Show us your speaker finishes

[Rolex]

Rolex,

Where did you get the round binding plate? Very sharp.

- Brad

Brad, they were custom made by a local metal worker for me. I had to put a bunch of time into finishing them, as I wasn't happy with the level of finish they provided. But, they turned out all right. I drew up what I wanted in AutoCAD and sent it to them so they could copy it. It uses the same punch outs that the binding plates at Parts Express use, so you can use pretty much all the binding posts at PE that are meant for that style plate.

If anyone is insterested in the AutoCAD drawing or a pdf, let me know. I'm sure most any metal worker can do these for relatively little money.

[Rolex]

Watt/Puppy's are no match. :B

The 7's are very good speakers, but in his room, in his system, we both preferred the Zaph L18 design I took down there. Part of it has to do with the unavailability of proper placement of the 7's in his room.

...but this is finish thread, so I should probably post something related to finishing. Here is a pair of Troels Ekta Grandes that my friend just finished in fiddleback anigre..

[pcodum]

Brad, they were custom made by a local metal worker for me. I had to put a bunch of time into finishing them, as I wasn't happy with the level of finish they provided. But, they turned out all right. I drew up what I wanted in AutoCAD and sent it to them so they could copy it. It uses the same punch outs that the binding plates at Parts Express use, so you can use pretty much all the binding posts at PE that are meant for that style plate.

If anyone is insterested in the AutoCAD drawing or a pdf, let me know. I'm sure most any metal worker can do these for relatively little money.

Brad - you can purchase a fly cutter and some scrap 6061-t6 aluminum. If you have a drill press it's really easy to cut these. Drilling and countersinking the holes ease really easy. If anyone would like some of these type of plates please let me know. I have the equipment out at my hangar at the airport. We do this for instrument panels all the time.

[Martyn]

This is an Eton 3-way finished in natural bird's-eye maple veneer with makore edging. As you can see, the maple has some interesting figure in addition to the bird's-eye. I was fortunate in finding eight sheets cut from the same flitch, so I could build a pair of these quite large speakers with matching sides as well as fronts. I was lucky enough to find a board of figured makore in my local hardwood store.

I used aniline dye (hand-mixed for colour) followed by polymerised tung oil. This was something of an experiment and it turned out to be quite fussy to use. I wouldn't choose it again...maybe use the natural tung oil instead.

Martyn

[dlneubec]

I finally took some photos of the Duo's. The Dou's

[thasqgotme]

Rolex those cherry towers look amazing. How did you accomplish that finish? Any more pictures?

[Rolex]

Thanks, that finish was one of the easiest I have done. It is wood backed cherry veneer so you can use the iron on method. THe veneer was left natural in color, then I applied a lacquer finish with airless spray equipment.

[thasqgotme]

Where did you get the veneer?

I have never done veneer before. Do you have some pointers, or a tutorial you can lead me to?

Thanks.

[impala454]

This tutorial was linked in another thread recently and looks great:

http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~schneidw/audio/veneering.html

[locojones]

I just wanted to say that I love this thread and seeing all the fantastic work that can be done by both the experienced and the novice. It gives those of us interested in trying the DIY route for the first time a lot of hope!

[NoDestiny]

This is a great thread I want to resurrect and see anything new or updated. Ill have to post up mine once I get em done!

[Kidsrapain]

Talk about some Talented people!! Put mine up as soon I get a camera LOL

[Bill Schneider]

I built Paul Carmody's Overnight Sensations this past autumn and tried to avoid solvent-based paints as much as possible. I mixed a custom green color from General Finishes' Antique White and Sage Green Milk Paints, and clear coated with General Finishes Glossy Polyacrylic.

All these coatings were water-based for no-smell application and easy clean up.

[Lewisimo]

those are immaculate ^^ Well done!!

