Clearwave Dynamic 4T build.

[Hdale85]

Ok now most of you have seen this in another thread but I decided to make a proper thread since Clearwave is now a forum sponsor. The speakers I am building are the Dynamic 4T's which are MTMWWWW's with the TB W4-1337SA mids Vifa XT25 tweeter and RS180 woofers. More info here http://clearwaveloudspeaker.googlepages.com/home .

Anyways I just finally started getting the sides together but first let me post up the previous pics I have.


































And then here's the sides starting to go on



Anyways more to come hopefully. There are some problems still the back kind of gave out a little while clamping the sides but pretty sure a clamp a bit of glue and bondo will fix it. I have to say that this build has been at least 10 times harder then my last speakers.

[tktran]

Great work!

[SQdude]

what material are the sides made of, how thick, how many layers?

[Dennis H]

Dang, first Jed and now Doug have gone to the dark side (just kidding guys ). I admire your spirit but building and selling speakers and/or kits is a tough way to make a buck. Dealing with customers sucks bigtime.

[Hdale85]

Hah I don't sell the kits they are his I'm just building a set.

As for the side material it is 1/8" thick tempered hardboard or something like that. I have 4 layers on the one side I have done right now and it feels pretty stiff and solid. I think it's probably enough even though its only 1/2" thick. But being as it's curved you get quite a bit of extra rigidness.

[GregLett]

Gotta give you props man looks great. Can't wait to see the finished product. :T

[rob17]

Those are looking nice so far. You are a bit more ambitious on your cabinet build than I ever have been. I have always been happy with the rectangular box. I may have to do a project with the curved sides soon.

How did you cut those center braces? The out side on a band saw I assume and did you set up a router jig to cut the centers out? Just wondering.

[Hdale85]

the braces are all CNC'd. I hired a guy on the net to do them they have a cnc shop. All I'm going to say is don't even bother with the kerf cutting of MDF trying to bend it around the edge. Just go with multiple thin layers of something from the start.

[Brian Walter]

Dougie,
Nice job so far, keep up the good work. I've built curved sided speakers using the kerf method and using the strip method, but I haven't tried the multiply thin layers yet. What do you find better about using the multiply thin layers? When I did the kerf method I cut my kerfs at about 1/4" clear spacing, so they were easy to bend around the forms. I filled the voids between the kerf cuts after the sides were in place with Bondo. I suspect the solid thin layers you are using are a little harder to bend.

I can't help but think that you should be building up your layers on both sides somewhat evenly, not doing one complete side at a time, but that is just an educated guess on my part.

I'm looking forward to seeing how they turn out. I must admit, there's something about curve sided speakers that I really like.

Keep us posted.

Brian Walter

[Hdale85]

Well it shouldn't really matter honestly. My braces and what not are all inset into dado's in the wood so nothing is really going to ever shift. I had panels that were done with the kerf cuts and they just wouldn't bend right. Although I must say that I complicated things by having dado's in them for the braces and what not. With the kerfs your removing a lot of the wood as well. Did you put the kerfs on the outside of the speaker? That's the only way that I could think of to fill them in with bondo. If I build another curved cabinet I may have to try that out.

Oh and the 1/8" layers of hard board bend pretty easy honestly. I mean I can't really bend them into place by hand but no problems getting them there with the straps.

[Jim Holtz]

Those look great! :T

Jim

[Hdale85]

I'm just curious what kind of bondo you guys use? I don't really want to spend 50 bucks on bondo. I was looking at the Bondo-Hair as it sounds like it would offer a nice fill and be very durable. Also does Walmart carry it?

[Brian Walter]

I'm just curious what kind of bondo you guys use? I don't really want to spend 50 bucks on bondo. I was looking at the Bondo-Hair as it sounds like it would offer a nice fill and be very durable. Also does Walmart carry it?

The last time I bought Bondo I bought the "Bondo" brand standard filler, nothing fancy about it and I believe it cost under $15 for a gallon. I think Walmart does cary it, but you may have to go to an automotive parts store to get it in a gallon can.

Brian Walter

PS Don't use the stuff in your house, it will smell up your house for days.

[Hdale85]

Even the standard stuff is that strong?

[Paul W]

All of the body filler I've used is a Polyester resin base...tough on brain cells. Use outdoors if possible, otherwise good ventilation and a purpose specific respirator.

I've switched to wood filler mixed with a little wood glue to make a "harder" mix, alcohol is a good thinner for filling small spots, etc...mix depends on the application.

[CupCak3]

nice work on those boxes!



btw, I found your cellphone... check under the TV

[Hdale85]

That's my sons phone we gave him to play with.

The reason I wanted to use bondo is because I've heard it doesn't shrink and wood filler does? I have some rather big gaps to fill in so shrinking would be an issue.

[chasw98]

Dougie:
The boxes look great! Out of curiousity, how expensive (or cheap) was it to get the CNC work done?

Did you buy a kit? or just the plans and then go out and buy the components?

Keep the pictures coming.

Chuck

[TacoD]

http://clearwaveloudspeaker.googlepages.com/ == Jed??

[Paul W]

Yes, wood filler does shrink, especially when thinned with alcohol...but a few coats at the right consistency are very easy.

