Troels Ekta 2 build

[Browncoat]

I don't know enough to design my own speakers, but I enjoy woodworking, and speakers are one of my favorite projects, so I've been trolling around for a new project lately and settled on Troels' Ekta 2 kit. (As an aside, I personally think the DIY speaker community is doing more interesting and innovative woodworking than the general hobbyist woodworking crowd) The package got stuck in customs for a few days, but Jantzen helped me rescue it and it arrived safely last week. The packaging was artfully done--after taking a quick inventory, I couldn't fit everything back in the same box. While I finish up another project, I'm thinking about how I'd like to finish the cabinets. I despise painting, so I'll probably veneer, but I'm not sure yet.

[Steve Manning]

I don't know enough to design my own speakers, but I enjoy woodworking, and speakers are one of my favorite projects, so I've been trolling around for a new project lately and settled on Troels' Ekta 2 kit. (As an aside, I personally think the DIY speaker community is doing more interesting and innovative woodworking than the general hobbyist woodworking crowd) The package got stuck in customs for a few days, but Jantzen helped me rescue it and it arrived safely last week. The packaging was artfully done--after taking a quick inventory, I couldn't fit everything back in the same box. While I finish up another project, I'm thinking about how I'd like to finish the cabinets. I despise painting, so I'll probably veneer, but I'm not sure yet.

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Nice ..... all the goodies in one box.

[Browncoat]

Agreed--the one-stop shopping suits a person with limited skills like me.

[Evil Twin]

Shiny...

[Browncoat]

I was gung-ho to start this project, then life immediately happened. However, I'm now pleased to report that large pieces of plywood were made into smaller pieces of plywood, along with lots of sawdust and noise.

[ergo]

Nice progress and great tools. I envy the Hammer table saw. I just wish I could be able to fit something like it into my workshop some day. Current one would be way too small for it. I do have one Hammer - the A3 planer/thicknesses. Great machines!

[Evil Twin]

I don't know enough to design my own speakers, but I enjoy woodworking, and speakers are one of my favorite projects, so I've been trolling around for a new project lately and settled on Troels' Ekta 2 kit. (As an aside, I personally think the DIY speaker community is doing more interesting and innovative woodworking than the general hobbyist woodworking crowd) The package got stuck in customs for a few days, but Jantzen helped me rescue it and it arrived safely last week. The packaging was artfully done--after taking a quick inventory, I couldn't fit everything back in the same box. While I finish up another project, I'm thinking about how I'd like to finish the cabinets. I despise painting, so I'll probably veneer, but I'm not sure yet.

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One must concede this is a very nice box of parts... the sort of celebration one might give to the local holiday "Christmas" comes to mind...

[Evil Twin]

Nice progress and great tools. I envy the Hammer table saw. I just wish I could be able to fit something like it into my workshop some day. Current one would be way too small for it. I do have one Hammer - the A3 planer/thicknesses. Great machines!

I concur, and am similarly envious of Steve Manning's SawStop cabinet saw...


At least, I discovered their new enlarged and improved SawStop job site saw, and have been very pleased with that as an intermediate step...

[Browncoat]

Marius Hornberger (YouTube) uses a short-stroke slider in a very compact shop...

It's a pleasure to use, and it's safer, faster, and more accurate than my old JET contractor saw, but aside from (clean) long bevels, there wasn't much that the JET couldn't do.

[Steve Manning]

Very much drool on the saw. :T

[Norm]

Very much drool on the saw. :T

Dang it Steve, if you drool on it then it's gonna rust!

[Steve Manning]

Dang it Steve, if you drool on it then it's gonna rust!

Norm I was thinking the same thing ..... I'll have to send him some paste wax first.

[Browncoat]

I had the parts on a shelf in a closet for "safe keeping", but somehow the bitumen pads fell off and some of them shattered (?!?). Does anybody have a suggested replacement? I'm not trying to pinch pennies on this project, but they're pretty heavy, so ordering from Jantzen would be inefficient, although not out of the question. They're 50cm x 25cm and about 4mm thick.

[roadrune]

Most auto shops should have bitumen, especially those dealing with car stereo.

However you can "weld" the old one together using a heat gun.

[Norm]

Browncoat, I have heard several excellent speakers that use GR Research's NoRez for enclosure damping.

http://gr-research.com/norez24x27sheet.aspx

[Browncoat]

Good suggestions, thanks @roadrune and @Norm. I've got a heat gun, so I'll try that first...

[Steve Manning]

PE carries a few good options as well, if the heat gun doesn't work. https://www.parts-express.com/brand/sonic-barrier/494

[Browncoat]

Not a lot of construction progress lately, although I did manage to transfer a measurement incorrectly and had to fill and recut a dado on four pieces. Turned out pretty well after all .





The veneer showed up today, and it looks sharp! Pressure's on not to mess things up now...