[David Meek]

Everyone here should be congratulated on the amazing workmanship and quality speakers 'n subs you've shown in these images. Amazing, simply amazing. ;x(

[dlneubec]

I forgot about this thread! Here is my newest, the BaSSlines:

[Hdale85]

Those look just fantastic! Very jealous of your skills!

[Kidsrapain]

I said once I will say it again Talented people!!After seeing these I think I should take a little more time on my speakers,I always rush
them because I can't wait to hear them.(Got to give credit where credit is due) excellent job guys

[numberoneoppa]

Inspiring.

[69Stingray]

I built Paul Carmody's Overnight Sensations this past autumn and tried to avoid solvent-based paints as much as possible. I mixed a custom green color from General Finishes' Antique White and Sage Green Milk Paints, and clear coated with General Finishes Glossy Polyacrylic.

All these coatings were water-based for no-smell application and easy clean up.

Bill, did you apply that green with a spray gun?

[Bill Schneider]

Bill, did you apply that green with a spray gun?

Yes. I used a small gravity feed Kobalt spray gun from Lowe's (~$40).



While I used a larger compressor for this job, you could do just fine with this small 1 HP/3 gallon Sears compressor (~$100 on sale) and the little gun.



I've painted much larger projects than speakers with this inexpensive combination. Pause to give the little compressor time to catch up occasionally, and it does fine.

I diluted the water-based milk paints (purchased from Woodcraft) 1-2 oz water to 16 oz. paint depending on color. It takes a little experimentation to get it right, and each color I use requires a different dilution. The clear is almost water-thin, so I didn't dilute it.

Strain the paints before applying using strainer cups from a place like Sherwin-Williams. Otherwise you end up with little paint boogers all over the surface. :cry:

After building several clear coats over the color, then it's elbow grease time with fine abrasives, polishes, and finally wax.

[WayneW]

Here are a couple of projects that I have done in Walnut.





Wayne

[gmed]

I used T bars, if that is what they are called attached to angle bars with spiked holding the shelf

I used steel wool, 0000 to buff it. I didnt spray with clear which I should have
I just wanted to get the project finished.

thank you for the nice comment

[dsrviola]

Wayne

Can you tell us more about your speakers, and do you have larger pictures? They look lovely.

[mgrabow]

I doubt you can see it in this photo... There are some better ones on my poor excuse for a web site..

2 coates of dewaxed shelac
2 cotes of grain filler (Dark Brown to match the grain) I forget the brand.. Plain green and white label at Woodcraft... Not online but at the store
6 coats of General finishes arm-r-seal. sand between coats

Hit it with a red scotchbright pad and wax to a shine with clear briwax.




This gives it a semigloss look since I did not spend 40 hours wet sanding...

Mark

https://www.pirateacoustics.net

[Blazin_Jason]

Painted MDF, primered with Slicksand, and rolled on black melamine paint (Benjamin Moore) with high density foam roller.

[jeffc]

Not perfect but not bad for my first speaker build. Sprayed latex with the Fuji Turbine system

[Jim Holtz]

Very nice Jeff! Let us know how they sound.

Jim

[WayneW]

Took me Long enough!!!

Can you tell us more about your speakers, and do you have larger pictures? They look lovely.

Sorry for the delay in getting back on this. Nebraska snow storms have been brutal on me.

The speakers were nicknamed "The Scimitars". I built these for my Sister and Brother-in-law. I used an Aurum Cantus G3si Tweeter that I won at DIY Iowa, and some Vifa P14 buyouts along with a dayton classic 8" to hold down the low end. It has been several years since I made those, but IIRC, the cross-over points were in the 400hz, and 3300Hz range. Curt Campbell did the cross-overs and we voiced them in together. The face plate is solid walnut over an MDF sub-baffle, the sides are MDF w/ walnut veneer, and the backs and inset sides are solid oak. Tops are solid walnut as well. They are a fairly relaxed sounding speaker (necessary due to the crap my sister listens to on her IPOD).