[Jed]

http://clearwaveloudspeaker.googlepages.com/ == Jed??

The equation is correct.

[Hdale85]

Yes the kit is one of Jed's.

I just ended up getting the Bondo. They did have the gallons at Walmart for like 15 bucks. I also picked up some little mixing cups and stuff. It should only take an hour or 2 to cure so doing it outside shouldn't be to big an issue. Hopefully most of the fumes will be gone by cure time.

[augerpro]

Looking good Dougie! A nice veneer and these will show up a lot of commercial speakers.

Are the sides smooth and flat after they've dried? I'd like to try this method some time but was always worried the sides would end up kind of wavy or something.

[Hdale85]

Nope they are nice and smooth. I don't notice any waviness to them anyways. I have 2 sheets of bamboo veneer to go on them. So as soon as I can get them to that stage the veneer will be going on.



From what I've heard the kerf cut method can leave little flat spaces and you have to sand it.

[augerpro]

Where is the veneer from?

[Hdale85]

Tape-Ease

[Silversmoky]

Looking good Dougie. Looking forward to seeing the final product.

[Hdale85]

Yeah hopefully I'll get there... I just went over to my buddies to borrow his router.

[Silversmoky]

Yeah, you have a pile of routing to do it looks like!

[Hdale85]

Well I got the other side of the braces all sanded down to the proper size. I have to go to work soon but I'm hoping that tonight I can get the second side all clamped up and glued in so tomorrow when I get off work I can bondo and sand and possibly do some of the routing on the edges and what not.

[Hdale85]

Well decided to go ahead and glue and clamp up the second side before work. So I'll see how dry it is tonight but chances are I won't be able to do any bondo work until tomorrow after work. Although its going to be a bit chilly outside something like 55 degrees? Think that's to cold for bondo? I'm hoping I can get at least this one cabinet done and drivers mounted by end of this weekend or early in the week. Then start on the other one. I may even do the veneer on the one cabinet and what not before finishing up the second one. I just want to see how one of them looks finished :B.

[Hdale85]

Well the glue is still not dry this morning... SO I don't think I should apply bondo to it. I put a bunch of glue on the side parts where I have to bondo to try and hold the sides on better and this side is taking forever to dry... I think next time I won't do that. These things feel almost as heavy as my Maxx's did already even though they don't have drivers or anything in them.

[TacoD]

Great progress, you are well equiped with big clamps .

[Hdale85]

Yeah I wish I had 2 of them. When I was clamping down the sides the top and bottom started to come out a bit so I had to clamp it. It's all good now though.

[Hdale85]

Well I got home tonight and decided to go ahead and apply the bondo to one side of the cabinet. The other sides glue is still a little wet. We'll see how it turns out here. Should be dry in another 15 minutes or so and then I'm going to try and sand it and see how it turns out.

[Hdale85]

Well I got one side of the cabinet sanded down and almost done. I took some pictures but my USB cable for my camera suddenly stopped working and then the SD card reader on my laptop decided not to work as well! Very frustrating. Anyways I just have to fill in the other side and then touch up some of the spots on the side I already sanded. Looks really good though. Also I should easily be able to finish them up this week. Well not sure if they will be veneered or not depends. But the switched my schedule around at work and now I have 4 days off in a row. Not good for my paycheck but at least I can maybe get these done.

[TacoD]

Wow you are not joking around , but do not hurry to much as it would be a shame if you've to redo the veneering.

[Hdale85]

Trust me it's actually going a bit slow. The veneering I will take my time on because it's something I've never done.

[Jed]

Trust me it's actually going a bit slow. The veneering I will take my time on because it's something I've never done.

1-2 coats of HeatLock, let dry, iron on, trim with veneer saw, sand edges, proceed to next side, done. :T

That's the theory anyway. We all know how that goes. I'd practise on a scrap first.

[Hdale85]

Well I don't have a whole lot of extra I don't think. Honestly I think it will go fine I'm usually pretty good with this stuff. I just have to make sure I don't get glue on the veneer.

I was thinking of trying to do a natural caramel color on the bamboo veneer... I'm not sure what colored stain I would use for this though? Because it's blonde bamboo...I probably should have went with the caramel colored? I don't know I'm going to use what scraps I have to test some different colors. I'd like red as well though.

[Jed]

Yeah, I think you've been leaning towards tinting the veneer with something different and modern. I say go for it!!

[Hdale85]

Well I have the blue trans tint. I just don't know if I really want to go with blue now haha. I need to see how Wkhanna made his red transtint dye come out so vibrant.

[Hdale85]

Well I bondo'd up the other side of the cabinet and sanded it and what not ...I must say I'm in like this shocked state with how good they are turning out! I really can't wait to get them done. I put the spikes back on it and brought it inside because this guy is coming to look at my receiver and I was sort of telling him about them.

[Jed]

We need more pics, Dougie. :-)

[Hdale85]

Yeah I have them just can't get them on the darn computer.... I'm hoping I can pick up a card reader or something as the USB cable is sort of proprietary so I'm guessing it will cost more then the reader. Let me see if I can get it to to work here though.