Flush mounting speakers: the whole story

[loninappleton]

The goal of this thread is go through flush mounting procedures for both round and square driver frames.

A print article is available in audioXpress magazine.

Article title: Easy Driver Flush Mounting
by : Rodney Buike

Vol. 32 issue Number 6 of AudioXpress
June, 2001


Not everyone has access to the print magazine and I do not
know of a similar piece or the identical one that is available
outside of the subscriber base of AudioXpress. Even with that article I've found it hard to follow.

I do not intend to reprint the article but I'll likely describe it in detail and will hope that the details become more clear.

That piece by Buike is on square frames.

But this whole story thread can start with round ones.

The technique I know for making flush mounts on round drivers
uses a 3/8 in rabbeting bit with bushing in the router.

After the cutout is made with a hole saw or Jasper jig, the rabbeting
bit is run 1/8 deep around the cutout on the front baffle.

I believe that a variation on this is to use the Jasper to cut the
flush portion to depth and then reposition the jig to make the through cut for the driver itself.

Comments on flush mounting round drivers?

[Pano]

Originally posted by loninappleton
I believe that a variation on this is to use the Jasper to cut the
flush portion to depth and then reposition the jig to make the through cut for the driver itself.

Well that's how I do it, but there must be a better way. I'd love to learn.

I mark the center of where I want my driver, then use a home made compass to draw a pencil outline of the outside of the driver as well as the cutout circle. Then I double check it all.

Next my DIY router rig is screwed into the center hole made by the compass (see below) then the router bit is set to the outside pencil line. The flush mount insert for the drivers is cut first - may take a few passes. Then I do the driver hole. Rarely have a problem with center falling out.

A bit tedious, but it works. But only for rounds. Certainly the skilled woodworkers here have better techniques.

Photo of Ryobi 2HP router and DIY circle jig:

[planet10]

Originally posted by panomaniac
Well that's how I do it, but there must be a better way. I'd love to learn.

That's where it is nice to have access to a CNC... especially for non-circular drivers bezels...

dave

[loninappleton]

Originally posted by planet10


That's where it is nice to have access to a CNC... especially for non-circular drivers bezels...

dave

Rounds are easier and you can cover up the glitches.

But flush mounting square frames has everything showing.

My intention is to "re-imagine" the Buike technique with description.
I'll paraphrase what I can step by step. But it's late here. Best to start that another time.

I hope pinkmouse can give what he does.

Next time I'll post the parts list that's in the article.
That's a good place to start.

[OzMikeH]

Originally posted by planet10


That's where it is nice to have access to a CNC... especially for non-circular drivers bezels...

dave

The Fostex 206 and 207 are diabolical. what were they thinking? Has anyone ever flushmounted one of those? a good seller would be a machined wooden ring to cover that wonky frame.
The nicer drivers such as F200A or 208 sigma have much more sensible shapes. You'd think those would be the ones they'd get all artsy about.

BTW: nice circle jig with the threaded rods. I'll be making one of those.
perhaps a bit of steel angle instead of the wood to stop the hole from flogging out?

[MJL21193]

Here's a way to cut a flat recess into a curved baffle. Use the circle jig to make the template and clamp it in place as shown in the picture. A 1/2" pattern follower bit in the router.

[MJL21193]

To make an accurate template for an odd shape driver flange, you need to follow these steps:

1/ Make a pattern of the driver flange by screwing the driver to a piece of MDF or plywood and using a pattern follower bit (has a bearing on the end the same diameter as the bit itself) in the router. Router mounted in table would be the safest and most convenient. See top illustration in the pic below.

2/ Use this pattern to create a template. To do this you need a collar set for your router, with different sizes. The hole in the template will be bigger than the driver flange. See the bottom illustration in the pic below.
This template is what you will use to guide the router for the final step - cutting the recess.

[MJL21193]

To use that template to cut the recess, you use a bigger collar, one that will space the router bit away from the edge of the template enough to give the correct size cutout. This can be a bit tricky, as you need to get the right combination of bit diameter and collar size. It will give very accurate results though.

[MJL21193]

Here's my DIY circle cutting jig, with the home made plunge base for my laminate trimmer router. This is pinpoint accurate and very convenient to use.

[loninappleton]

Originally posted by MJL21193
To make an accurate template for an odd shape driver flange, you need to follow these steps:

1/ Make a pattern of the driver flange by screwing the driver to a piece of MDF or plywood and using a pattern follower bit (has a bearing on the end the same diameter as the bit itself) in the router. Router mounted in table would be the safest and most convenient. See top illustration in the pic below.

2/ Use this pattern to create a template. To do this you need a collar set for your router, with different sizes. The hole in the template will be bigger than the driver flange. See the bottom illustration in the pic below.
This template is what you will use to guide the router for the final step - cutting the recess.

I can see where I'll get a heacahe flipping around between images
back and forth.

This illustration depicts the first step from the print article.
The author some other details like spacing out the speaker from the
template with 2 each 3/8 washers at each screw point to avoid damage to the driver.

In the next new thread entry I'll write all the parts list.