Those are PETG plastic and they sand and paint really well. Also if you klike them black sand them smooth and buff it out with some 0000 steel wool fro a pro looking plastic part.
Shot the 1st base coat today. It is 82F with low humidity and low wind. I seemed to get a very good flow. I thin the enamel down with mineral spirits until it is about the consistency of 5W-30 motor oil. Straight out of the can it is very thick, almost as thick as 80-90 gear lube. Based on experience, thinning down to 10W-30 or straight SAE30 is too thick and causes my sprayer nozzle to start spitting. 5W-30 seems to give me the best flow. If I avoid going on too heavy in any one spot, the finish is nice and creamy with no runs, just what I want.
Plan is to put on 2 or 3 coats of black, sanding lightly between coats. Then remove the baffle masking tape and let the cabs sit for about a week to let the enamel harden up a little. Then mask off the black parts and shoot 2 to 3 coats of satin redwood enamel on the baffles, backs, and curvy base part. Then remove masking and let sit for another week. Then mask off the shadow lines and hand paint just the shadow line recesses with a contrasting color, such as gold or silver, using a small artist brush.
Shot the 3rd (and probably final) coat of high gloss black enamel today, then removed the masking tape on the baffles. Small amount of orange peel, but this will be hidden when I buff the gloss black down to a satin finish a couple weeks from now. After the black enamel hardens up over the next 2 to 3 days, I'll mask it off and spray the baffles with satin redwood enamel.
While I am waiting for the weather to improve (for spray painting), I masked off and hand painted the base shadow lines with redwood enamel. This should look OK, as this color will echo the color of the baffles, backs, and curvy base section. However, if this looks bad later on, I will repaint the shadow lines gold or silver instead. Right now, it is somewhat hard to tell what the final contrast will look like when I am only looking at one part. I need to see how see how all the parts look when I finally bolt all the cabs and bases together.
Thought I had some gold paint, but looks like I'm out. Thursday and Friday look like good weather days for spray painting the baffles, so the gold shadow line painting and comparison pics will have to wait until Saturday.
Shot the 1st coat of satin Redwood today. Please note that my cell phone is not rendering the redwood color tone properly. I tried to correct the color in Lightroom, but I could not get a good match to what my eyes were actually seeing. The pics almost look like Ferrari red, which is not what they look like at all. The actual color is a much deeper, brownish red. When I shoot the 2nd or 3rd final coats, I'll snap a few pics with my Nikon D800 and then calibrate the shots with my Xrite Colorchecker Passport software (photoshop plug-in). That should get the colors right (I think).
Also, you will note that on several of the pics, I did not get good coverage of the white primer. This is intentional. I don't want to risk getting a run on the 1st coat by being too aggressive. After lightly sanding and shooting the 2nd coat, I should be able to get full coverage over the primer. If that goes well, a 3rd coat will finish it off.
Thanks for all the votes. Looks like gold wins so far. Had not considered bronze (or copper), so I ordered some 1/16" wide automotive pinstriping in metallic gold, metallic silver, and metallic bronze. Stuff is cheap, so added silver to the order as well. They had copper too, but not in the 1/16" width. This stuff will fit into the shadow lines and make them look a little bit better than paint alone. I might try a combination of painting and pinstriping. I'll paint the inside edges of the shadow lines, then press the pinstriping into the bottom. I did a test pic, below, of some metallic gold paper cut to look like 1/16" pinstriping around the baffle and it seems to look pretty good. I'll give bronze or silver a try too when my order arrives next week.
Shot the 3rd and final coat of redwood today. Relative humidity was a little on the high side (65% on my meter), but I had already lost several days due to weather delays (high humidity) and I needed to get these things done. I was going to stop at 2 coats, but I decided that I needed a 3rd coat because I could still see a few white primer spots here and there. The 3rd coat was needed for full coverage. Even after 3 coats, I can still "see" the white primer underneath the base coat because the white color tends to "bleed through" and make the redwood color tone look lighter. So, each coat of redwood yields a slightly darker shade of red. I'd like to put on maybe 4 or 5 coats to get it even darker, but I'm running out of time.
I decided to hand paint the shadow lines on the main cabinet sections before re-assembly. I am using Scotch #2080 Delicate Surface masking tape (the more expensive purple stuff) for easy removal.
Today I installed 1/16" thick neoprene rubber gaskets on all the back panels. I still have a few to do. I'm using Elmers glue stick to hold them in place. The neoprene rubber is fairly dense and will not compress like foam rubber when I tighten the screws. When done, this type of gasket will create 1/16" shadow lines on the rear of each cabinet that will serve as a visual complement to the 1/16" shadow lines on the front of each cabinet.
