Mine required good ol’ Contact Cement but one thing is for sure the veneer is NEVER coming off. LOL!
Bprochford
“What species of wood is your veneer?”
Cherry- see above comment. The bases have solid walnut as a border though.
Jeffh
“What kind of veneer did you use?
What process did you use to attach the veneer?
Is the veneer on the sides and front all one large piece? or is there a seam somewhere?”
-Cherry
-Contact Cement
-There is a seam and it’s a little tough to seam veneer in my opinion. I bookmatch cut them which involves lying the 2 pieces that are going to be seamed together on top of eachother and making absolutely certain they don’t move as you cut them. I used a simple heavy duty razor blade to make the cut but they do make veneer saws but that costs money and I like to use what I have. After they are cut they should be perfectly matched to eachother. I then used blue painters tape to hold the seam together, making sure to put a fair amount of pressure on the seam to make sure it was tight. There was blue tape all along the front side (wood) of the seam. I then applied contact cement to the back and applied it just like the other pieces. The seam is on one of the sides to remove the likelihood you will see it. I will try to take close ups of the speakers and point out my seam so you can see how it turned out.
Here are some other questions I was privately messaged about but I think they will benefit all:
Is that cherry wood and is it raw veneer? It is Cherry and it is paper backed 10 mil flat cut cherry.
Did you cut out the holes for the speakers after you veneered or before? You MUST cut them after the veneer is applied in my opinion. You would be introducing the potential for serious disaster if you are off even a slight amount. This is considering the fact that contact cement is used. If you are using a wet type contact cement that allows you to move it once you stick it down then you could possibly cut the veneer ahead of time. With a trim bit on a router it’s not a big deal at all to cut the holes after the veneer is applied. You just simply use a razor blade to cur a slit in the veneer over the speaker hole, insert the trim bit and cut the hole. This isn’t the case for the countersunk holes though since the trim bit will only cut where the bearing is tracking. In the case it’s the inner radius surface and not the countersunk radius so you are left with some hand cutting that I did with a razor blade. It’s not ideal nor perfect but I didn’t know how else to do it but I would love to hear from an expert if there is a trim bit that has a super thin bearing that would allow you to cut the countersunk veneer perfectly. Or maybe there is a way I’m not thinking about.
What gluing method did you use to put the veneer on and what glue did you use? Contact Cement. Just bought it at Home Depot. I doubt there is any special kinds that are better than others. Might be wrong here but the hardwood store I bought the veneer at said just use contact cement you can buy at any hardware store.
Did you stain the veneer if so what name brand and what color was it? No stain was used. I wanted a natural finish to show the beauty of the wood. Cherry and walnut are beautiful woods and I wanted them as naked as possible.
Did you use pre-stain treatment before staining? No pre- stain or pre-conditioning products were used.
Is that a satin finish and again what name brand did you use? It is a semi-gloss finish and I considered applying a high gloss on the last coat but after 5 coats of semi gloss I decided to leave it as is. I used a product I bought at woodcraft made by General Finishes “ARM-R-SEAL” Oil & Urethane Topcoat. It’s applied with an old t-shirt I had lying around and just rubbed on. I sanded between each coat with 0000 steel wool. Vacuumed the surfaces with a soft brush attachment then a tack cloth to all surfaces before applying the next coat.
Is that 1/2" or 3/4" round overs on the corners? Neither 3/8” courner round.
Did you have any problems applying the veneer around the corners? No trouble at all. The cherry veneer I got was very flat and super pliable. I could have bent it around a much sharper corner actually.
Did you use any wood softeners? None needed. Super pliable.
Just an FYI- I used 3 sheets of veneer that were size 24”x96”. So a 4’x8’ and a 2’x8’ will work. That covered all sides of the AV-3 towers, the single center speaker AV-3S and the tops, bottoms and fronts of the AV-1RS’s. I did NOT have enough to cover the backs of the AV-1RS’s but I really didn’t want to veneer them anyway. I see the design being a little tougher to veneer and I’m planning to paint them with truck bed liner paint very soon. I’ll post how that turns out when they are done. You clearly don’t need to finish the backs unless you are just anal like me. They hang on a wall and no one will ever see them. I just like completeness.
