Alternate baffle materials

[dwisner8]

Has anyone used maple laminate butcher block for a baffle? This will be for a pair of Dipole speakers. Any ideas for other interesting baffle materials, thick plexiglass, aluminum?....

[Face]

Also check out bamboo cutting boards.

[JonMarsh]

Also check out bamboo cutting boards.

Yes!! +1 :T :W

[dwisner8]

I've looked into Bamboo, and that's definitely a possability. Jon, I just sent you an email. This will be for a set of the Arvo Part Mk II or Mk III speakers. I wonder if 1 1/2" is thick enough?

[dar47]

Has anyone used maple laminate butcher block for a baffle? This will be for a pair of Dipole speakers. Any ideas for other interesting baffle materials, thick plexiglass, aluminum?....

I have used maple end cut cutting boards 1 1/2". I lapped jointed to inset the baffle into the top bottom and sides, this created a constrained wood condition and the manufactured board failed along a glue joint which I had to fill with epoxy making a scared look. After working in the cabinet industry and gluing up lots of board I had that nagging feeling using the cutting board.

This is a nice solid launch platform for the diver but try not to constrain the baffle and from now on I will glue the maple up myself cause it should not have failed along a glue joint. I thought I saved time and money but in the end I'm having to redo the whole cab. Want something done right do it yourself if possible. :E

[Bear]

Has anyone used maple laminate butcher block for a baffle? This will be for a pair of Dipole speakers. Any ideas for other interesting baffle materials, thick plexiglass, aluminum?....

Depending upon your budget, you can get MIC-6 Aluminum (tooling plate aluminum) in pretty stout sizes (e.g., 1' x 2' x 0.5") for $100 - $200. It ain't cheap, but you won't have any concerns about how solid the launch platform is. The trick with tooling plate is that it is pre-relieved and very. very flat. You can machine the heck out of it, and it will not lose any strength/rigidity.

[john trials]

Any ideas for other interesting baffle materials, thick plexiglass, aluminum?....

I'm not sure how good it will be for a baffle, but it is an interesting material that I want to try using as a baffle some day (it's been sitting on my workbench for months): an old elementary school desktop that is made of some really dense cast plastic. It's bit over 5/8" thick and rock solid. I haven't tried cutting it yet, but I assume normal woodworking tools will work.

Also, any time I go to a recital or concert in a nice old theater, I keep staring at the curved plywood seat backs, and thinking how nice it would look to turn one of them into an open-baffle speaker.

[impala454]

Wasn't there a guy who posted on here that built some Statements Monitors out of granite? That was insane!

edit: here it is:

http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=37176

[baniels]

Granite is fun if you have the tools to work with it. If you don't, it is a pretty rock.

[BeerParty]

Also check out bamboo cutting boards.

Just be aware that bamboo will splinter badly when routing across the grain if you are not careful.

[richnen]

Granite is a challenge to work with but produces a stunning looking and sounding speaker.

Just finished a prototype very high end two way that I am going to try and market. Just in the process of building the final version of the cabinets. The granite is Antique Brown, the same material I used for Clearwave's Minuets. http://i73.servimg.com/u/f73/15/83/20/46/minuet10.jpg

I will post a couple of pics when I am finished.

Baniels speakers look amazing!

[gbegland]

I would second the caution about end laminated bamboo cutting boards. I've done a few small projects with them and they worked out OK, but also had a few split along one of the glue joints. The bamboo plywood is much better because you are getting three layers facing opposite directions all laminated together.

Greg

[dlneubec]

I think an interesting material would be UHMW polyethylene plastic. There is a great place to get this for a very reasonable (IMO) price. A 1"thick x 12"w x 48" piece is around $84 or so. I use material from this company for an instrument I build for golf club shaft measurement. They have been great to deal with.

UHMW is easy to cut and drill, but not easy to sand smotth. It is very dense and seems like it would be about as dead to vibration as any material available. I'll use in a speaker project one of these days for sure.

http://www.thecuttingboardfactory.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=TCBF&Category_Code=3WSA

[dwisner8]

The polyethylene plastic is an interesting idea. I would guess it can be easily worked with woodworking tools? I would LOVE to do a set of dipole speakers in granite or thick aluminum, but I have no way to work with those materials. I want to keep this as DIY as possible.

[CraigJ]

This will be for a pair of Dipole speakers.

Not so fast Dwisner8,

Stop the bus, what dipole speakers are we talking about?

Cj

[dwisner8]

Arvo Part mk II

[Face]

If you can get your hands on it, there's Panzerholz Plywood.