I'd recess them for boring practical reasons, e.g. so the speakers are easier to pack & transport if you move house.
I've forgotten to do this before, and then added the recess afterwards ...but if you were going to pay for CNC cutting, it'd make sense to do all the cutting at one time.
If you want the veneer on your ply to remain pristine / furniture grade, be sure to treat it carefully through the build process.
e.g. Use scraps of wood under the clamps to spread the pressure, so you don't indent the veneer. Keep work surfaces totally clean or put towels down, to avoid indenting or gouging the veneer (with a stealthy fleck of sawdust or grit on your bench). Check each cut a jillion times before you make it.
If you're tidy + patient, it should work out well.
Yea.
What are you going to do with the edges?
Hardest: hiding all the edge ply. You'd have to miter almost every join, and have good precision with every cut.
The example you liked from post 82 (with exposed edge grain on the front panel) would reduce the complexity considerably; you'd only have to mitre two joints per box.
The image attached here (one of my toys) is simpler again: staggered butt joins, with sanded+waxed edge grain. I painted these, cos I maimed the veneer (tropical hardwood) during construction.
Easier: make a simple glued-and-screwed box with cheap-but-good construction ply, get the surfaces smooth, then wrap it in standard 0.6mm veneer.
The easiest (I think): make a simple glued-and-screwed box with cheap-but-good construction ply, then laminate on a 2-5mm skin.
Personally, I'm not a great carpenter, so I'm looking at the lower end of this list for my next project.
*rounded or beveled edges are, acoustically, mildly beneficial.
Attachments
A bit off topic, since it's my opinion + I have a local reseller who is cheaper than the OP's reseller.
I could laminate these together:
12mm hardwood exterior plywood (B/C face grade) $55
5mm strand woven bamboo (1 ply) $140
Or, from the same retailer, I could get:
18mm Birch premium plywood (A/B face grade) $175
The $20 difference seems pretty marginal. I think the composite would be an easier build because:
- I could quickly glue-and-screw to assemble the core box.
- I wouldn't have to be careful of the A face of the birch during the build process.
Finally, the finished product should be much harder wearing; The bamboo skin would be ~3x as hard and 8x thicker than the veneer layer on the plywood.
Veneers are relatively easy to damage, and damaged veneer looks pretty trashy.
Leto Bamboo put some samples in the post. They look great, and seem very strong. A hard scrape with a metal corner - something that might gouge a normal veneer - leaves just a faint difference in sheen on the surface of the bamboo. I guess that's why there are no chopping boards made of birch plywood
But there are aeroplanes made of it!I guess that's why there are no chopping boards made of birch plywood
Ok thanks for those suggestions.
I'll stick with the 18mm Birch Ply I have, and take your suggestions on mitre joints.
With regards to the finish of the Birch Ply, are there any products that you can paint over the stain once it has been finished to seal everything in and provide a layer of scratch resistance?.
I'm still open to the possibility of veneer.
Still think I might struggle with applying it nicely on the front baffle. Side panels should be easy to veneer.
The tools I currently have at my disposal are:
A circular saw
Router
Jigsaw
Also have my dads old and dusty Triton workcentre Mk3, where I can mount the Circular saw and Router for stability/precision.
I'll stick with the 18mm Birch Ply I have, and take your suggestions on mitre joints.
With regards to the finish of the Birch Ply, are there any products that you can paint over the stain once it has been finished to seal everything in and provide a layer of scratch resistance?.
I'm still open to the possibility of veneer.
Still think I might struggle with applying it nicely on the front baffle. Side panels should be easy to veneer.
The tools I currently have at my disposal are:
A circular saw
Router
Jigsaw
Also have my dads old and dusty Triton workcentre Mk3, where I can mount the Circular saw and Router for stability/precision.
Last edited:
Ken - having built more than a few speaker enclosures myself, all things considered, hollowboy's suggestions make a lot of sense. Yes, bamboo is more rugged than the face veneer on the BB plywood, or any flexible paper backed veneer that requires a much higher degree of surface prep to prevent telegraphing of imperfections / joints, and bamboo does make nice cutting boards, but as andy points out, one of the grades of BB plywood is "Aircraft", and I try to avoid using my speakers for food preparation.
