Alternative finishes for sculpted MDF enclosure

[filgor]

Hi all,

I am curious to see if anyone is willing to share any good ideas, successes and failures in various non conventional finishes for MDF speaker cabinets or even furniture.

I'm working on a set of speakers with 3 dimentional curves i.e. curves that can not possibly be veneered with timber.

I was thinking of maybe going for a faux timber finish using multiple layers of mixed brown paints and semi-tinted gloss coats.

Another Idea is to coat the enclosure in liquid sandstone (sand embedded in acrylic paint)

Gloss black piano finish may be an option but I'm hoping for a more natural look.

Any ideas or opinions would be greatly appreciated!

[Mutley666]

How about Faux leather or suede, stretched over the shape? Works well on highend dashboards in cars, and the synthetic stuff can be both very cheap and very convincing. Or if your buget stretches to why not go for the real thing?

[filgor]

Hmm.. cool idea!

I just happen to have a few metres of spare Macrosuede from when I had my new lounge made.

I dont think if the fabric will make the curves though.

[Mutley666]

Leather can be cut and stretched to all sorts of weird and wonderful shapes! Though you will need more than rudimentary sewing skills to create complex curves.

Take a look at the interior of this TVR to see what I mean. This thing is as it left the factory too!

[Puggie]

how tight are these curves, Car audio places often trim complex fibreglass shapes in leather or Suede and its fake derivatives (which can be more expensive that real suede if you want hard wearing) Grained leatherlook vinyl can be heated and moulded round all sorts of shapes.

[sprucemoose]

i used granite paint on my double advents. looks good to me!

[filgor]

Originally posted by Puggie
how tight are these curves, Car audio places often trim complex fibreglass shapes in leather or Suede and its fake derivatives (which can be more expensive that real suede if you want hard wearing) Grained leatherlook vinyl can be heated and moulded round all sorts of shapes.

On second thoughts maybe my suede will make the curves as Mutley suggested. If i sew up a kind of formed tight sock, stretch it over and stapple it under the base then tighten up the sides and staple it again at the rear and cover the stapled section with a dress plate.

I like to mount my drivers flush with the front baffle ie routed in.. Any ideas on how I can terminate this cloth at the front end around or under the drivers without causing leakage? Anyone know where ican see some self explaining pictures of faux suede/leather on speakers?

Perhaps I can just fabric coat the body of the cabinet and mount the drivers on a nice Jarrah(hardwood) dress plate/Baffle that covers the cloth temination.

Originally posted by sprucemoose
i used granite paint on my double advents. looks good to me!

I am actually tending towards some kind of paint or other similar wet treatment simply because it will make more shapes and with no termination issues(staples to hide).
I like the idea of free forming the MDF to the final shape I want without worrying about how I'm going to get the finish to form, stick or terminate.

Cool.. Granite paint.. Is that a single pack thing or some kind of kit? Is there a gloss over the top?

I'm actually curious how good a hand painted faux timber can look.

Any Ideas on any of this?