[Evil Twin]

Yes, the concept of avoiding loss reduction due to process errors becomes more and more important as the assembly process proceeds...

[Browncoat]

Agreed--it's disheartening to make a mistake after putting a bunch of time into something. Fortunately, I have extensive experience in dealing with mistakes.

Nothing is glued up yet, but I got most of the internals done this weekend:

[JonMarsh]

This seems to be coming together nicely at this point- assembled cabinets can't be very far off...

[Browncoat]

Thanks I'm getting close to some decision points in the project, and I confess to using "busy work" as an avoidance tactic...

[Browncoat]

Gluing stuff up always seems stressful to me, but everything went OK so far . These are almost exactly the same size as the last set of speaker cabinets I built, which makes me think I should have tried something a little more different. There's always next time, though...

[Browncoat]

I found a little time to do some veneer work this weekend.

There are a million ways to joint edges, but for long rip edges my favorite way is to sandwich a stack of veneer between hardboard and use a tracksaw. BTW, I like to joint large pieces rather than smaller lengths, especially when I want to wrap veneer around a form and match the grain.





I stretch blue tape on the backside to hold the veneers together. That little hand saw is my favorite way to make crosscut joints (otherwise, I just use a utility knife).



I use standard veneer tape on the show side and remove the blue tape from the back when it dries.



Hopefully, I'll get some veneer glued to the baffles soon!

[Browncoat]

Still pluggin' away at the baffles. I'm so slow.

[Browncoat]

Got the bitumen and felt glued into the cabinets and I'm getting close to closing them up. The carpet glue that Troels suggests works well, but it's pretty messy.

[theSven]

The build is looking really good! Looking forward to seeing the cabinets finished.

[Browncoat]

Finally found some time to close up the cabinets. I realized that I forgot to put bitumen and felt on the back as Troels suggests, so I did that real quick first. Instead of using clamps, I decided to throw it in the bag. Good news--the cabinets didn't collapse

[Browncoat]

Couldn't resist wiping the baffle down with mineral spirits and putting the drivers in to imagine how it will look some day. Simple mind, simple pleasures

[Horio]

Your speakers are looking great!

Everytime I see your Hammer B3 saw, I have to wipe a little drool off my chin...

[Browncoat]

Thanks, the super clean work in your Ardent thread presents an example to aspire to!

I've enjoyed the saw and I'd definitely buy it again, but I'd probably skip the shaper. I don't use it very much, and the tooling is expensive.

[Browncoat]

More veneer work this week, which is my favorite part I also made some covers for the holes so I can keep using the bag.

[dar47]

Very nice. It would be a shame to crush your cab now, lol. How much Psi on the bag do you use?

[Browncoat]

Thanks, I hope they don't collapse too! Besides destroying the cabinet, it would probably ruin the bag. I think I use roughly 19 inHg, so 9.3 psi?

[Browncoat]

Cabinets survived, veneer done*. I also resawed some hardwood for detail work--I miss my old bandsaw





*Until I change my mind or mess something up and need to repair it.

[dar47]

very nice, working with just raw veneer is nicer then a PSA backed veneer as you get no glue showing at the joints. Hardwood for inlay or hard wood corners?

[Browncoat]

very nice, working with just raw veneer is nicer then a PSA backed veneer as you get no glue showing at the joints. Hardwood for inlay or hard wood corners?

Thanks! Yeah, I think edge-to-edge veneer on a closed box can make it look a little formless, so I'm going to try edging the sides as if they were edge-banded panels.

[Browncoat]

Kinda nerve-wracking to cut up perfectly good cabinets.

[dar47]

Haha. Ya I usually apply some tape where the router bit barring will ride, this will chew the tape if you tilt while routing. Just a little safety in my mind anyways.

[Browncoat]

It's slow work, especially when I'm busy with other things, but I like the look:

[Carl V]

Nice job thus far. And yeah,major tool envy.
Wood specie? Walnut? Wenge edges? Anxious to hear you impressions of their Sonics.

[Browncoat]

Thanks! You nailed it: walnut and wenge.

[5th element]

I've done edging like that on a cabinet before myself. It always makes such a difference to the overall appearance being able to add a roundover to the edges of a cabinet. Something that you cannot easily do if it's veneer edge to edge. It is such a pain adding in the wooden edges though. A solid wood front baffle is another option, or a small sub baffle just to house the drivers.

I took the sub baffle approach here...

http://www.5een.co.uk/DayQ.htm



Completely out of necessity for covering up old driver cut outs in the old cabinets. But the small solid wood panels, just to house the drivers, makes such an improvement on the way the speakers look.

[Browncoat]

Agreed--those are beautiful cabinets!

[Carl V]

Thanks! You nailed it: walnut and wenge.

Mine are tineo with wenge