Build thread: Psalms tower speakers

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  • bimmerguy
    Member
    • Mar 2021
    • 82

    Build thread: Psalms tower speakers

    Hi, all. This thread will document the process of building a pair of Rick Craig-designed tower speakers. These might be some of the last speakers he ever designed. I worked with Rick last spring and summer (2021). I'm sure many of you know of Rick. He was truly one of the great guys in the world of speaker design. I thoroughly enjoyed working with him on this design; I was really saddened to learn of his untimely death. The design was finished late July last year, but due to a protracted medical crisis with my mom, I hadn't been able to start the build until recently. I had, however, been accumulating the necessary parts/raw materials in the interim. Rick and I never settled on a name, but ruminating recently I thought I'd call them the Psalms Towers, as a nod to Rick's company, Selah Audio. He also designed a matching center channel - but that will be a separate project.

    While this is my first ever speaker build, I am no stranger to woodworking or machining. Rick and I agreed that he would design a basic rectangular cabinet, and I would use the baffle dimensions and interior volumes to design a slightly more elaborate cabinet. My 3D CAD skills are...developing; so I did all the design work in 2D CAD with a fairly elaborate Excel spreadsheet to help out with all the necessary calculations. Though I am pretty handy with a soldering iron, Rick built the crossovers and shipped them complete to me last summer.

    I will likely have some questions along the way, but I've done a lot of research and even more thinking about this project for a long time. I'll probably over-document things - hopefully folks don't mind a lot of pictures.

    The drivers will be:
    T: 1" Bliesma T25B-6 beryllium dome
    M: 5" Satori MW13TX-8 with TeXtreme cone
    W (x2): 6.5" Purifi PTT6.5X08-NFA-01 with the funky surround

    The cabinets will be made with 3/4" maple Appleply (more on that later), which I special ordered from a supplier here locally. This stuff is HEAVY. Much more dense than Baltic birch. The curved sides will be 3 layers of bent-laminated 1/4" Baltic birch. That process will be a challenge unto itself -- 1/4" Baltic birch doesn't like to bend.

    My hope is to get these to a point where I can spray them while it is still warm enough to do so. I plan on using automotive polyurethane clearcoat - the same as I used to paint my truck. I've done tables and other projects with it in the past and the results are spectacular.

    Anyway, I hope you come along with me on this journey. And I hope to do Rick proud.
  • bimmerguy
    Member
    • Mar 2021
    • 82

    #2
    Just for fun I did a comparo of Applyply to the other two types of plywood commonly found in woodworking shops.

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    • bimmerguy
      Member
      • Mar 2021
      • 82

      #3
      Here is the pile of goodies. Hopefully these will come together to make something good. This includes the drivers I'll use in the center channel, too.

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      And a stack of money represented by wood product. This is more than I need for this project to be sure. And it doesn't show the 1/4" Baltic birch I'll be using for the sides.

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      Comment

      • tktran
        Senior Member
        • Jan 2005
        • 658

        #4
        Looking forward to watching this evolve.

        I've always had regard for Rick, seemed a very decent guy. How amazing is it that he managed to design a speaker without actually building any cabinets!?

        Or did he build them with the drivers on hand, then you buy drivers from him and build your own lovely cabinets? Or are you using your own drivers, true to DIY form?

        Probably the last 3 way Rick designed. Congrats

        Comment

        • 1Michael
          Senior Member
          • Sep 2006
          • 293

          #5
          This looks like a fun project. Tell us about the crossover you will be using.
          Michael
          Chesapeake Va.

          Comment

          • JonMarsh
            Mad Max Moderator
            • Aug 2000
            • 15259

            #6
            You look like you’re setup to have a very interesting time building these, and have some very nice speakers to listen to when it’s all finished.

            Very nice choices on the drivers. We’ve talked about some similar configurations for Steve Manning, mainly just differing in the choice of midrange driver. The Saatori motor should give you excellent midrange distortion performance.

            And I can relate to your choices of construction material- I just received several pieces of 1-1/4” thick maple ply, fabricated for use as piano pin blocks, but which makes excellent front or rear baffle material.

            By all means, pictures tell the story very well, so we look forward to seeing your build story as it unfolds .
            the AudioWorx
            Natalie P
            M8ta
            Modula Neo DCC
            Modula MT XE
            Modula Xtreme
            Isiris
            Wavecor Ardent

            SMJ
            Minerva Monitor
            Calliope
            Ardent D

            In Development...
            Isiris Mk II updates- in final test stage!
            Obi-Wan
            Saint-Saëns Symphonique/AKA SMJ-40
            Modula PWB
            Calliope CC Supreme
            Natalie P Ultra
            Natalie P Supreme
            Janus BP1 Sub


            Resistance is not futile, it is Volts divided by Amperes...
            Just ask Mr. Ohm....

            Comment

            • Evil Twin
              Super Senior Member
              • Nov 2004
              • 1531

              #7
              The 1-1/4" pin block maple ply as used in the Kurosawa cabinet builds proved most satisfactory...


              DFAL
              Dark Force Acoustic Labs

              A wholly owned subsidiary of Palpatine Heavy Industries

              Comment

              • theSven
                Master of None
                • Jan 2014
                • 855

                #8
                Originally posted by bimmerguy
                Hi, all. This thread will document the process of building a pair of Rick Craig-designed tower speakers. These might be some of the last speakers he ever designed. I worked with Rick last spring and summer (2021). I'm sure many of you know of Rick. He was truly one of the great guys in the world of speaker design. I thoroughly enjoyed working with him on this design; I was really saddened to learn of his untimely death. The design was finished late July last year, but due to a protracted medical crisis with my mom, I hadn't been able to start the build until recently. I had, however, been accumulating the necessary parts/raw materials in the interim. Rick and I never settled on a name, but ruminating recently I thought I'd call them the Psalms Towers, as a nod to Rick's company, Selah Audio. He also designed a matching center channel - but that will be a separate project.

