Shortcut to Piano Finish
I finished two different TL woofer projects in black 'piano' finish and found a significant shortcut. Let me say first that I have been a professional painter since 1982 and have painted many cars, trucks boats and airplanes, helicopters and motorcycles. But I am a lazy painter; always restless for a new shortcut. I did the first project the 'old fashioned' way with lots of fill/sand/prime/sand/fill/sand/.... After I finished, the speaks looked great but I was dissappointed with the fragility of the finish. This is because the underlying substrate (MDF board)is pretty soft compared to the steel of a car or the FRP of a boat.
Then it hit me: Apply a plastic laminate surface first (like Formica). You can even buy MDF already laminated. This accomplisheds two things: First it obviates the need for about 99% of the surfacing. You will have very few surface flaws to deal with after laminating. Second, since the plastic is very tough and hard, the resulting finish is not nearly as fragile. The one caveat is getting paint to stick to the laminate. I did it this way: thoroughly sand the laminated surface with 150-180 grit on a DA or palm sander. Then apply a two-part epoxy primer (many different companies make these) and then apply your topcoat. You can have piano finish on both cabs in about five days. BTW: A good black polyurethane is preferrable to a lacquer any day. Lacquer is a totally obsolete finish since the poly's are superior in every possible way. The latest poly's are even easier to sand and buff than lacquer and something like 100 times more chip resistant! Good luck!
Jimbo
I finished two different TL woofer projects in black 'piano' finish and found a significant shortcut. Let me say first that I have been a professional painter since 1982 and have painted many cars, trucks boats and airplanes, helicopters and motorcycles. But I am a lazy painter; always restless for a new shortcut. I did the first project the 'old fashioned' way with lots of fill/sand/prime/sand/fill/sand/.... After I finished, the speaks looked great but I was dissappointed with the fragility of the finish. This is because the underlying substrate (MDF board)is pretty soft compared to the steel of a car or the FRP of a boat.
Then it hit me: Apply a plastic laminate surface first (like Formica). You can even buy MDF already laminated. This accomplisheds two things: First it obviates the need for about 99% of the surfacing. You will have very few surface flaws to deal with after laminating. Second, since the plastic is very tough and hard, the resulting finish is not nearly as fragile. The one caveat is getting paint to stick to the laminate. I did it this way: thoroughly sand the laminated surface with 150-180 grit on a DA or palm sander. Then apply a two-part epoxy primer (many different companies make these) and then apply your topcoat. You can have piano finish on both cabs in about five days. BTW: A good black polyurethane is preferrable to a lacquer any day. Lacquer is a totally obsolete finish since the poly's are superior in every possible way. The latest poly's are even easier to sand and buff than lacquer and something like 100 times more chip resistant! Good luck!
Jimbo
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