I do the same. A flush-trim router bit, and a roundover bit, are wonderful things to have. Along with a router, obviously.
-Gnobuddy
Would you be willing to share what qualities the track saw has, that have made it your favourite?
I heard about track saws for the first time rather recently. They look interesting, but I have been very much put off by the pricing - it appears that adding a strip of metal track to a $100 circular saw allows the manufacturer to quadruple its price. This makes me suspect that a track saw is currently a new and fashionable tool, and it will take a few years before the price settles down to where it should actually be.
Years ago, I used a $25 aftermarket add-on gizmo that allowed me to make straight, uniform cuts with my hand-held circular saw, guiding it with any convenient straight edge (either the wood itself, if you had an existing good edge, or any straight edge, such as a length of aluminum 90-degree angle stock. Today's track saws appear to be a slight modification of that idea.
I'm not the first to have noticed this, as a Google search turns up lots of information on making your own track saw, using an existing circular saw, and a DIY track and sled for the track.
-Gnobuddy
I do the same. A flush-trim router bit, and a roundover bit, are wonderful things to have. Along with a router, obviously.
-Gnobuddy
A router would obviously be my preferred method. I use a planar followed by sanding.
I like your idea, and I've used this approach for small portable guitar amps, and also to improve the awful sound quality of a Powerwerks PW 50 ( Amazon.com: Powerwerks PW50 Portable PA System: Musical Instruments )
These were uncritical applications - guitar amps don't demand much speaker quality, and the stock Powerwerks PW 50 sounds so awful that hooking the original electronics to just about any speaker you can find is an improvement.
Along the same lines, just very recently I paid $4 for a pair of thrift-store Sony speakers (complete with enclosures) that probably came from either a large boom-box, or one of those compact mini Hi-Fi systems that were popular in the 1990's and early 2000's, before the smartphone culture killed off almost all home Hi-Fi products. These will probably get used, virtually unmodified, in a battery-powered portable amplifier designed to handle both acoustic guitar and a microphone for vocals. (Also a relatively uncritical application.)
But for a proper Hi-Fi DIY speaker build, using an existing box is rarely an option - you need an exact internal volume to match your design.
I suppose if you got lucky and found a cheap enclosure that was too big, but only a little bit too big, you could use wood blocks or something else inside to remove the excess internal air volume and bring it down to optimum size.
-Gnobuddy
You don't have to make wooden boxes. I have quite a few hand tools, albeit with very little interest in traditional carpentry, and although competent with powered machine tools, I do not really like them all that much. Try making enclosures out of cardboard mailing tubes or PVC piping, lots of people do. Or old car tyres. Thrift shops, charity shops, pound shops, all good places to find 'ready mades' to fashion and fettle into shape. Perhaps the best single investment any builder can make, is a sketchbook to pencil out ideas. It is entirely possible to make beautiful enclosures that sound fantastic with no more than a sharp knife and a glue pot. Good luck.
You can buy ready cut out speaker box kits.
I am sure Blue Aran do them.
Blue Aran - Professional Sound and Lighting
I am sure Blue Aran do them.
Blue Aran - Professional Sound and Lighting
Yes indeed Nigel,
And thinking about it, one can buy wooden boxes of all kinds on eBay, mostly made in Eastern Europe (I believe) either for household use, or catering for the decoupage hobbyist industry. Lots of folk make guitars out of cigar boxes, too.
Kindness tapestryofsound
Thinking of B&Q etc... Several offcuts and mis-cuts have been lying around the shed since I last got B&Q to cut MDF for me on their shop saw.
The sawn edges (not the original raw board edges), turned out to be exactly 90 degrees and perpendicular and smooth. A little work with a hole saw and an electric saw and I now have three quite serviceable clamping squares.
The sawn edges (not the original raw board edges), turned out to be exactly 90 degrees and perpendicular and smooth. A little work with a hole saw and an electric saw and I now have three quite serviceable clamping squares.
I wouldn't class Blue Aran along with eBay either
But a cheap wooden box can get a builder into the zone, so to speak. So long as it is squared up and true, it can be reinforced and braced into a resemblance of an enclosure.
Kindness tapestryofsound
If you live near a B&Q depot call in every few days, they get an awful lot of offcuts, or rather leftovers left, they just want rid off, wife worked there for a few months between jobs, garage is now brimming
I find if you take great care about marking out wood it saves a lot of hassle later fixing things. Measure 3 times and cut once. Then be as accurate as you can with the saw. I have a circular saw with a lazar pointer and that is very useful.
My biggest mistake was gluing some wood and then putting weights on it to hold it in place. Came back an hour later and it had moved ! Had to throw it out and start again.
I tried to part the wood but the glue was stronger than the wood and the plywood split.
My biggest mistake was gluing some wood and then putting weights on it to hold it in place. Came back an hour later and it had moved ! Had to throw it out and start again.