                While this is my first ever speaker build, I am no stranger to woodworking or machining. Rick and I agreed that he would design a basic rectangular cabinet, and I would use the baffle dimensions and interior volumes to design a slightly more elaborate cabinet. My 3D CAD skills are...developing; so I did all the design work in 2D CAD with a fairly elaborate Excel spreadsheet to help out with all the necessary calculations. Though I am pretty handy with a soldering iron, Rick built the crossovers and shipped them complete to me last summer.

                I will likely have some questions along the way, but I've done a lot of research and even more thinking about this project for a long time. I'll probably over-document things - hopefully folks don't mind a lot of pictures.

                The drivers will be:
                T: 1" Bliesma T25B-6 beryllium dome
                M: 5" Satori MW13TX-8 with TeXtreme cone
                W (x2): 6.5" Purifi PTT6.5X08-NFA-01 with the funky surround

                The cabinets will be made with 3/4" maple Appleply (more on that later), which I special ordered from a supplier here locally. This stuff is HEAVY. Much more dense than Baltic birch. The curved sides will be 3 layers of bent-laminated 1/4" Baltic birch. That process will be a challenge unto itself -- 1/4" Baltic birch doesn't like to bend.

                My hope is to get these to a point where I can spray them while it is still warm enough to do so. I plan on using automotive polyurethane clearcoat - the same as I used to paint my truck. I've done tables and other projects with it in the past and the results are spectacular.

                Anyway, I hope you come along with me on this journey. And I hope to do Rick proud.
                Looking forward to many photos and your journey of building the Psalm towers.
                Painter in training

                Comment

                • 5th element
                  Supreme Being Moderator
                  • Sep 2009
                  • 1671

                  #9
                  My goodness the workshop area you've got is huge!
                  What you screamin' for, every five minutes there's a bomb or something. I'm leavin' Bzzzzzzz!
                  5th Element, otherwise known as Matt.
                  Now with website. www.5een.co.uk Still under construction.

                  Comment

                  • bimmerguy
                    Member
                    • Mar 2021
                    • 82

                    #10
                    @tktran: While Rick didn't build a bespoke cabinet for my speakers, he did fit the drivers to different test boxes he had wherein he could test the drivers' performance with various volumes and baffle widths.

                    @1Michael: I am a bit embarrassed to say I can't speak very intelligently about the crossovers...yet. Rick designed and built them; I plan on sitting down with them and diagramming them out electrically, but the desire to make saw dust is strong and I haven't prioritized it yet. But your suggestion might be the prodding I need to do so. It's been quite a long time since I taught undergraduate electronics labs when I was a grad student. It will be fun to diagram circuits again.

                    @JonMarch & Evil Twin: I've seen that piano pin block. It's mighty cool stuff indeed. I had actually toyed with the idea of using it for the baffles, but when running through the construction process in my head, I thought that using a piece of 3/4" & 1/2 Appleply laminated together would do the trick. So that's where I landed. I would like to get some of that pin block some day just to have it -- maybe use it for my future sub build.

                    @5th element: What you see in the pictures is approximately half of the shop. I have a Spancrete garage floor, which means there is a room under the garage with exactly the same square footage as the garage above. There is a driveway that runs from my main driveway down to the shop entrance. The Spancrete beams are 12" thick. It's a 4-car garage, but extra deep at about 35 feet, and about 44 feet wide. The overall square footage is about 1350 give or take since it is not a perfect rectangle. The shop is attached to and accessible from inside the house since it is under the garage, but has its own independent HVAC system. I designed and built my house back when I was but a youth in 2004, but I think if I had to do it over again I would build a separate outbuilding for the shop so I'd have more space.

                    Comment

                    • bimmerguy
                      Member
                      • Mar 2021
                      • 82

                      #11
                      I'd mentioned that the sides of the speakers will be curved. I am not a CAD genius, but here is a 2D drawing of what it will look like shape-wise.

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                      I started by making some templates in some thin sheet stock using one of my homemade router compasses.

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                      I would like to make the curved sides out of 3 laminated pieces of 1/4" Baltic birch plywood because it's very stiff and I've never seen anyone do that before (I'm sure it's out there but I haven't seen it myself). Also, 1/8" MDF, which seems the more traditional/common way to make bent panels, is not available at the big box stores near me (I'd have to go to a specialty supplier like I did for the Appleply); but the 1/4" Baltic birch is readily available in 4x8 sheets at Menards, and in Minnesota you can't swing a cat without hitting a Menards. But bending 3 sheets of Baltic birch is going to present a considerable challenge.

                      Which brings me to experiment #1: Using my vacuum press to force the plywood to my will. I made a form out of some manky white oak, an old piece of 1/4 plywood, and half a sheet of 1-1/2" rigid insulation.

                      Here's the vacuum press I built years ago:
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                      And I'll spare you the gory details of building the form and just skip to the still photo equivalent of the 1980s video montage...
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                      The form turned out great. I covered it with clear tape to prevent glue from sticking to it. I was confident it would work like a champ. I tried it first with a single piece of plywood. I could barely bend the plywood with all my weight, but the weight of air proved heavier! Alas, the vacuum bag always sucked in under the edges of the panel no matter what I did, which would change the radius slightly. Trying two pieces together made it even worse - it would suck in earlier in the pump-down and pull in farther. Sigh. After all that work I had to abandon that idea. Maybe I'll use the form again...if I ever happen to have another project that requires the exact same radius...and length....and width. Sigh again. At least it looks pretty sitting there in the corner of the shop.

                      But it's not all bad. With every project I look for an excuse to buy another tool, and this was it. And this tool was from across the pond. More on that in the future.

                      Comment

                      • bimmerguy
                        Member
                        • Mar 2021
                        • 82

                        #12
                        While I waited my new tool to arrive, I set about breaking down the rest of the sheet goods using my track saw.

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                        I'm a little persnickety about tolerances.

