BeerParty AviaTrix build

[bmaupin]

There's a thread at PE where someone shows some stains he applied to pine - fairly nice too.

[BeerParty]

T-minus 4 days and counting...

OK, I have several days of work to report, all saved up to avoid reporting on the exciting task of watching paint dry... :roll:

First, I stained the front baffle. I used a wood conditioner to keep it from getting blotchy, which addressed to problem of the patches. The wood and the patches blended in seamlessly. Unfortunately, the conditioner didn't help with this:



Those scratches were not visible on the wood before staining, but they sure are now! I sanded all of the baffles down to 220 grit, and they were perfectly smooth before I applied the stain - so I have no idea what I did wrong. I'll like to think I could sand them all down and re-stain them to get rid of the scratches, but I don't know what I would do differently this time. :cry:

So, with limited time before the get together, I figured the baffles would do for now and I should get to work on the rest of the cabinets. So I taped off the baffles (which you can see above), sanded everything smooth, and got out the primer.

The primer I had was all gunked up, so I ran out quickly to get some more. The fumes from the stain were pretty bad, so when I saw a low-odor no-VOC primer I grabbed it. Unfortunately, this stuff acted more like paint then primer, and raised the grain all over my cabs.



The picture isn't great, but you can see the spotted areas. They looked much worse in person. While this stuff raised the grain like paint, it sanded down like primer - my sandpaper was all gunked up almost from the first swipe. It took about three times as long to sand down the primer then it did to sand down the cabinets originally.

Then I had a brain fart - I grabbed the paint instead of the primer. ops:

The only excuse I have is that it was 1 AM and I had been smelling the fumes from the stain all day. Lame, I know.

The primer was bad, but when that paint hit the wood where the primer had been sanded away, I swelled up like you wouldn't believe. I didn't take a picture, just look at the one above and image it twice as bad.

To add to my misery, the paint went on Sunday night. I have not been able to get back to work on them yet, and I have plans for the next two nights. And did I mention that the crossovers are not completely done yet? oke:

Friday night is going to be a very long night.

[BeerParty]

On a positive note, the wife and I (OK, mostly the wife ops: ) started the Halloween decorations, here is a not so great picture:



It looks a lot better without the camera flash and flood lights, really!

Of course, then I got into work and saw what some co-workers were doing. My company hosts the kids from the local city's children centers for trick-of-treating every year. We provide costumes, crafts, cubicle trick-or-treating, a couple of haunted trails, and a snack area for the adults. So between the workers children and the children centers we get ~250 kids through the building.





The worst part? This is Wednesday; they started Tuesday afternoon to get ready for the kids on Friday. So they are only half done! And this is a couple of cubicles, I didn't even go into the haunted trail area!

I am so jealous. :B

[PassingInterest]

About the unexpected scratches--you need a Random Orbital Sander.
Also, two things can really help you see the fine details of the wood surface--Reading Glasses with some magnification and good lighting.
All these might sound obvious and I apologize if you tried them all already, but I'm just telling you what I do.
It helps if you inspect your workpiece at different angles, or move the light at different angles.
These things can help you avoid repeating the same mistake.
They work for me.
Hope this helps.

[BeerParty]

About the unexpected scratches--you need a Random Orbital Sander.
Also, two things can really help you see the fine details of the wood surface--Reading Glasses with some magnification and good lighting.
All these might sound obvious and I apologize if you tried them all already, but I'm just telling you what I do.
It helps if you inspect your workpiece at different angles, or move the light at different angles.
These things can help you avoid repeating the same mistake.
They work for me.
Hope this helps.

Three things:

1. I don't own a random orbit sander
2. The lighting in my basement build area sucks! :gah:
3. I don't need reading glasses, I can see the bottom of my beer glass just fine thank you! :lol:

So, yea, it is my fault. And never hesitate to point out the obvious, since you can never assume that everyone will know something that is obvious to you. I have a palm sander which should be able to clean them up, but I need to dig it out of the clutter that is my "tool storage area".

Fixing the lighting issue in my work area is on my to-do list, but the task keeps getting pushed down as other 'stuff' comes up. I have tried some temporary measures, but they just get in the way. Maybe I'll keep the baffles as-is as incentive to get the job done. Yea, that's it - it is not a mistake, it's incentive to get the lighting fixed in my basement!

[brent_s]

About the unexpected scratches--you need a Random Orbital Sander.
Also, two things can really help you see the fine details of the wood surface--Reading Glasses with some magnification and good lighting.
All these might sound obvious and I apologize if you tried them all already, but I'm just telling you what I do.
It helps if you inspect your workpiece at different angles, or move the light at different angles.
These things can help you avoid repeating the same mistake.
They work for me.
Hope this helps.

Another tip. Lightly dampen the surface with a wet cloth...gives you an idea of how the wood will take stain and will show those types of surface imperfections.

-Brent

[PassingInterest]

Another tip. Lightly dampen the surface with a wet cloth...gives you an idea of how the wood will take stain and will show those types of surface imperfections.

-Brent

To add to what Brent said, lightly dampening the surface will raise the grain.
This is a great trick.
You can deliberately raise the grain this way, then lightly sand it with some 220.
This should prevent grain-raising while applying your topcoat.

Your palm sander can do the job, it will just take longer.
We're all pulling for you, man. You can still get this done to perfection in time.
Sleep is overrated, anyway.

For temporary lighting, make whoever is holding your beer for you, hold a Task Light in her other hand.

Okay, calm down people. It was just a joke. Relax. I was only kidding.

[BeerParty]

T-minus 8 hours, and you want me to calm down?!?