I've used both full 3/4" Bamboo plywood and a few grades of BB with post veneering, and am a bit less anxious working with the latter.
Face veneers of the lower priced BB plywoods take clear coats beautifully, but practice is required to stain without blotching. There's not really a bullet-proof top coat that's readily available to the DIYer, but a tung oil based marine grade spar varnish is probably as rugged as you'll easily find.
I've used both full 3/4" Bamboo plywood and a few grades of BB with post veneering, and am a bit less anxious working with the latter.
Face veneers of the lower priced BB plywoods take clear coats beautifully, but practice is required to stain without blotching. There's not really a bullet-proof top coat that's readily available to the DIYer, but a tung oil based marine grade spar varnish is probably as rugged as you'll easily find.
How would you cut mitres?
-Is the circular saw (or saw + peripherals) capable, and in good shape (accurate, never dropped or bent, with a new/good blade)?
-Does the router have an 'industrial' 12.7mm (1/2") collet? - in which case you could buy a large (19+ mm deep) 45 degree bearing bit online.
...otherwise, it might be tricky; equivalent bits for smaller (1/4") routers only go about 9mm deep. You'd have to use a V-shaped bit without a bearing, and do multiple cuts.
I'll probably be ordering some bamboo next week.
Plyco quoted me $307 for 2 full sheets of the 5mm strand woven, which is rather good, IMO.
I intend to get one 'multi', one 'carbonised', to aim for a similar aesthetic (to the pix in post 82). I've waxed my sample pieces to confirm that oil finishes make the colour of the bamboo a bit darker and richer.
Was the CNC quote higher than you expected?
I have two proposals:
1) if you want to have a look at the bamboo, I could send you a section of what I'll be getting.
e.g. I could send you a couple of 300x600mm pieces of the 'multi' (enough to veneer your front panels).
Postage would be $15.05
Each panel would be 1/16 of the sheet - i.e. $10 each.
You could 'pay' me by donating $35 to the forum (to make it clear that I'm not trying to make a profit off you).
2) If you wanted to CNC cut the front panel:
I could laminate 2x5mm bamboo layers onto a layer of ply, then take that slab to a shared workshop that I sometimes use.
There's an X-Carve CNC Router there. If you sent me the cut file, I could get the robot to do the cutouts and rebates.
I just called the guy who owns the router. He said he'd be happy to do it for mate's rates (I suggested $20 for the setup time + new bits, since bamboo dulls tools quickly).
...so I think the total cost would come to about $90
Postage ~$20
materials ~$50
cutting $20
If you were keen on this, I'd send you two completed 300x600 panels, which you'd trim down to fit your project.
I don't mind either way - my GF really likes the look of the bamboo, so the more of it I have spare, the more I will use on pimping out bland furniture (i.e. something like the attached).
Plyco quoted me $307 for 2 full sheets of the 5mm strand woven, which is rather good, IMO.
I intend to get one 'multi', one 'carbonised', to aim for a similar aesthetic (to the pix in post 82). I've waxed my sample pieces to confirm that oil finishes make the colour of the bamboo a bit darker and richer.
Was the CNC quote higher than you expected?
I have two proposals:
1) if you want to have a look at the bamboo, I could send you a section of what I'll be getting.
e.g. I could send you a couple of 300x600mm pieces of the 'multi' (enough to veneer your front panels).
Postage would be $15.05
Each panel would be 1/16 of the sheet - i.e. $10 each.
You could 'pay' me by donating $35 to the forum (to make it clear that I'm not trying to make a profit off you).
2) If you wanted to CNC cut the front panel:
I could laminate 2x5mm bamboo layers onto a layer of ply, then take that slab to a shared workshop that I sometimes use.
There's an X-Carve CNC Router there. If you sent me the cut file, I could get the robot to do the cutouts and rebates.
I just called the guy who owns the router. He said he'd be happy to do it for mate's rates (I suggested $20 for the setup time + new bits, since bamboo dulls tools quickly).
...so I think the total cost would come to about $90
Postage ~$20
materials ~$50
cutting $20
If you were keen on this, I'd send you two completed 300x600 panels, which you'd trim down to fit your project.
I don't mind either way - my GF really likes the look of the bamboo, so the more of it I have spare, the more I will use on pimping out bland furniture (i.e. something like the attached).
Attachments
Last edited:
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.