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                        It doesn't seem like that much when you stack it all together.
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                        Comment

                        • JonMarsh
                          Mad Max Moderator
                          • Aug 2000
                          • 15259

                          #13
                          I’d say that you’re well prepared to have a good time getting these speakers built, and we will definitely enjoy watching you do it with all the pictures you’re providing- you know the old saying, a picture is worth a thousand words… especially if it’s captioned well!
                          the AudioWorx
                          Natalie P
                          M8ta
                          Modula Neo DCC
                          Modula MT XE
                          Modula Xtreme
                          Isiris
                          Wavecor Ardent

                          SMJ
                          Minerva Monitor
                          Calliope
                          Ardent D

                          In Development...
                          Isiris Mk II updates- in final test stage!
                          Obi-Wan
                          Saint-Saëns Symphonique/AKA SMJ-40
                          Modula PWB
                          Calliope CC Supreme
                          Natalie P Ultra
                          Natalie P Supreme
                          Janus BP1 Sub


                          Resistance is not futile, it is Volts divided by Amperes...
                          Just ask Mr. Ohm....

                          Comment

                          • Steve Manning
                            Moderator
                            • Dec 2006
                            • 1879

                            #14
                            You beat me to it Matt ...... that's a nice shop!

                            FYI on the ApplePly, they make it up to 1.5" thick. I've been looking at it for a replacement to Baltic Birch since it's next to impossible to source these days.
                            Hold on to your butts - It's about to get Musical!



                            WEBSITE: http://www.smjaudio.com/

                            Comment

                            • rj45
                              Member
                              • Jun 2006
                              • 31

                              #15
                              I built a 24CBT curved line array recently, and used 1/4 BB doubled up for 1/2 inch total for the baffle. I first cut the radius I wanted on the 2 side pieces, then clamped down the 2 thickness of the baffle onto the sides, with glue only between the 2 baffle pieces.. When it dried, it was about 1/2 of the curve I needed, but that made it easy to glue the 1/2 inch "sort of curved" baffle onto the sides. I'll see if I have any pictures. You could always build another fixture and steam the 1/4 BB, that would make it easy to bend.

                              Comment

                              • bimmerguy
                                Member
                                • Mar 2021
                                • 82

                                #16
                                I've done a ton of work on the speakers...which I'll get to in a minute. First, here's a look at the crossovers Rick built. I have yet to diagram out the electrical circuits.

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                                I've made some more templates and test pieces, such as these 'formers' for the curved sides. More on those later.

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                                Then I set about making a template for the internal braces. This curve will define the cross sectional area, and therefore the volume. I don't have a CNC, so I drew the brace on a piece of MDF using the master radius template I'd made earlier and a compass set as closely as I could get to the nominal radius of the circular cutouts. The drawn circles were for reference only as their actual radius would be determined by the Jasper circle cutting jig.

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                                As is my custom, I used a template cutting bit in the router table to cut the brace template curve using the master radius template. I just stick the template to the work piece using double-sticky masking tape. I do a lot of template routing.

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                                They turned out pretty well. The brace template has three holes but not all the braces will have 3, and of course the top and bottom of the cabinet won't have any.

                                Comment

                                • bimmerguy
                                  Member
                                  • Mar 2021
                                  • 82

                                  #17
                                  I needed to make some test pieces to see if my settings for the driver cutouts was accurate. It was not the ideal material, but I had a piece of 1/2" particle board lying around that needed using up, so that's what I chose. I cut a test piece for each of the drivers and the port.

                                  The woofer, tweeter, and port all used nice dimensions (that is, dimensions possible with the Jasper circle cutting jig - 1/16 increments). But the spec for the Satori mids was 5 - 7/32. I have a few home-made router compass jigs kicking about, but I decided to make a dedicated compass for this application. I'd need three dimensions all in 32nds of an inch, so I drilled those pin locations specifically. I just used a scrap piece of 1/8" hardboard. I made it for my little palm router since I wanted to leave the Jasper jig installed on my one of my bigger routers. I only show two pin locations in this picture; I later added a 3rd (and tried to reinstall the compass jig in the exact same location - the zero-ish clearance bit hole helped with that a little).

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                                  All the drivers fit nicely. The keen observer will note that there is an extra shallow 'ring' routed around the OD of each driver position. I'll get to that shortly.

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                                  • bimmerguy
                                    Member
                                    • Mar 2021
                                    • 82

                                    #18
                                    I next cut all the dados for the front inner baffle and rear. The dados will probably add a little strength to the cabinet, but that's not the main reason for using them. The big reason is to ensure the braces are installed perfectly straight (perpendicular) in the X-Y direction and at exactly the right location. It also helps ensure the the braces are perpendicular in the Z direction. It takes the guess work out of that part of the assembly. I don't use my dado set very often, but I got to drag it out for this step. I spent about 30 minutes getting the width exactly how I wanted it - a snug fit but not so tight you need a mallet to get it together or apart.

                                    I clamped the piece to the miter square. In my experience with cutting wide dados, even if you hold the piece tightly there is still a possibility for it to wander as you push it through. Better safe than sorry.

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                                    Everything fit together nicely with no surprises. You can see one of my metal lathes (Clausing 5914) under the plastic sheet in the background.

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                                    • bimmerguy
                                      Member
                                      • Mar 2021
                                      • 82

                                      #19
                                      And so we're on to the thing that's been taking most of my time this past week. I'd mentioned that there was an additional shallow ring routed around the driver mounting position on the pieces I made to test the driver mounting dimensions. Part of my design is to make aluminum trim rings that go around each driver and the port. I've never seen this done before (though it probably has). I think it will look pretty cool and add a bit of uniqueness to the design. Which brings me to Experiment #2. It might take me a few posts to cover all of it.

                                      Anyone familiar with machining can attest to the fact that machining thin stock, especially machining rings out of thin stock, is particularly challenging. The problem is holding the piece firmly enough so it doesn't move when you machine it, but not so firmly that it deforms. The aluminum stock I am going to use is 0.075" thick (13 gauge, give or take). My first thought was to make a faceplate for the lathe and turn the OD and ID that way. I would cut out a disk of aluminum slightly oversized and mount it to the faceplate using the double-sticky tape I use so often for template routing.