Well, it looks like the NE DIY event this year will have a pair of AviaTrixes to listen to!

:banana: :banana: :banana:

But it almost didn't happen...

Here was the situation at 10:30pm...





Normally I wouldn't be taking pictures since I would be trying to finish ASAP, but my soldering iron died at 9:30pm. :M

A quick trip to the local Walmart got me a cheap replacement, and I had a few moments while I waited for it to heat up. But it worked, and between it and the sugar rush from all the candy I got today, I finished wiring everything up. So, without further stalling, here they are as of 1:30 AM:



Mind you, the baffles are stained but don't have any topcoat; the cabinets are primed but still need sanding and filling; I had to take a WAG at the amount of stuffing, and the crossovers are wired up like a Christmas tree (so, don't give me to many bumps, Captain). No way they will see power before the trip down to Boston, but they will be there!

[exojam]

Chris,

Glad to see you got them together enough to take. I hope you guys have a good time at the meet. I am looking forward to hearing about how everything goes.

James

[john trials]

Chris, they look great! That's pretty funny that you haven't even tried them out before bringing them to DIYNE!

I apologize that I'm not able to make it this year (I know you wanted to hear my Statement Monitors). I'm too spent from a party down in NYC. I couldn't see getting up early enough and driving to DIYNE today. Maybe there will be a gathering at Exojam's sometime!?!?!

[exojam]

That would work for me. Since I am so limited on houses that I can get into and round in, having it here would work great for me.

James

[BeerParty]

Well, believe it or not, they played great! :E All the connections seem to be OK. They got a thumbs up from a few people at the event, but I was so relieved that they worked I couldn't concentrate on any critical listening. ops:

I'll get them back into my basement and start working on the cabinets again later this week. I spent Sunday just catching up on things, and of course the wife has a long to-do list waiting for me now that the GTG is over. I'll post updates when appropriate.

[BeerParty]

John and Exojam - yes, we definitely need to set up something soon. I am busy for the next two weekends, but after that things should lighten up.

[Curt C]

I'm sure glad you didn't wait till the last minute to get them done. -Of course, I've never done that...

I hope they sound half as good as they look!

C

[exojam]

Chris,

Glad to hear they worked for you. My luck would have been to get everything ready to go, some music starts and the whole speaker just falls apart.

Whenever folks get some time is fine by me. I have never hosted a GTG so I would be thinking something very relaxed were we can listen to a bit of stuff on each speaker set.

The only other thing is I am in a chair so I would most definitely need some help moving speakers around.

James

[PassingInterest]

Cool! You made it in time. Glad they worked so well, but then it's a solid design from one of the best, so you really couldn't lose.

Now that the pressure is off, you can take your time with the finish.

[BeerParty]

Actually, my wife just hit me with a "needs to be done ASAP" project, so things are going to slow down a bit. My schedule is pretty full for the next few weeks, but I'll try and put in at least a few hours on them this week. And I also have to find time to meet with PassingInterest and Exojam.

So much to do, and so little time...

[PassingInterest]

Oh man, I wish I could meet up with you guys, but I'm in Dallas.
Sorry, I didn't realize that I never provided my location when I signed up here.

[BeerParty]

Oh man, I wish I could meet up with you guys, but I'm in Dallas.
Sorry, I didn't realize that I never provided my location when I signed up here.

Your in Dallas? Ah, nuts. :nonod:

I guess the GTG will have to be Exojam, John, and me (and anyone else in the area that would care to join us, once we get off our assets and set up a GTG :roll: ).

[exojam]

Well I am on call this week and have a party to go to next Saturday (all day event) but the rest of November is open for me. Minus Thanksgiving of course.

I am not sure what you guys would like to listen to though. My thought was to just play some music through mine which would just be the mains. Then maybe some movie screens for the whole system. I do not have music on CD to show though so I maybe slow changing records. I also do not have a “show” type dvd. Then put the other speaks on and rinse and repeat.

I would like to see if Dave (who holds the New England GTG) wants to come by so maybe he can relax and listen instead of running around all day.

James

[PassingInterest]

So tell us, how much do you love the sound?

[dlr]

Well I am on call this week and have a party to go to next Saturday (all day event) but the rest of November is open for me. Minus Thanksgiving of course.

I am not sure what you guys would like to listen to though. My thought was to just play some music through mine which would just be the mains. Then maybe some movie screens for the whole system. I do not have music on CD to show though so I maybe slow changing records. I also do not have a “show” type dvd. Then put the other speaks on and rinse and repeat.

I would like to see if Dave (who holds the New England GTG) wants to come by so maybe he can relax and listen instead of running around all day.

James

I just caught up on this thread. In FL visiting my parents. I'd be interested if you guys set up something, but can't commit to anything yet. I'm also planning on a visit here again just after Xmas over New Years and with Xmas coming, not sure when would work out. I'll keep track with what you guys may work up.

Dave

[exojam]

Dave,

Hope you are having a good trip. My thinking is with all of the holidays now here, is to see what the guys think about sometime in January.

James

[hrob]

I'm in

Your in Dallas? Ah, nuts. :nonod:

I guess the GTG will have to be Exojam, John, and me (and anyone else in the area that would care to join us, once we get off our assets and set up a GTG :roll: ).

I've been thinking about building a pair of the Aviatrix MTM or ML-TLs for a 5.1 speaker setup and would love to hear a pair of these before building them. Before this I considered a set of polks, which are now off the table.

If the get-together hasn't taken place yet I'd like to attend and see what's out there for speaker designs and how they sound.