Argh! I hate these non-round drivers.
Spent the day trying to recess driver cutouts to flush-mount the drivers, but I've messed it up a bit - router went astray on me and now i've got obvious gaps in the corners.
The best I think of is to install the drivers and woodfill the gaps - but any magic fixes you have will be appreciated.
Hands up if you think you're worse than me at woodworking
Spent the day trying to recess driver cutouts to flush-mount the drivers, but I've messed it up a bit - router went astray on me and now i've got obvious gaps in the corners.
The best I think of is to install the drivers and woodfill the gaps - but any magic fixes you have will be appreciated.
Hands up if you think you're worse than me at woodworking
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With drivers such as these (radiused corners and square sides) the only way to do it is to get a circle jig, fit stops to prevent you overshootig your corner arcs and then use a stopped fence to cut the sides straight. It's a pain in the butt.
Far easier but more expensive and kind of agianst DIY is to take the driver specs and cabinet front baffles to a local kitchemaker/joiners shop who has CNC milling equipment.
Other options are:
Cut the driver rebates as circles and infill with wood inserts then veneer aftrwards.
Flush mount the drivers (better for time alignment, worse for diffraction effects)
Get some sonically transparent bus visually opaque grille cloth.
My preference would be the veneer option. It looks good, is mechanically sound and easy to rout as well.
Far easier but more expensive and kind of agianst DIY is to take the driver specs and cabinet front baffles to a local kitchemaker/joiners shop who has CNC milling equipment.
Other options are:
Cut the driver rebates as circles and infill with wood inserts then veneer aftrwards.
Flush mount the drivers (better for time alignment, worse for diffraction effects)
Get some sonically transparent bus visually opaque grille cloth.
My preference would be the veneer option. It looks good, is mechanically sound and easy to rout as well.
Unfortunately, being the idiot that i am, I went and cut the drivers holes before thinking about how I would make a recess, and was left with no pivot point. doh!
So I ended up making a template for the router to follow (using the method you described) which worked well for the first two holes, but then I got impatient and damaged my template a little...the rest is history.
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Will be putting the pics on my website soon. I'll keep you posted.
No, not from Wilmslow. I'm using the drivers from my old speakers.
Bondo to the Rescue
Bondo is your friend. You can do two things with bondo to redeem your boxes. Fill the ofending parts on the box. Be very carefull to work with the bondo before it gets to hard. You can do 95% of the reshaping before you end up with the cast iron lump everyone tries to sand later. Mix up your bondo apply it and leave a small test puddle. Check it often for hardness and when it is getting warm and felling firm but still has a little give take a sharp chisel and pare off the excess. ( put your chisel with the flat on the box surface and witha sweeping cut slice off the excess bondo) then you should repair that beautifull jig or yours and do it right! There is a way to pattern route your driver to make a jig and then use the jig to rout the exat size hole onto the baffle. I'll have to think about it to explain it with lucidity.
Keep this in Mind. Those who never make mistakes generalyy never make anything
Mark One time professional cabinetmaker
Bondo is your friend. You can do two things with bondo to redeem your boxes. Fill the ofending parts on the box. Be very carefull to work with the bondo before it gets to hard. You can do 95% of the reshaping before you end up with the cast iron lump everyone tries to sand later. Mix up your bondo apply it and leave a small test puddle. Check it often for hardness and when it is getting warm and felling firm but still has a little give take a sharp chisel and pare off the excess. ( put your chisel with the flat on the box surface and witha sweeping cut slice off the excess bondo) then you should repair that beautifull jig or yours and do it right! There is a way to pattern route your driver to make a jig and then use the jig to rout the exat size hole onto the baffle. I'll have to think about it to explain it with lucidity.
Keep this in Mind. Those who never make mistakes generalyy never make anything
Mark One time professional cabinetmaker
I take it any good car body filler will do? Not sure if you can get Bondo in the UK (though I've only checked a DIY store so far)
If it's better than my current method, then please let me know. I don't fancy going through all that hassle again without a good chance of improvement. Making that template was a major pain in the $*! and it still wasn't perfect.
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Banned
Joined 2002
Hi Vikash,
I know it's a bit of a late idea, but as you used layers to make that thick bevelled edge, you may for future refernce consider this...
I always make the baffle out of two bits, using 6mm mdf for the front. This can be jigsawed etc to fit around the driver, and make it flush. This is more accurate than routing ime. If the drivers only 4mm deep, use a 2mm bit of card between the driver and the main baffle.
Hope this makes sense..
I believe Dave meant 'yes' btw..
Cheers
Rob
I know it's a bit of a late idea, but as you used layers to make that thick bevelled edge, you may for future refernce consider this...
I always make the baffle out of two bits, using 6mm mdf for the front. This can be jigsawed etc to fit around the driver, and make it flush. This is more accurate than routing ime. If the drivers only 4mm deep, use a 2mm bit of card between the driver and the main baffle.
Hope this makes sense..
I believe Dave meant 'yes' btw..
Cheers
Rob
There's allways an easy way...
You need a template guide kit for your router!
All you do is cut out a 3mm MDF template the shape you need, screw the template on the baffle and then hit it with the router.
You can also recess baffle cut outs after they been cut using this method, need some fancy writing routered on your baffle...
You need a template guide kit for your router!
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
All you do is cut out a 3mm MDF template the shape you need, screw the template on the baffle and then hit it with the router.
You can also recess baffle cut outs after they been cut using this method, need some fancy writing routered on your baffle...
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