                                      So I glued up a piece of white out and turned it down to be perfectly flat and round. I did this on my Clausing lathe. Most hard-core machinists out there will probably faint at the sight of sawdust covering a metal turning lathe, but I do it all the time and am very meticulous about cleaning everything and oiling it all down once I'm done.

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                                      Then, using a faceplate I had previously made that will fit in a collet, I mounted the oak piece to it using the sandwich-a-piece-of-paper-between-the-two-pieces-of-wood trick.

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                                      I gave it a try and the results were...unsuccessful. The tape just wasn't strong enough to hold the aluminum disk securely. I could carefully turn the OD, but there was no hope of doing the much more difficult ID. So I tried it with much stickier carpet tape. That stuff is super sticky and I was worried that I would deform the aluminum trying to remove it - even with a wide putty knife. Well that proved not strong enough, too. So, on to experiment #3.

                                      Comment

                                      • bimmerguy
                                        Member
                                        • Mar 2021
                                        • 82

                                        #20
                                        Experiment #3.

                                        A well-known technique for holding difficult-to-hold pieces for machining is to use CA glue. It produces a strong bond, but can easily be undone by adding a little heat with a torch and cleaning up the residue with acetone. So that was my next try. I had a large disk of aluminum about 8 inches in diameter and about 1.5 inches thick. I turned it down to be perfectly flat on the Clausing. The OD was really larger than I am comfortable turning on the lathe - that is, I can grab it with the chuck, but the jaws are sticking out a little too far for comfort. You can sort of see them in the photo. So I needed to make a smaller piece I could use to mount it on the lathe. Here you can see I am using a boring bar to bore out the mounting hold for a socket head cap screw that will mount the larger disk to a smaller...let's call it an arbor.

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                                        Here's the tapping of the arbor for a 3/8-16 screw. I did this on my Hardinge HLV-H EM lathe. I _greatly_ prefer to work with this lathe over the Clausing. It's like a Ferrari vs a Chevy.

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                                        With the hole tapped I could mount the large disk to the arbor and machine some concentric circles every half inch. The circles serve as reference for concentricity when mounting the work piece, and also provide an air space to allow the CA glue to cure.

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                                        And here is the work piece super-glued to the new faceplate.

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                                        This thing is awesome - it really looks the part, it is solid and and perfectly flat, and easy to hold on the Hardinge. It also doesn't work. The glue doesn't want to stick to it even though I cleaned if off with acetone so it was completely oil-free. I am sure it has to do with the surface being so smooth, but I don't want to rough up work pieces just to get them to stick (even just one side), since I will likely want to polish them to a mirror shine. Luckily I have another idea for Experiment #4.

                                        Comment

                                        • Steve Manning
                                          Moderator
                                          • Dec 2006
                                          • 1879

                                          #21
                                          Originally posted by bimmerguy
                                          Experiment #3.

                                          A well-known technique for holding difficult-to-hold pieces for machining is to use CA glue. It produces a strong bond, but can easily be undone by adding a little heat with a torch and cleaning up the residue with acetone. So that was my next try. I had a large disk of aluminum about 8 inches in diameter and about 1.5 inches thick. I turned it down to be perfectly flat on the Clausing. The OD was really larger than I am comfortable turning on the lathe - that is, I can grab it with the chuck, but the jaws are sticking out a little too far for comfort. You can sort of see them in the photo. So I needed to make a smaller piece I could use to mount it on the lathe. Here you can see I am using a boring bar to bore out the mounting hold for a socket head cap screw that will mount the larger disk to a smaller...let's call it an arbor.

                                          [ATTACH=CONFIG]32249[/ATTACH]

                                          Here's the tapping of the arbor for a 3/8-16 screw. I did this on my Hardinge HLV-H EM lathe. I _greatly_ prefer to work with this lathe over the Clausing. It's like a Ferrari vs a Chevy.

                                          [ATTACH=CONFIG]32250[/ATTACH]

                                          With the hole tapped I could mount the large disk to the arbor and machine some concentric circles every half inch. The circles serve as reference for concentricity when mounting the work piece, and also provide an air space to allow the CA glue to cure.

                                          [ATTACH=CONFIG]32251[/ATTACH]

                                          And here is the work piece super-glued to the new faceplate.

                                          [ATTACH=CONFIG]32252[/ATTACH]

                                          This thing is awesome - it really looks the part, it is solid and and perfectly flat, and easy to hold on the Hardinge. It also doesn't work. The glue doesn't want to stick to it even though I cleaned if off with acetone so it was completely oil-free. I am sure it has to do with the surface being so smooth, but I don't want to rough up work pieces just to get them to stick (even just one side), since I will likely want to polish them to a mirror shine. Luckily I have another idea for Experiment #4.

                                          Check this video out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-coDYZCmEw

                                          I use the painters tape and CA glue with my CNC on different things, works great.
                                          Hold on to your butts - It's about to get Musical!



                                          WEBSITE: http://www.smjaudio.com/

                                          Comment

                                          • Finleyville
                                            Senior Member
                                            • Sep 2006
                                            • 350

                                            #22
                                            I made brushed aluminum rings surrounding each driver in my Finalist build several years ago. My solution, since I did not have access to your shop, was to take 1/8" x 1/2" strips of aluminum and cold form them inside a wooden template that matched each outer diameter of my drivers.

                                            I then hired someone to weld my circles together. While they are not "perfect", no one can tell they were not machined out of a single aluminum block standing a foot away. So if your correct way doesn't pan out, you can always try my back-woods method.

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                                            BE ALERT! The world needs more lerts.

                                            Comment

                                            • bimmerguy
                                              Member
                                              • Mar 2021
                                              • 82

                                              #23
                                              @Steve Manning That is a great technique. I've used it several times while machining. It is well suited to things with a decent sized surface area. I was a little concerned in this case with that technique since once the inner diameter is machined off/out/away there is very little surface area remaining in the ring itself. I was also concerned with the tape/glue method that I might bend the ring trying to remove it. Both of those concerns might be completely unfounded, I don't know. But I had a lightbulb moment for a different way to do it which I'll share in the upcoming posts.

