Best material for battens?

[shrub0]

I am working on a diy speaker and want to make the back removable. My plan is to have a .75"x.75" batten to screw the back panel into.

What is a good type of wood for this application? I happen to have oak, poplar maple and pine on hand. Our I could use baltic birch scraps of which the cabinet is made of.

Any opinions? I first thought the oak would hold the screws well but oak appears to be quite porous and maybe not the best for a airtight seal. I will most likely use a foam gasket.

 

[Galu]

Battens can comprise of either pine or hard woods

I suppose it's a just matter of drilling the appropriate diameter pilot holes for the screws.

The sealing is taken care of by the foam strip, I don't see the type of wood being a problem in this respect.

 

[Cal Weldon]

Even plywood can be used on edge if need be. Just use enough glue to overcome the absorption. That, or heaven forbid, caulk the backside of the ledger (batten).

 

[CraigSu]

Since you already have it maple would be my first choice. Just make sure you pre-drill your screw holes.

 

[freddi]

poplar is good

 

[midrange]

The BBC specified beech battens for their Ls3/5a speaker, having tried out other woods.

 

[shrub0]

Thanks for everyone's feedback. Midrange can you provide a link to the study between beech and other woods?

 

[xrk971]

Here you go.

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/reports/1977-03.pdf

 

[shrub0]

Thanks, you guys are better than google!

 

[midrange]

And this is the paper on the Ls3/5a. It mentions the batten material briefly on page 6.

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/reports/1976-29.pdf

 

[Colin]

I was also going to mention beech. It may have been what was more easily available at the time. Hardwood such as oak should also work well. I think the problem with the pine battens mentioned in the BBC report was that the screws worked loose.

 

[xrk971]

18mm BB ply cut into strips works very well too.

 

[Cal Weldon]

For a ledger, which is what we are talking about here, the ply would have to be applied on edge to the cabinet as I mentioned earlier. The holding power would then be better than any hard or soft wood. If you want to get serious, use threaded inserts in the ledger.

 

[chrisb]

+1 on Cal's comments. I've built more than a couple of enclosures requiring backs to be removable and would also suggest using a contiguous strip of PSA backed closed celll weather strip foam as gasket. If aesthetics require back to be perfectly flush when installed, then you'll need to experiment a bit with exact of recess of the fixed batten / ledger strips - if not, then just go total honey badger and don't give a shirt.

 

[CraigSu]

+1 on Cal's comments. I've built more than a couple of enclosures requiring backs to be removable and would also suggest using a contiguous strip of PSA backed closed celll weather strip foam as gasket. If aesthetics require back to be perfectly flush when installed, then you'll need to experiment a bit with exact of recess of the fixed batten / ledger strips - if not, then just go total honey badger and don't give a shirt.

Chris, for me a removable back automatically means incorporating a gasket. Thank you for the reminder that this sort of thing is learned and shouldn’t be assumed as common knowledge given the varying levels of expertise here in the forum. Kudos!

 

[chrisb]

It goes without saying that nothing does.

 

[xrk971]

Are beech battens same as beech fillets? In LS3/5A the beech is used as fillets to reinforce all corner joints of the 1/2in birch plywood. We are talking ledgers here which is different than a frame of fillets reinforcing corner joints.