I am doing the Proac 2.5 speakers.
The tools that I have now are
-Circular saw
-Router
-Drill
-Straight edge to keep the saw inline.
I started cutting out all the the MDF material last night(Board size is 91"X47"). I got about 50% of the pieces cut out last night and it was a pain in the but trying to keep everything equal(Totall work time was about 2.5 hours). Today I got to work and again and got most of the stuff cut out, still need to router out the holes. But today I spent about 1/2 of my time cutting material, 1/2 sanding it and trying to get it to line up then glueing only one cabinet together partially(Did the back, the top and bottom and the sides).
I figured it would have went together a bit quicker but is this the usual pace?
I would like to use a table saw but the pieces are so large.
The tools that I have now are
-Circular saw
-Router
-Drill
-Straight edge to keep the saw inline.
I started cutting out all the the MDF material last night(Board size is 91"X47"). I got about 50% of the pieces cut out last night and it was a pain in the but trying to keep everything equal(Totall work time was about 2.5 hours). Today I got to work and again and got most of the stuff cut out, still need to router out the holes. But today I spent about 1/2 of my time cutting material, 1/2 sanding it and trying to get it to line up then glueing only one cabinet together partially(Did the back, the top and bottom and the sides).
I figured it would have went together a bit quicker but is this the usual pace?
I would like to use a table saw but the pieces are so large.
You're doing well
I'm similarly equipped, and my project is expected to take about 6 months to complete! It is a 4-way, though.
www.geocities.com/gattiweb/delta
I'm similarly equipped, and my project is expected to take about 6 months to complete! It is a 4-way, though.
www.geocities.com/gattiweb/delta
Usually several months. Just a little here and there as I have time. Its a hobby, not my job I guess.
Plus I have learned that as far as I go, the faster I do it the more likely I am to screw up due to impatientence. Plus it makes me feel like I'm getting my moneys worth if it takes me a while.
Plus I have learned that as far as I go, the faster I do it the more likely I am to screw up due to impatientence. Plus it makes me feel like I'm getting my moneys worth if it takes me a while.
I spend 8 - full saturdays in a row at my friend's house building my first pair of speakers, then another 2 weeks staining and applying polyurethane at my apartment in my spare time. This was my first time, and I was working with 2 other guys, sharing tools. I didn't have very good tools to use at the time.
http://www.briangt.com/gallery/thor
I was also in school at the time, so the entire speakers were done within a school semester, since the speakers were built to get special topics EE credit.
I am working on a new pair now, and I spent one full day to cut all the wood out for 3 pairs of these speakers (from 6 full sheets of mdf), and three days to mark them up and cut the holes for the biscuits, along with cutting out the window braces and routing the holes. These four days have been spread out over a couple of months. After I cut the wood, it sat in the corner of my room for 5+ weeks while I was mailing out gainclone kits constantly
The three days were split up into 2 weekends.
http://www.briangt.com/gallery/focal-raven-tl
I am still living in an apartment, and work at friend's houses, so I imagine that when I have my own house and garage, the time will be much less.
I built my Jordan JX92s speakers in 1 week, with a beautiful raw mdf finish They stayed this way for 1 year, then I sold them to a friend:
http://www.briangt.com/gallery/jx92s
I spent 2 months of spare time building my Peerless TL speakers:
http://www.briangt.com/gallery/peerlesstl
Having the right tools makes the job much easier. I bought a good Delta contractors table saw, dewalt plate joiner (biscuit cutter), router with jasper jig and roundover bits after I built my first pair of speakers. For the first pair of speakers, I use my friend's father's old tools. Also, having a lot of clamps on hand helps a lot, as you can see from my Peerless speaker pictures.
--
Brian
http://www.briangt.com/gallery/thor
I was also in school at the time, so the entire speakers were done within a school semester, since the speakers were built to get special topics EE credit.
I am working on a new pair now, and I spent one full day to cut all the wood out for 3 pairs of these speakers (from 6 full sheets of mdf), and three days to mark them up and cut the holes for the biscuits, along with cutting out the window braces and routing the holes. These four days have been spread out over a couple of months. After I cut the wood, it sat in the corner of my room for 5+ weeks while I was mailing out gainclone kits constantly
The three days were split up into 2 weekends.http://www.briangt.com/gallery/focal-raven-tl
I am still living in an apartment, and work at friend's houses, so I imagine that when I have my own house and garage, the time will be much less.
I built my Jordan JX92s speakers in 1 week, with a beautiful raw mdf finish
They stayed this way for 1 year, then I sold them to a friend:http://www.briangt.com/gallery/jx92s
I spent 2 months of spare time building my Peerless TL speakers:
http://www.briangt.com/gallery/peerlesstl
Having the right tools makes the job much easier. I bought a good Delta contractors table saw, dewalt plate joiner (biscuit cutter), router with jasper jig and roundover bits after I built my first pair of speakers. For the first pair of speakers, I use my friend's father's old tools. Also, having a lot of clamps on hand helps a lot, as you can see from my Peerless speaker pictures.