                                              @Finleyville That is a very clever technique for an otherwise challenging design feature. I really like how it turned out. It really adds that extra pop to the front of the speaker. You did a great job of getting a nice circle. It might not be a perfect geometric circle, but you certainly can't tell.

                                              Comment

                                              • bimmerguy
                                                Member
                                                • Mar 2021
                                                • 82

                                                #24
                                                On to Experiment #4. With my previous two (one-and-a-half?) attempts to make the rings less than successful, I thought of a completely different solution that should provide the results I'm looking for...and be faster. I made a set of jigs to machine the outside diameter and inside diameter of each ring. My thought is to use my router table and template routing technique to machine the rings. The key is to make the jigs very accurate so that the outer and inner diameters are perfectly concentric. It won't take much for them to look 'off'. I've never used my router table to route aluminum before, and I wasn't sure if this was asking for trouble and possible serious injury, or a revelation. But the aluminum is relatively thin, so I gave it a shot.

                                                I started with the jigs for the OD. These were a little more straight forward than the ID jigs. I made them out of white oak (I have gobs of it since I had all the trees milled into lumber that were taken down when I built my house). I picked out pieces that were sound but weren't really nice enough to use for any project that was for show. I needed a surprising amount of it for these jigs.

                                                I cut out the circles with my Jasper circle jig (I didn't do myself any favors in my choice of very hard white oak - I had to make several passes at increasing depth to make it through the 1 inch thick material).

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                                                The top part of the jig is 1/8" smaller diameter than the bottom piece so it doesn't interfere with the router bit. The router bit bearing rides on the bottom piece - so it's diameter sets the OD of the ring. There is a 3/8-16 bolt through the middle with fender washers on top and bottom. The bolt head is recessed in the bottom, and the through-hole is drilled at a very tight tolerance for the bolt.

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                                                I cut the aluminum disk roughly to size on the bandsaw, then used a step drill to make a 3/8" hole in the center. The step drill was important for the thin sheet stock since it didn't grab the way a regular bit would. Drilling sheet stock can be tricky business if you're not careful.

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                                                With the disk roughed to shape and the hole drilled, I could make my wood and aluminum hamburger:

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                                                I wasn't sure how much the router bit would grab the aluminum, so I sanded the perimeter of the disk on the belt sander close to the final size so I only had a minimal amount of material to remove on the router table. And I set my router to it's slowest setting, which I think is about 11k RPM.

                                                For the mid driver the OD ended up perfect right off the router table. The woofer and port, however, needed a little bit of tweaking. They ended up about 0.007 - 0.009" oversized. I would prefer them to be a tiny bit undersized to allow for the thickness of the paint I'll use on the front baffle. So to reduced the size of the jig by several thousandths I mounted the wood disk on the Hardinge and took a couple light cuts. When I put the aluminum back in the jig I had to be very careful that the disk was perfectly (or near perfectly) concentric or else I would just be taking a few thousandths off one side of the circle and it would be ever so slightly lopsided.

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                                                This worked quite well and the woofer and port ended up with a great fit.

                                                Comment

                                                • Steve Manning
                                                  Moderator
                                                  • Dec 2006
                                                  • 1879

                                                  #25
                                                  Just for future reference, you can router bits specifically for aluminum. These guys are a good source. https://www.toolstoday.com/
                                                  Hold on to your butts - It's about to get Musical!



                                                  WEBSITE: http://www.smjaudio.com/

                                                  Comment

                                                  • bimmerguy
                                                    Member
                                                    • Mar 2021
                                                    • 82

                                                    #26
                                                    The jigs for the ID require quite a bit of precision. As I stated earlier, if the OD and ID aren't spot-on, I think it will be pretty noticeable. So I took quite a bit of care to get it right. Each jig consists of two squares of the same size. I cut out the blanks and then taped the two pieces together. Then I drilled and countersunk the holes for 1/4-20 bolts & washers and the hole for the circle cutting jig pin while they were taped together. I used my smallest Forstner bit (1/4") because Forstner bits wander less than standard twist drills do. The Forstner bit also does not create an oversized hole like a twist drill does. The holes are a very snug fit for the bolts, so much so that I needed to ream out the holes in the top piece to 0.257".

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                                                    The bottom part of the jig has a ring routed in it whose OD matches the OD of the disks from the previous step and is slightly shallower than the thickness of the aluminum material (about 0.05" vs the 0.075 thickness of the aluminum). When the bolts are inserted there is essentially no play (movement) in the top piece. The top piece sandwiches the aluminum in nicely so it doesn't spin when the wing nuts are hand tightened.

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                                                    Then I cut the center out of the disks. I thought a lot about how best to do this. I tried to do it on the scroll saw, but I don't really have the right blades to cut aluminum on there. I tried, but it didn't go well. So in the end I just used my jig saw with a metal cutting blade in it. That went well enough. I just drilled a hole big enough to start the blade. I had to hold and rotate the disk by hand, but it wasn't too bad.

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                                                    With the center cut out I can insert the ring into the jig and tighten the wing nuts. The ring is a tight fit in the jig, there is no slop at all so the ID should be very concentric when I'm done.

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                                                    Even at it's lowest speed, the router kicks out chips that are...oppressive. Eye protection is a must and long sleeves probably would have been helpful. All in all it wasn't too bad, though. The bit did not bite into the material as much as I thought it would. At first I held the jig in a clamp to give me a longer lever to hold on to, but pretty quickly I determined I could hold on to the jig with my hands without too much peril.

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                                                    I repeated this procedure for the mids, woofers, and ports. The tweeters required a slight tweak to the operation.

                                                    Comment

                                                    • bimmerguy
                                                      Member
                                                      • Mar 2021
                                                      • 82

                                                      #27
                                                      Those router bits made specifically for aluminum that Steve mentioned would probably have come in handy for this operation!

