Not to side track this thread but remember how excited we were about the cheap buyout drivers back in the heyday? Buyout drivers like the Bravox blue and gray poly cone woofers, Peerless 835-004, Klipsh 5.25", MaxFidelity 5.25", Dali tweeters, etc. We were building $10k speakers with $10 drivers lol.
@a4eaudio said: @Faye - just to be clear...I'm pretty sure R-Carpenter is not someone with the last name Carpenter. I believe he was a professional woodworker at one point, or at least a serious hobbyist woodworker, so his cabinetry skills are well above average.
@a4eaudio that much I understand. thank you for the clarification though.
anyone, I am getting only started and probably will build 1-2 simpler projects before attempting to build the Faital 3WC-15.
So putting my (currently non-existing) skill level aside, would I be able to achieve something looking nearly as good as the build from OP with a DeWalt DWE-4785 or DWE-4792 ?
Mitered cuts for enclosures is some Chad-level stuff IMO.. Needs a ton of precision to pull off and look good because every angle in every direction needs to be pretty close to perfect. But you can sidestep alot of that by just applying veneer over an enclosure that was more simply assembled with butt joints. If I were to try to copy his results that is what I would do. Veneer is easier to work with than you might think if you haven't worked with it before.
@DrewsBrews thank you for the veneering suggestion.
this takes me back to my initial question: if I should opt for veneering, how can I achieve a finish where the edges are slightly rounded instead of sharp 90degree angles, without visually exposing the underlying wood when the veneer is sanded at the edges?
To show you an example what I mean: from what I can judge as a novice, this is clearly veneered, right?
The red marked edge on the front looks slightly rounded off. How can this be done?
If that box is veneered, he must have used solid wood for the baffle and matched it really well. You could use a thick, custom sliced (resaw?) veneer for the eased edges near the tweeter, but I doubt you could get anything that thick to wrap around the radius on the woofer baffle.
Looks like end grain on the top edge of the woofer baffle. The top looks like face grain baltic birch. Not certain. They did do a very nice job matching the sides to the baffle. The tweeter baffle also appear to be face grain.
Ok...reading a bit into veneering I get the impression that veneering is an art for itself.
I assert that in order to achieve a really good veneering finish it is not necessarily easier than mitered corners and that the needed skill level should not be underestimated.
@Faye said:
...
I assert that in order to achieve a really good veneering finish it is not necessarily easier than mitered corners and that the needed skill level should not be underestimated.
Mitered corners are hard because they need to be very-VERY precise.
Veneering is pretty easy. Not REALLY easy, but not very hard. Build a small box without any drivers and veneer it with something really cheap for practice. Once you have the experience of doing it once, probably making a few mistakes along the way, you are ready to make something that should come out fine.
Applying veneer to flats is relatively easy IMO. Once you start adding in other complex shapes other than a simple box with sharp edges the difficulty level starts to ramp up.
In the photo: Following where the grain is continuous, and where it is not continuous.. Looks to me like the whole enclosure is veneered. They are just pretty dang good at it to cover such a complex shape without telltale blemishes.
Veneer is thin, but it does have some thickness to it. You typically want to dull the sharp flush cut edges with sand paper otherwise a completely sharp edge is extremely easily damaged. It will either catch on things rubbed along the edge and try to peel pieces off, or is very easy to crush the edge and ding it up. The sharper the edge, the more likely that is to happen. I suspect that is what you are seeing in your photo, slightly sanded over edges.
In the OP photos it is hard to tell, but I suspect there is more than a sanded over edge (1/8"-1/4"). This would likely expose the material under the surface veneer in both a mitered plywood panel box or a post-assembly veneered box.
Comments
Not to side track this thread but remember how excited we were about the cheap buyout drivers back in the heyday? Buyout drivers like the Bravox blue and gray poly cone woofers, Peerless 835-004, Klipsh 5.25", MaxFidelity 5.25", Dali tweeters, etc. We were building $10k speakers with $10 drivers lol.
Ive got two builds using those, love both of them.
I remember Lou used the 835004's and a Dali tweeter in these -
I think mine's the same. got it when Roman was giving an intro price.
A fella named brewski used quite a few Bravox woofers.
Viawave moved to Slovakia
https://viawave.sk/en/products
@a4eaudio that much I understand. thank you for the clarification though.
anyone, I am getting only started and probably will build 1-2 simpler projects before attempting to build the Faital 3WC-15.
So putting my (currently non-existing) skill level aside, would I be able to achieve something looking nearly as good as the build from OP with a DeWalt DWE-4785 or DWE-4792 ?
Mitered cuts for enclosures is some Chad-level stuff IMO.. Needs a ton of precision to pull off and look good because every angle in every direction needs to be pretty close to perfect. But you can sidestep alot of that by just applying veneer over an enclosure that was more simply assembled with butt joints. If I were to try to copy his results that is what I would do. Veneer is easier to work with than you might think if you haven't worked with it before.
@DrewsBrews thank you for the veneering suggestion.
this takes me back to my initial question: if I should opt for veneering, how can I achieve a finish where the edges are slightly rounded instead of sharp 90degree angles, without visually exposing the underlying wood when the veneer is sanded at the edges?
To show you an example what I mean: from what I can judge as a novice, this is clearly veneered, right?
The red marked edge on the front looks slightly rounded off. How can this be done?
http://www.troelsgravesen.dk/Discovery-861_Alberto.htm
If that box is veneered, he must have used solid wood for the baffle and matched it really well. You could use a thick, custom sliced (resaw?) veneer for the eased edges near the tweeter, but I doubt you could get anything that thick to wrap around the radius on the woofer baffle.
Looks like end grain on the top edge of the woofer baffle. The top looks like face grain baltic birch. Not certain. They did do a very nice job matching the sides to the baffle. The tweeter baffle also appear to be face grain.
Ok...reading a bit into veneering I get the impression that veneering is an art for itself.
I assert that in order to achieve a really good veneering finish it is not necessarily easier than mitered corners and that the needed skill level should not be underestimated.
I'd rather do some exercise to match mitered corners than going through something like this:
https://www.woodreview.com.au/how-to/making-endgrain-edgings
Mitered corners are hard because they need to be very-VERY precise.
Veneering is pretty easy. Not REALLY easy, but not very hard. Build a small box without any drivers and veneer it with something really cheap for practice. Once you have the experience of doing it once, probably making a few mistakes along the way, you are ready to make something that should come out fine.
@a4eaudio As exercise, I will build both a box for veneering and another box with mitered corners, only to come to the conclusion that you were right.
Applying veneer to flats is relatively easy IMO. Once you start adding in other complex shapes other than a simple box with sharp edges the difficulty level starts to ramp up.
In the photo: Following where the grain is continuous, and where it is not continuous.. Looks to me like the whole enclosure is veneered. They are just pretty dang good at it to cover such a complex shape without telltale blemishes.
Veneer is thin, but it does have some thickness to it. You typically want to dull the sharp flush cut edges with sand paper otherwise a completely sharp edge is extremely easily damaged. It will either catch on things rubbed along the edge and try to peel pieces off, or is very easy to crush the edge and ding it up. The sharper the edge, the more likely that is to happen. I suspect that is what you are seeing in your photo, slightly sanded over edges.
In the OP photos it is hard to tell, but I suspect there is more than a sanded over edge (1/8"-1/4"). This would likely expose the material under the surface veneer in both a mitered plywood panel box or a post-assembly veneered box.
I took it to the limit on these.... mitered wood backed veneer.