--
Brian
Assuming no bracing, I can cut mdf for 2 enclosures and glue them up using butt joints and heavy staples (no clamping required) in about 45 min. I let dry overnight.
Another 10 min to cut 4 speaker holes and 2 terminal cup holes using either a jig saw or router. About 5 min. to sand so all seams are flush. Another few minutes if holes for a standard size port are cut.
Tools used:
Table saw with large homemade extensions and outfeed.
Radial Arm saw perfectly adjusted for 90 degreesrc.
Router and Jasper circle cutting jig, or jig saw.
Air stapler.
Using screws for assembly is pretty much something I wouldn't bother doing under normal circumstances.
Another 10 min to cut 4 speaker holes and 2 terminal cup holes using either a jig saw or router. About 5 min. to sand so all seams are flush. Another few minutes if holes for a standard size port are cut.
Tools used:
Table saw with large homemade extensions and outfeed.
Radial Arm saw perfectly adjusted for 90 degreesrc.
Router and Jasper circle cutting jig, or jig saw.
Air stapler.
Using screws for assembly is pretty much something I wouldn't bother doing under normal circumstances.
Disabled Account
Joined 2003
If I am doing 90 degree butt joints (eg. ProAc Response 2.5 clones) I prefer to have the MDF supplier do the cutting. Very fast (while you wait), and cheap. Precision is very good and at least as I could do at home with a good table saw (+/- 0.5mm IME- even better if I'm cheeky and ask for a very precise cut eg. "This side needs to be 203.5mm please")
Another reason I try to minimise cutting is to avoid all that MDF dust in the workshop. (+ clean ups)
This saves a lot of trouble, especially when you are building several pairs of cabinets at once.
Besides they'll be plenty do do with bracing, glueing, damping, routing, veneering/painting...
Another reason I try to minimise cutting is to avoid all that MDF dust in the workshop. (+ clean ups)
This saves a lot of trouble, especially when you are building several pairs of cabinets at once.
Besides they'll be plenty do do with bracing, glueing, damping, routing, veneering/painting...
Hybrid fourdoor said:
Hybrid,
You've got to break her in correctly. Just respond with "Honey, of course I want to spend time with you, why don't you come help me?" It's a no lose scenario for you unless you're really doing it for some time alone and she ends up liking it and wants to be a permanent helper (highly unlikely).
johninCR said:
Hybrid,
You've got to break her in correctly. Just respond with "Honey, of course I want to spend time with you, why don't you come help me?" It's a no lose scenario for you unless you're really doing it for some time alone and she ends up liking it and wants to be a permanent helper (highly unlikely).
Absolutely right John...I got a partner in crime like that
Magura
Hybrid fourdoor said:
I have to deal with the exactly same issue now, while leaving my apartment to go to a friend's house to work on speakers. I figured that it would get better when I get a house with the workshop there.
She seems interested in helping make a few pairs of speakers for Christmas presents for her parents and mine.
--
Brian
Table saw is brill, and second only to a router IMO. Better to plan properly and cut certain sides a few mm longer, then flush trim down with router after joining. This makes the table cuts less critical, and you always end up with perfect edges.rabbitz said:
As for how long it takes to build speakers, well I seem to love starting projetcs and then run out of steam at arbitrary points. Then I just rotate around each (6 on the go at the moment) finishing a bit off at a time depending on what mood i'm in (should I sand today, or do some wiring, or do some modeling...) Sometimes even when I have free time I end up doing nothing through the deliberation of it all.
I started my MTM project 8 months ago and I'm still at the sanding stage...
...and all this without a wife to hold me down...
I've built 6 sets. My first speakers were Audax HT speakers. I spent weeks on those. My most recent set of MBOW1s took me two weekends. I assembled the xovers one night, cut the MDF one cold afternoon and glued them together the next day. The following weekend, tested them and then veneered them. My current project which I haven't even begun, is a set of Buschhorns. They'll be fun since there is a little more involved than making a box.
At 43, I've had a few years to collect some useful tools that help. Most of these are seldom used but when I need them, it's very nice.
10" table saw
circular saw
three drills
vertical table sander
orbital sander
biscuit joiner
router
compound mitre saw
jig saw
recipro saw (not useful for speakers but did a helluva job cutting out wall studs when I built the HT in the basement)
2hp air compressor
At 43, I've had a few years to collect some useful tools that help. Most of these are seldom used but when I need them, it's very nice.
