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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
Since you already have it maple would be my first choice. Just make sure you pre-drill your screw holes.
Thanks for everyone's feedback. Midrange can you provide a link to the study between beech and other woods?
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
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/reports/1976-29.pdf
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.
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.
+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!
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.