                                                      The tweeters are small and that presents an increased challenge to cutting the center out of the disk. I first cut the OD to rough size on the band saw.

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                                                      The pieces are too small to cut with the jig saw - I have no way to hold them safely. And I already knew the scroll saw wasn't a good idea. Then in another lightbulb moment I thought of knockout punches. They're typically used for making holes in metal studs and other sheet metal for electrical conduit. But they should work nicely on the soft aluminum - even if it is quite a bit thicker than what they usually cut. I did it in two stages - I cut a smaller hole to allow for the larger bolt that is used for the larger cutter/die.

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                                                      I held the punch in the chuck of the Hardinge so I could get a good grip on it. This was important as I went to cut out the two inch hole - I needed to put a lot of force on the wrench.

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                                                      I was worried that with such a large punch I would deform the aluminum. The first one went fine - no deformation at all. The second one had a small amount of deformation, but I put it in the hydraulic press and that straightened it out.

                                                      The jig is sufficiently small that I was not about to attempt to hold it by hand on the router table. So I used a pipe clamp to give me a bit of extra leverage. It all went drama-free.

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                                                      Comment

                                                      • bimmerguy
                                                        Member
                                                        • Mar 2021
                                                        • 82

                                                        #28
                                                        Well that was quite a bit of extra work/fabricating just to make some aluminum rings. But I think the final result was worth the effort.

                                                        I spent a lot of time and material making the jigs, but they served their purpose well and I think in the end it was the best way to do this operation.

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                                                        This picture sums up a lot of hours of work(!):

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                                                        They fit nicely in the sample pieces I'd made earlier, and the drivers look pretty neat with them installed.

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                                                        I try not to think too hard about how easy this would have been with a waterjet!

                                                        Comment

                                                        • bimmerguy
                                                          Member
                                                          • Mar 2021
                                                          • 82

                                                          #29
                                                          The next step might be to begin making the curved sides. This week a man in a big brown truck dropped off these packages from across the pond.

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                                                          The goodies inside are these:

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                                                          I mentioned before that with every project I am on the lookout for an excuse to buy a new tool. Well this was an major one. It's a Curvomatic. Many of you are likely aware of them. They are a UK-based company with a sparse website, very limited Youtube presence, and relatively little web exposure in general. I've been wanting one for a while for a few projects I have in mind, and this speaker project was the push I needed to pull the trigger. Time will tell if it was a wise investment.

                                                          Comment

                                                          • dar47
                                                            Senior Member
                                                            • Nov 2008
                                                            • 873

                                                            #30
                                                            I remember seeing those and wanting them, nice grab!

                                                            Comment

                                                            • JonMarsh
                                                              Mad Max Moderator
                                                              • Aug 2000
                                                              • 15259

                                                              #31
                                                              Originally posted by bimmerguy
                                                              The next step might be to begin making the curved sides. This week a man in a big brown truck dropped off these packages from across the pond.

                                                              [ATTACH=CONFIG]32284[/ATTACH]

                                                              The goodies inside are these:

                                                              [ATTACH=CONFIG]32285[/ATTACH]

                                                              I mentioned before that with every project I am on the lookout for an excuse to buy a new tool. Well this was an major one. It's a Curvomatic. Many of you are likely aware of them. They are a UK-based company with a sparse website, very limited Youtube presence, and relatively little web exposure in general. I've been wanting one for a while for a few projects I have in mind, and this speaker project was the push I needed to pull the trigger. Time will tell if it was a wise investment.
                                                              Now, this is a true hardware and tool junkie! I love seeing stuff like this!
                                                              the AudioWorx
                                                              Natalie P
                                                              M8ta
                                                              Modula Neo DCC
                                                              Modula MT XE
                                                              Modula Xtreme
                                                              Isiris
                                                              Wavecor Ardent

                                                              SMJ
                                                              Minerva Monitor
                                                              Calliope
                                                              Ardent D

                                                              In Development...
                                                              Isiris Mk II updates- in final test stage!
                                                              Obi-Wan
                                                              Saint-Saëns Symphonique/AKA SMJ-40
                                                              Modula PWB
                                                              Calliope CC Supreme
                                                              Natalie P Ultra
                                                              Natalie P Supreme
                                                              Janus BP1 Sub


                                                              Resistance is not futile, it is Volts divided by Amperes...
                                                              Just ask Mr. Ohm....

                                                              Comment

                                                              • Steve Manning
                                                                Moderator
                                                                • Dec 2006
                                                                • 1879

                                                                #32
                                                                Originally posted by bimmerguy
                                                                The next step might be to begin making the curved sides. This week a man in a big brown truck dropped off these packages from across the pond.

                                                                [ATTACH=CONFIG]32284[/ATTACH]

                                                                The goodies inside are these:

                                                                [ATTACH=CONFIG]32285[/ATTACH]

                                                                I mentioned before that with every project I am on the lookout for an excuse to buy a new tool. Well this was an major one. It's a Curvomatic. Many of you are likely aware of them. They are a UK-based company with a sparse website, very limited Youtube presence, and relatively little web exposure in general. I've been wanting one for a while for a few projects I have in mind, and this speaker project was the push I needed to pull the trigger. Time will tell if it was a wise investment.
                                                                This has been on my want list for a while. How did you get the stuff ordered, their website doesn't even work these days?
                                                                Hold on to your butts - It's about to get Musical!



                                                                WEBSITE: http://www.smjaudio.com/

                                                                Comment

                                                                • CADman_ks
                                                                  Senior Member
                                                                  • Jan 2012
                                                                  • 497

                                                                  #33
                                                                  Originally posted by bimmerguy
                                                                  ...

                                                                  I mentioned before that with every project I am on the lookout for an excuse to buy a new tool. Well this was an major one. It's a Curvomatic. Many of you are likely aware of them. They are a UK-based company with a sparse website, very limited Youtube presence, and relatively little web exposure in general. I've been wanting one for a while for a few projects I have in mind, and this speaker project was the push I needed to pull the trigger. Time will tell if it was a wise investment.
                                                                  Even the name is AWESOME!!
                                                                  CADman_ks
                                                                  - Stentorian build...
                                                                  - Ochocinco build...
                                                                  - BT speaker / sub build...