10" table saw
circular saw
three drills
vertical table sander
orbital sander
biscuit joiner
router
compound mitre saw
jig saw
recipro saw (not useful for speakers but did a helluva job cutting out wall studs when I built the HT in the basement)
2hp air compressor
Back to the topic:
1 hour max to cut, tape, mount drivers, wire them and start listening. That's for an array. Fewer drivers can take as little as 10 minutes to be listening to them. Then I spend a few hours playing with the baffle sizes and crossover variations.
I really like this method, since I can enjoy listening to my creation while I finalized the baffle and wing shapes, then cut them and put it all together at my leisure. I use the inexpensive foam and poster board that architects use to build models called cartafoam down here for my temporary baffles due to its decent rigidity and ease to cut with a knife.
The end product always sounds a little better too. The rigid wood mounting of the drivers in the final baffle eliminates excess vibrations and brings out more detail, focuses the image, and results in more bass.
Small arrays or single drivers or 2-ways can be totally ready in a day using plywood and finishing with a glued on covering of vinyl or other material. That includes a couple of hours of listening to the test baffles while the glue on the baffle wings dries well before putting the covering and mounting the drivers.
Getting to listen right up front along with the ease and flexibility of the build process are just part of the benefits of an Open Baffle/Dipole design. When you add in the natural sound quality and the detailed dynamic bass, they can't be beat IMHO.
1 hour max to cut, tape, mount drivers, wire them and start listening. That's for an array. Fewer drivers can take as little as 10 minutes to be listening to them. Then I spend a few hours playing with the baffle sizes and crossover variations.
I really like this method, since I can enjoy listening to my creation while I finalized the baffle and wing shapes, then cut them and put it all together at my leisure. I use the inexpensive foam and poster board that architects use to build models called cartafoam down here for my temporary baffles due to its decent rigidity and ease to cut with a knife.
The end product always sounds a little better too. The rigid wood mounting of the drivers in the final baffle eliminates excess vibrations and brings out more detail, focuses the image, and results in more bass.
Small arrays or single drivers or 2-ways can be totally ready in a day using plywood and finishing with a glued on covering of vinyl or other material. That includes a couple of hours of listening to the test baffles while the glue on the baffle wings dries well before putting the covering and mounting the drivers.
Getting to listen right up front along with the ease and flexibility of the build process are just part of the benefits of an Open Baffle/Dipole design. When you add in the natural sound quality and the detailed dynamic bass, they can't be beat IMHO.
My experience
The first set took about 20 hours over a few evenings to get the boxes complete in raw MDF. The veneer etc took a few weeks, a half hour or so a night.
My center speaker took about 3 hours from raw MDF sheet to covering with PE Vinyl. Not nearly as spectacular as a wood veneer, but this was for a temporary enclosure anyway, and for that it looks quite nice.
The key I found was to cut your critical sides very carefully (with a table saw if you have one), but leave 1/4-1/2" on other sides. Then glue and screw (or brad nail in my case) and hit the overhanging edges with a flush trim router bit. It basically gave me a sharp edged box with minimal effort.
If you don't have access to the table saw, as someone else said, it will likely take a bit longer as precision is harder to obtain. Consider rigging up some sort of jig with clamps and straight angle iron or something similar and you might be able to increase your repeatability.
Sandy.
The first set took about 20 hours over a few evenings to get the boxes complete in raw MDF. The veneer etc took a few weeks, a half hour or so a night.
My center speaker took about 3 hours from raw MDF sheet to covering with PE Vinyl. Not nearly as spectacular as a wood veneer, but this was for a temporary enclosure anyway, and for that it looks quite nice.
The key I found was to cut your critical sides very carefully (with a table saw if you have one), but leave 1/4-1/2" on other sides. Then glue and screw (or brad nail in my case) and hit the overhanging edges with a flush trim router bit. It basically gave me a sharp edged box with minimal effort.
If you don't have access to the table saw, as someone else said, it will likely take a bit longer as precision is harder to obtain. Consider rigging up some sort of jig with clamps and straight angle iron or something similar and you might be able to increase your repeatability.
Sandy.
tiroth said:
The biscuit joiner is becoming one of my favorite tools for building speakers, as it is great for keeping the speaker together for dryfitting, and keeping things in place when clamping. I found that instead of clamping everything seperately, I could biscuit the entire box, and clamp it together all at once, saving more time. For my current speaker, I am doing this, then cleaning up the box a bit with a flush trim bit, and then gluing another piece on the front, back and top to make them double thickness, and allow me to use the 1.5" roundover bit.
Here is a picture of the speaker almost ready to be assembled with biscuits, from my gallery :
Also, it helps to not be overly ambitious with the biscuits, as I put them every few inches on my first pair using the new tool, and it took a lot longer and made it harder to assemble. I found that you only needed a pair on each side, and more on the longer sides.
--
Brian
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