Box covering

[davlaf]

Hi,

I did about 10 Speaker Building projects in the last 2 years. I'm generally happy with the results except for one thing: the covering.
I used, for some project, a melamine covering http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=260-030 and some veneer covering for some other projects http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=260-048.

I don't like the result. It looks a bit cheap. I would prefer to put some real wood, instead of covering, and dye it the way I want. Better than that, I would prefer to use some real wood and not MDF, but I understand that MDF is high density material and minimize the vibrations.

Finally, I would like to be able to round the edges of the front baffle (Which I can't do with MDF and covering)



Would you have any suggections for me?


Thank you,
David Lafleur

[Kevin Haskins]

You can build a box in a box. It gets large quick but you can use real wood on the outside and do whatever kind of round-over you want. Your just limited by the thickness of the material and your pocket book.

I like baltic birch or marine grade ply. You can round it over and see the layers but with a little tung oil it looks really cool. You have to be careful with glue during the assembly process because the building material is also your finish. You also don't have the range of choices of finish..... its limited by the stain or finish that you use.

[Hank]

You really can build the cabinets with MDF, roundover the front vertical edges (I use a 3/4" radius roundover bit in a router) and then veneer with your choice of wood species. Use 10-mil paper-backed veneer. Using your preference of adhesive, cut a veneer piece wide enough to overlap the top and bottom of a cabinet and long enough to over lap the sides. Begin by gluing to the baffle, then wrap around the roundovers, then cover the sides. Trim and finish. You can veneer the top of the cabs before the baffle/sides or after.
A couple of low res pics of veneered cabs with rounded front edges:

http://www.geocities.com/hankbond1/index

[jbateman]

You can find a more interesting selection of veneers if you're willing to work with raw sliced veneer, instead of backed sheets. Can be cheaper too. Combine that with some solid wood pieces and you can get all of the things you asked for.

[davlaf]

Thank you for your fasts answers,

Hank, I'm not sure to understand what is "10-mil paper-backed veneer". Do you have a link of this product on any website for me?

If I understand your concept, I would looks like this:

(See Covering.jpg in attached files)

Am I right about the concept?



Kevin Haskins,
I had an idea: I may just add some real wood on the front baffle! It would look nice! But my problem would be the level between my real wood front baffle and my veneer covering for the top, bottom and sides.

Do you have any picture of the result of tung oil on plywood?



Thank you so much,
David Lafleur

[davlaf]

You can find a more interesting selection of veneers if you're willing to work with raw sliced veneer, instead of backed sheets. Can be cheaper too. Combine that with some solid wood pieces and you can get all of the things you asked for.

Thanks for the answer,

I really like the finish of these box. But I've worked once with some raw sliced veneer. I had so much troubles with it... Maybe it was because this was my first time with this material.
The veneer was hard to cut and sometimes it teared. Notice that I was applying the veneer on a no rounded edge box.
Do you have any advisce, guide or tricks to be able to do a really nice work like on your box.

Thank you,
David Lafleur

[Hdale85]

If you don't round over the top and bottom I believe you can use veneer around the front.

[jdybnis]

You can find a more interesting selection of veneers if you're willing to work with raw sliced veneer, instead of backed sheets. Can be cheaper too. Combine that with some solid wood pieces and you can get all of the things you asked for.

I like how you stained the tweeter recess to match the veneer. That's the kind of compulsive perfectionism I can appreciate. :T

[wkhanna]

I wanted an 'all wood' look on my speakers, too.
I did not want to use MDF, and also, did not want to use veneer.

The solution I came up with was fairly simple.
I built mine using BB ply, but with a bit of a 'twist'.
The top, bottom, sides, back and first/inside layer of the baffle were made with BB ply. The front baffle and rear BB ply panels were inset or 'framed' by the sides, top and bottom since I used but joints. This left the edges of the play visible from the back, bottom (no big deal, no one often looks at the back or bottom), front and top.
To deal with the front, I used a solid piece of poplar for the baffle, and backed it with the 3/4” ply, resulting in a 1 1/2” thick baffle, which is a good thing for baffles.




To deal with the edge grain on the top, I bought a 1/8” piece of BB ply craft board and 'capped' the tops with it. From 3 feet away, you really can't notice the seem or edge of the cap.This pic shows the cabinets with the caps, before staining.




Finished with no visible seams or end grain (except from the rear, of course)



Just another way to skin the proverbial cat!

[JonW]

I like the idea of using real wood for the outler layer of the front baffle. That allows rounding over all 4 edges. But I've read that any real wood will create problems later. With changes in humidty, temperature, etc. the wood will crack and shrink. No personal experience, though.

[JonP]

If you don't round over the top and bottom I believe you can use veneer around the front.

Yep, like those pics on Hank's site, and many others. I just finished a pair of Modula MT's this way, roundovered sides, flat top and bottom. One big wrap from side to front to side, and the top, bottom and back were separate pieces.

A bit of a compromise from the full roundovered baffle, but it's ultra difficult to veneer the rounded corners. The solid wood edges way is about the only way to do it if you want real wood grain, though I'd love to hear about some inventive way to do it differently...

And wkhanna, nice boxes! Doing the BB/solid lamination sounds like a good idea... besides making a seriously stiff front baffle, it likely would help resist whatever warping the Poplar might want to do later.. I really like the different look of the "feet", an artful way to get the towers enough off the ground for that rear firing port to have decent breathing room.

[wkhanna]

And wkhanna, nice boxes! Doing the BB/solid lamination sounds like a good idea... besides making a seriously stiff front baffle, it likely would help resist whatever warping the Poplar might want to do later.. I really like the different look of the "feet", an artful way to get the towers enough off the ground for that rear firing port to have decent breathing room.

Thank you JonP!

BTW, I’m sure you meant to say ‘bottom firing port’.
As far as warping, when choosing solid wood, you need to ensure the moisture content of the piece is V low, kiln dried or naturally aged wood is available at lumber yards, but the stuff you get at BB hardware stores has much higher H2o content. This may be the reason some others have reported problems. You know, people have been making furniture from real wood for while, it seems to have worked OK for a few thousand years.

[JonP]

Thank you JonP!

BTW, I’m sure you meant to say ‘bottom firing port’.
As far as warping, when choosing solid wood, you need to ensure the moisture content of the piece is V low, kiln dried or naturally aged wood is available at lumber yards, but the stuff you get at BB hardware stores has much higher H2o content. This may be the reason some others have reported problems. You know, people have been making furniture from real wood for while, it seems to have worked OK for a few thousand years.

Uh yeah, and I can't even blame some really late posting time for that...
And my pro woodworker buddies say the same, if it's cured right, it isn't going to move on you (as much) later on. I'd guess that finishing all surfaces with some sealing type finish might help if your local humidity is high, or goes way up and down.

[wkhanna]

Uh yeah, and I can't even blame some really late posting time for that...

No big deal......my personal incident count of 'senior moments' has been rising lately, too!

Here in Pittsburgh, we have relatively high swings in humidity, Summers can easily get up in the 70% range for weeks, and in the winter with our forced-air heating, it gets very dry in the house. If I have any problems, I will be sure let everyone know about it.

This is a box building technique I plan on using again, (statements are being planned for the near future) and I want to be sure it is viable.