                                                                  Comment

                                                                  • bimmerguy
                                                                    Member
                                                                    • Mar 2021
                                                                    • 82

                                                                    #34
                                                                    Originally posted by JonMarsh
                                                                    Now, this is a true hardware and tool junkie! I love seeing stuff like this!
                                                                    Guilty as charged!

                                                                    Comment

                                                                    • bimmerguy
                                                                      Member
                                                                      • Mar 2021
                                                                      • 82

                                                                      #35
                                                                      Originally posted by Steve Manning
                                                                      This has been on my want list for a while. How did you get the stuff ordered, their website doesn't even work these days?
                                                                      I just emailed the address from their website and he (Jim Burgess) got back to me pretty quickly (allowing for the 6 hour time difference). On their website they have a brochure with the prices listed in GBP. I will warn you it is not cheap. The dollar is stronger against the pound now than it was years ago, but it is still expensive. And, though most of it is aluminum extrusions, in total the stuff is heavy so shipping is painful, too. I ordered the 2 modules + joining kit, and 3 beams with 3 ratchet straps. I could have made wooden beams, but I wanted to hit the ground running without having another recursive project. It came in five boxes.

                                                                      Shipment was pretty fast. I think I had it within a week of it being shipped.

                                                                      It comes with no instructions whatsoever. They do have a Youtube channel...with 7 total videos I think. One of which is an instructional video, the rest are more marketing. The instructional video is all you really have to go by and it is a little fast paced, so I watched it a few times. All in all it is not too difficult to do, but it did take me the better part of 3 hours to get it all set up and ready for testing. Assembling what they call the mold and pressing 'skins' (sliding all the aluminum extrusions together to form the flexible mat) took most of the time. They guy in the video does it at lightning speed. I realize the video is sped up, but even so I don't know how you can do it that fast! Then you have to run a screw in the end of each extrusion to hold them all together. So many screws.

                                                                      The beams are also extruded aluminum but they come with 4 steel bars that are made of 3/8 or 1/2" plate (they need to be quite strong). They make the beams extremely heavy. It's to these bars that you attached the ratchet straps. They have holes tapped with 10-1.5 metric threads on each end. I'm not sure what they did during manufacturing, but the tapped holes were undersized so much that you could barely drive in the pan head screws. I ran a tap through all of them and now they work great - it just took an extra hour of my day.

                                                                      I haven't glued anything with them yet but I did dry test them. They were able to bend the 3 layers of 1/4 Baltic birch plywood, but it took a lot of force. It's a pretty neat system once you get it all set up.

                                                                      Comment

                                                                      • bimmerguy
                                                                        Member
                                                                        • Mar 2021
                                                                        • 82

                                                                        #36
                                                                        Out of curiosity, has anyone ever tried to do aluminum inlay on a curved surface? I am assuming that is what's done on the Sonus Faber speakers shown below. I'd like to do something like this but I haven't quite figured out the best material (that is, should I use square aluminum wire, flat aluminum wire, etc.), the best adhesive for it, and the best technique to cut the inlay groove. It likely involves using a custom curved router sled. The grooves would need to be routed (very carefully!) after the sides were mounted to the skeleton of the speakers to ensure the height on each side was identical. I'd thought about using fret wire, but that sticks up above the surface and I'd like to have the aluminum mounted flush. I really like the look. Any advice on how to achieve this? If I am not able to figure out how to do it I might just go back to a standard veneer approach.

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                                                                        Comment

                                                                        • Steve Manning
                                                                          Moderator
                                                                          • Dec 2006
                                                                          • 1879

                                                                          #37
                                                                          I have not tried this myself, but I've been doing research on it. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TCR4BRK...v_ov_lig_dp_it Videos on the process are easy to find. From what I've seen though once everything is cured, the stuff is buffed with steel wool and it looks just like the base material.

                                                                          Another option, I did mess with 1/4" square stock on the Minerva's that I built a while back. That had a fare bit of spring back though. Based on my experience with that, if you went 1/8" or a little thinner and bend with that new fancy Curvomatic setup of yours, you could just use epoxy to hold them in place. Might be worth a pre-bend to get the curve right ahead of time so there is less stress during clue up, but I think it would work well.
                                                                          Hold on to your butts - It's about to get Musical!



                                                                          WEBSITE: http://www.smjaudio.com/

                                                                          Comment

                                                                          • CADman_ks
                                                                            Senior Member
                                                                            • Jan 2012
                                                                            • 497

                                                                            #38
                                                                            Originally posted by Steve Manning
                                                                            I have not tried this myself, but I've been doing research on it. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TCR4BRK...v_ov_lig_dp_it Videos on the process are easy to find. From what I've seen though once everything is cured, the stuff is buffed with steel wool and it looks just like the base material.

                                                                            ...
                                                                            Hummm... That's interesting. I always wondered how they did that fine inlay on wooden boxes...
                                                                            CADman_ks
                                                                            - Stentorian build...
                                                                            - Ochocinco build...
                                                                            - BT speaker / sub build...

                                                                            Comment

                                                                            • bimmerguy
                                                                              Member
                                                                              • Mar 2021
                                                                              • 82

                                                                              #39
                                                                              After a lot of contemplation and soul searching about how I wanted to lay out the sides of the speakers, I got started on the veneer work. It might seem a bit early in the process for that, but I'd like to be able to apply the veneer at the same time as I press the curved panel. I laid out the veneer and started by cutting it to length. I'd been scratching my head about what veneer to use for a long time. I wanted something really unique. When looking through my inventory I was about to settle on quilted bubinga (which isn't all that unique, but is one of my favorites). But then I came across this when perusing the website of a veneer supplier. They had just received it in. It's quarter-sawn ziricote from the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. I have quite a few pieces of ziricote in solid stock, but I've never seen it in veneer before (of course I had never specifically looked for it before, either). I really like it. It looks like nothing else - almost like an abstract landscape painting. I knew the instant I saw it that it was what I wanted for the Psalms speakers. It was a fairly small flitch - so I bought the whole thing.