I tried to part the wood but the glue was stronger than the wood and the plywood split.
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When a saw doesn't cut straight that is often due to the blade not being properly sharpened. If the set of the teeth is flatter on one side it will want to curve the cut. This happens even with table saw blades that have bounced around in shipping!
The second technique is to make a saw guide. This can be as simple as a single straight edge guide board on top of a thin piece of plywood. Better is an edge guide on both sides of the tool and a longer guide that is not slotted to either end.
If using a single side guide that side should be inside the final piece.
To adjust a saw to square cut a thin strip starting the first cut in one direction and tha second side the other way. Adjust the saw until the final strip has parallel edges.
A real master at setting up tools pretty much only needs a flat surface and gravity to set everything up.
Which also means be sure your work surface is level and flat.
Pros also cut oversized and then trim or sand the final assembly.
When cutting large sheets on a table saw it is often useful to rough cut a bit over dimension and then trim to final size with better control of the piece.
The second technique is to make a saw guide. This can be as simple as a single straight edge guide board on top of a thin piece of plywood. Better is an edge guide on both sides of the tool and a longer guide that is not slotted to either end.
If using a single side guide that side should be inside the final piece.
To adjust a saw to square cut a thin strip starting the first cut in one direction and tha second side the other way. Adjust the saw until the final strip has parallel edges.
A real master at setting up tools pretty much only needs a flat surface and gravity to set everything up.
Which also means be sure your work surface is level and flat.
Pros also cut oversized and then trim or sand the final assembly.
When cutting large sheets on a table saw it is often useful to rough cut a bit over dimension and then trim to final size with better control of the piece.
Many a box were built without table saws. Lord knows I spent many an hour with the above mentioned guide and circular saw.
I make my boxes without a work bench.
I work on the floor with some 2 by 2 to stop the saw hitting the ground.
I use an old loudspeaker box to build up the new box on.
I cut the parts on the floor then glue to the new bits on top of the old box.
In the 1980's I used a hand saw to cut up the parts for my boxes, I was a bit fitter in those days.
I work on the floor with some 2 by 2 to stop the saw hitting the ground.
I use an old loudspeaker box to build up the new box on.
I cut the parts on the floor then glue to the new bits on top of the old box.
In the 1980's I used a hand saw to cut up the parts for my boxes, I was a bit fitter in those days.
Circular saws are not really designed for precision work but they can produce precision results with practice. Making long accurate cuts without a guide is near impossible for even experienced users. Even a guide will not ensure perfect cuts unless you have a real feel for the machine and you are using a high-quality blade. I would not recommend miter joints for a first project even with a table saw.
Safety first
Do keep both hands on the saw
Do wear anti-static anti-fog safety glasses
Don’t set the saw down without checking to see the guard has closed
I would say the minimum required to produce cabinets with a circular saw are a good large square (we call them framing squares here) a good small try square, a long straight edge guide and a good blade. (Inexpensive blades tend to warp as they heat) first check to make sure your saw foot is flat while the blade is removed. Hold the edge of a square across diagonal corners to check. Next set the blade angle to perfectly square with the base. Do this by making test cuts with the saw and checking with the try square but be sure there is enough material to fully support the shoe while you are cutting.
Once the saw is set up the right way you need to practice counteracting the natural yaw and roll of the saw in use. Things like the guard hitting the piece or an out of parallel condition of the saw blade and foot edge against a guide tend to make the saw drift one way or the other and cutting with the center of gravity not above the piece will make the saw want to roll. It just takes practice to counteract these tendencies and after a while it will become instinctive.
The moment it finally clicks and your hands just do what your brain wants is worth the practice time. The vast majority of people get there if they stick to it. In all my years I can count 4 out of hundreds who never caught on to using hand tools.
Safety first
Do keep both hands on the saw
Do wear anti-static anti-fog safety glasses
Don’t set the saw down without checking to see the guard has closed
I would say the minimum required to produce cabinets with a circular saw are a good large square (we call them framing squares here) a good small try square, a long straight edge guide and a good blade. (Inexpensive blades tend to warp as they heat) first check to make sure your saw foot is flat while the blade is removed. Hold the edge of a square across diagonal corners to check. Next set the blade angle to perfectly square with the base. Do this by making test cuts with the saw and checking with the try square but be sure there is enough material to fully support the shoe while you are cutting.
Once the saw is set up the right way you need to practice counteracting the natural yaw and roll of the saw in use. Things like the guard hitting the piece or an out of parallel condition of the saw blade and foot edge against a guide tend to make the saw drift one way or the other and cutting with the center of gravity not above the piece will make the saw want to roll. It just takes practice to counteract these tendencies and after a while it will become instinctive.
The moment it finally clicks and your hands just do what your brain wants is worth the practice time. The vast majority of people get there if they stick to it. In all my years I can count 4 out of hundreds who never caught on to using hand tools.
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