The Sub is made of Walnut veneered plywood and was built for a gentleman named Taqi who lives in Ireland. He chose the Accoustic Elegance 15" after hearing about them from James Buckhalter (I built him 2 of those boxes out of cherry). The edges on the sub box are solid wood to stand up to dings and moving.

Regards,
Wayne

[numberoneoppa]

Wow, those are sexy.

[bbcmp1979]

Great finishes ;x( ... makes me want to start another project already....

[David_D]

I finally finished up my cabinets from a pair of speakers I built this past spring. It was difficult to take the drivers out in order to finish the cabinets, but finally the appearance quality almost matches the sound quality. Please note that when these photos were taken I had not really cleaned the cabinets yet from the woodshop. There is still some dust and finger prints on them. But I couldn't go without these speakers any longer.

Nice job Deewan.
What is the finish?

[deewan]

Nice job Deewan.
What is the finish?

Thanks for the kind remarks. I am really noting how dusty those cabinets were when I took the photos. ops:

The front baffle is spray can black laquer paint. Nothing special, just put on several costs and it has a nice shine to it, which is what I wanted. The sides are a WilsonArt laminate. VERY easy to install and gives you that high shine without all the elbow work. You can special order it at Home Depot for about $55, which gets you a 3x8ft piece.

[WE4242A]

others

OB project and 3 way classics

[WE4242A]

My build:

[WE4242A]

Zaph‘s all metal project

[DeNew]

The simplest finish of all. This color (wood) film.
Speakers Visaton

Varnished plywood.
Mystery 10" Subwoofer

[Kevin P]

For those who don't speak fluent Russian, here's DeNew's pages translated: speaker and sub

[DeNew]

Thanks for your help Kevin P

Reg. ~Daniel~

[DeNew]

Super gmed!!!

What is the thickness of the front panel?

Reg.~Daniel~

[gmed]

5/8" x4= 2.5

pretty thick

[Txgrizzly]

Thanks for the kind remarks. I am really noting how dusty those cabinets were when I took the photos. ops:

The front baffle is spray can black laquer paint. Nothing special, just put on several costs and it has a nice shine to it, which is what I wanted. The sides are a WilsonArt laminate. VERY easy to install and gives you that high shine without all the elbow work. You can special order it at Home Depot for about $55, which gets you a 3x8ft piece.

Deewan,
What did you use to cut the Wilson Art down to size? i know i can trim it down with an edge trimmer once its laminated but was wonder how you rough sized it before gluing it on.

[Amphiprion]

I'm not Deewan, but I've always used a sharp utility knife to score the top side of the laminate. It will snap easily after that. Sometimes it doesn't snap cleanly, so plan for at least 3" total overage at a minimum (at least 1.5" per side). I've done this with both WilsonArt and Formica brands and it works fine except for not always snapping cleanly. The top side will always snap where you scored it, but sometimes the backing layers don't snap along that score mark making a ragged edge.

You can also use the score and snap technique just to get the 4x8 sheet down to more manageable sizes. Score and snap it into three equal sections along the 8' dimension or into similar sizes as your project requires. Then just use your table saw to cut it into pieces that are just a smidge oversized. It cuts really nicely on the table saw and this really cuts down on waste due to bad score and snaps (which does happen). Use a sharpie on the laminate to mark your cut lines because the fence is useless, the laminate will slide underneath it instead of riding against it. You'll be manipulating the laminate to keep the saw blade on that line. It's really easy though. Also when you cut the laminate, raise your blade higher than you would use for cutting MDF. Raising the blade cuts down on any chipping of the laminate that might occur (this is also really helpful if you cut plastics on your saw). Just be sure to watch those fingers with that blade sticking way up in the air....

ETA: Someone made a youtube vid!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cuJP-FxpOc

[juliovideo]

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[707kevin]

I'm not worthy!!!

Mahogany ply stained ebony + krylon satin black box + un-finished diy stands.

Oh. zaph za5's..