                                                                              There were quite a few defects in it (typical for the species) that I had to work around. I laid out my cut lines with a yellow pencil since a regular pencil is tough to see on the dark wood.

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                                                                              The more difficult part came once they were cut to length. The raw veneer was only about 5.5 inches wide, and neither edge was straight or parallel. So I needed to remedy that and cut them to a consistent width for bookmatching. One of the challenges of working with veneer is joining the edges together so the assembled panel looks like one seamless piece. I grouped the pieces in bundles of 4 - which is what I would need for each panel - and taped them together so I could process that many at a time. I first used my track saw to straighten up one edge.

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                                                                              This left a nice edge, but when I checked it was weirdly curved. It was only about an 1/8 inch over 42 inches, but that's not good enough for joining pieces together. I think the reason is due to the fact that the track doesn't push down firmly enough on the veneer. The veneer was fairly flat, but warped enough that it needed pressing pretty firmly to be totally flat. Without that firm pressing, the veneer had a little too much flex. But at least the track saw method got me close enough to use a second method that was sure to leave a perfectly straight and square edge.

                                                                              I built a jig that clamps the pieces between two stiff boards, and I added a fence to the back so I could cut all the bundles to the exact same width. I was extra careful to joint the edges of the boards to be super straight; I checked and rechecked with a known straight edge. The board edge is the reference surface for the pilot bearing of the router bit. I first used it without the fence just to straighten up the track saw-cut edge, then I installed the fence and trimmed the other edge to width.

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                                                                              I cut the pieces close enough to the final dimension on the track saw so I only needed to remove about 1/8 inch on the jig - the less I needed to remove with the router the less likely it would be for the brittle veneer to chip out. I used my fancy compression bit in the router and made sure to do climb cutting so that the rotation of the bit was pushing into the piece instead of away from it. The other benefit of cutting nearly the final size on the track saw is that there is less grabbing of the veneer by the cutter when climb cutting.

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                                                                              For short pieces of veneer I've made a similar jig that I can send through the jointer. But these pieces were sufficiently long that the center of the long span didn't put enough pressure on the veneer for that approach. So I used a couple F-clamps to really squish the veneer flat. I routed as much as I could with the clamps in their initial positions, then just moved the clamps over slightly to get the remaining bit. This worked great.

                                                                              Comment

                                                                              • JonMarsh
                                                                                Mad Max Moderator
                                                                                • Aug 2000
                                                                                • 15259

                                                                                #40
                                                                                It's all about the details, isn't it, and for a project like this, there are a LOT of details!

                                                                                :T
                                                                                the AudioWorx
                                                                                Natalie P
                                                                                M8ta
                                                                                Modula Neo DCC
                                                                                Modula MT XE
                                                                                Modula Xtreme
                                                                                Isiris
                                                                                Wavecor Ardent

                                                                                SMJ
                                                                                Minerva Monitor
                                                                                Calliope
                                                                                Ardent D

                                                                                In Development...
                                                                                Isiris Mk II updates- in final test stage!
                                                                                Obi-Wan
                                                                                Saint-Saëns Symphonique/AKA SMJ-40
                                                                                Modula PWB
                                                                                Calliope CC Supreme
                                                                                Natalie P Ultra
                                                                                Natalie P Supreme
                                                                                Janus BP1 Sub


                                                                                Resistance is not futile, it is Volts divided by Amperes...
                                                                                Just ask Mr. Ohm....

                                                                                Comment

                                                                                • bimmerguy
                                                                                  Member
                                                                                  • Mar 2021
                                                                                  • 82

                                                                                  #41
                                                                                  With the veneer pieces of uniform width and with nice crisp edges, I can start to assemble the panel. They fit nicely together just lying on the table.

                                                                                  I used blue painter's tape to hold the pieces together on what would become the bottom side of the panel. I was very careful to mate the edges aligned perfectly - the grain has to be a good mirror image for the bookmatch effect to really work.

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                                                                                  The blue tape holds everything together well enough that I can flip it over to apply the veneer tape. I used the sponge from my old soldering station to wet the tape. I've found that I can work with about a 12 inch section of tape at a time; any longer and it just curls up and sticks to itself...and me. I apply the tape ensuring the edges of the veneer fit together perfectly. I used my roller to roll over the whole joint. That way I can tell if everything will lie flat and without gaps. I applied a tape perpendicular to the joint in a few places that needed a little extra help to ensure a tight seam.

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                                                                                  When the tape is dry I flip the panel back over and remove the blue tape. Now the panel is ready for applying to the substrate.

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                                                                                  Comment

                                                                                  • bimmerguy
                                                                                    Member
                                                                                    • Mar 2021
                                                                                    • 82

                                                                                    #42
                                                                                    Originally posted by JonMarsh
                                                                                    It's all about the details, isn't it, and for a project like this, there are a LOT of details!

                                                                                    :T
                                                                                    Yessir! Everything about this project has been an exercise in fine detail. And I'm really just at the beginning, but I'm a details sort of guy, so it's right up my alley. I hope.

                                                                                    Comment

                                                                                    • tf1216
                                                                                      Senior Member
                                                                                      • Apr 2006
                                                                                      • 161

                                                                                      #43
                                                                                      Where in MN do you do your fancy work? I am in Minnetonka.

                                                                                      Comment

                                                                                      • bimmerguy
                                                                                        Member
                                                                                        • Mar 2021
                                                                                        • 82

                                                                                        #44
                                                                                        Originally posted by tf1216
                                                                                        Where in MN do you do your fancy work? I am in Minnetonka.
                                                                                        I'm in Ham Lake.

                                                                                        Comment

                                                                                        • tf1216
                                                                                          Senior Member
                                                                                          • Apr 2006
                                                                                          • 161

                                                                                          #45
                                                                                          Very cool! I am going to be watching your progress with excitement!!

                                                                                          Comment

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