I built my first pair of speakers 30+ years ago and am currently planning to get back into this hobby. My last speakers, which I'm still using, were covered with woodgrain self-adhesive vinyl and this time I'm hoping to build something that looks and sounds a bit better .
I'm currently in the planning and tool gathering stage and I've been doing quite a bit of reading. I've come up with a couple of questions that I haven't seen any answers for:
My current plan is to build a pair of MBOW1s for my office as my first project, and then the Dayton RS WMTW Center & TMWW Mains as my second project.
I'm currently in the planning and tool gathering stage and I've been doing quite a bit of reading. I've come up with a couple of questions that I haven't seen any answers for:
- I'm planning on cutting the driver holes before assembling and veneering the cabinets. This will allow the the openings to be chamfered on the back of the baffle, if necessary, and also allows the speaker to be tested before veneering (good for those of us who can be impatient). If the driver recesses are routed using a circle jig before the cutout is completed and before the veneer is applied, how is the veneer trimmed match the edge of the recess? It seems to me that the recess would be too shallow to use a flush trim bit. I've read that some people route all the way through using the circle jig, route the recess using a rabbet bit, and then trim the veneer by using the rabbet bit again. This is supposed to have the advantage of allowing the depth of the recess to be increased if necessary, but it seems to me that the accuracy of the fit around the rim of the driver would depend on the smoothness and accuracy of the cutout.
- The bit of choice for routing the openings seems to be a 1/4" spiral upcut bit. How deep is it realistic to cut with one of these bits? The MLCS #5146 bit (as a typical example) has a cutting length of 1". I don't know how much further up the shank the flutes extend, but I would worry about chip removal problems when routing into a thick baffle, even when only removing a small amount of material per pass. Would a 1/2" bit be a better and stronger choice when routing openings through a double thickness baffle? Assuming the use of a beefy enough router, the only disadvantage would seem to be the generation of twice as much MDF dust.
My current plan is to build a pair of MBOW1s for my office as my first project, and then the Dayton RS WMTW Center & TMWW Mains as my second project.
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