I'm now on the home stretch, getting ready to re-install the eight Tectonic BMR drivers. When I was taking them out a couple months ago, I noticed that a couple of the Tectonic terminals were actually loose and would move back and forth a little bit as I disconnected the push on type terminals. The electrical connection was good, but the plastic holding the terminal had broken loose from its mounting tab. So, I mixed up a small batch of two part 5 minute epoxy and applied a single drop of epoxy to the terminal junction, being very careful not to get any epoxy on the metal connector itself. The epoxy has been setting up for about 12 hours now and seems very solid. But just to be on the safe side, I think I'll will wait until tomorrow and give the epoxy about 36 hours of set time before re-installing the drivers.
Comments
Those are PETG plastic and they sand and paint really well. Also if you klike them black sand them smooth and buff it out with some 0000 steel wool fro a pro looking plastic part.
Shot the 1st base coat today. It is 82F with low humidity and low wind. I seemed to get a very good flow. I thin the enamel down with mineral spirits until it is about the consistency of 5W-30 motor oil. Straight out of the can it is very thick, almost as thick as 80-90 gear lube. Based on experience, thinning down to 10W-30 or straight SAE30 is too thick and causes my sprayer nozzle to start spitting. 5W-30 seems to give me the best flow. If I avoid going on too heavy in any one spot, the finish is nice and creamy with no runs, just what I want.
Plan is to put on 2 or 3 coats of black, sanding lightly between coats. Then remove the baffle masking tape and let the cabs sit for about a week to let the enamel harden up a little. Then mask off the black parts and shoot 2 to 3 coats of satin redwood enamel on the baffles, backs, and curvy base part. Then remove masking and let sit for another week. Then mask off the shadow lines and hand paint just the shadow line recesses with a contrasting color, such as gold or silver, using a small artist brush.
Shot the 3rd (and probably final) coat of high gloss black enamel today, then removed the masking tape on the baffles. Small amount of orange peel, but this will be hidden when I buff the gloss black down to a satin finish a couple weeks from now. After the black enamel hardens up over the next 2 to 3 days, I'll mask it off and spray the baffles with satin redwood enamel.
Very clean pre-buffing. Yamaha would be impressed.
While I am waiting for the weather to improve (for spray painting), I masked off and hand painted the base shadow lines with redwood enamel. This should look OK, as this color will echo the color of the baffles, backs, and curvy base section. However, if this looks bad later on, I will repaint the shadow lines gold or silver instead. Right now, it is somewhat hard to tell what the final contrast will look like when I am only looking at one part. I need to see how see how all the parts look when I finally bolt all the cabs and bases together.
Try one now in gold so we can all compare . . . Go for the Gold, 4thguy!
Thought I had some gold paint, but looks like I'm out. Thursday and Friday look like good weather days for spray painting the baffles, so the gold shadow line painting and comparison pics will have to wait until Saturday.
Shot the 1st coat of satin Redwood today. Please note that my cell phone is not rendering the redwood color tone properly. I tried to correct the color in Lightroom, but I could not get a good match to what my eyes were actually seeing. The pics almost look like Ferrari red, which is not what they look like at all. The actual color is a much deeper, brownish red. When I shoot the 2nd or 3rd final coats, I'll snap a few pics with my Nikon D800 and then calibrate the shots with my Xrite Colorchecker Passport software (photoshop plug-in). That should get the colors right (I think).
Also, you will note that on several of the pics, I did not get good coverage of the white primer. This is intentional. I don't want to risk getting a run on the 1st coat by being too aggressive. After lightly sanding and shooting the 2nd coat, I should be able to get full coverage over the primer. If that goes well, a 3rd coat will finish it off.
Please vote for Gold or Redwood shadow lines.
Red for me.
Gold.
InDIYana Event Website
I second the red
Gold
Gold here, too.
Black and gold is classy and acceptable everywhere - your prep and coatings efforts are paying-off.
My wife says gold too. She says it has more contrast and therefore is more easily visible. If that is not the goal, go red.
InDIYana Event Website
Gold for the win.
Red
That said, I'd go copper or bronze over gold.
Thanks for all the votes. Looks like gold wins so far. Had not considered bronze (or copper), so I ordered some 1/16" wide automotive pinstriping in metallic gold, metallic silver, and metallic bronze. Stuff is cheap, so added silver to the order as well. They had copper too, but not in the 1/16" width. This stuff will fit into the shadow lines and make them look a little bit better than paint alone. I might try a combination of painting and pinstriping. I'll paint the inside edges of the shadow lines, then press the pinstriping into the bottom. I did a test pic, below, of some metallic gold paper cut to look like 1/16" pinstriping around the baffle and it seems to look pretty good. I'll give bronze or silver a try too when my order arrives next week.
Good stuff Bill. Its what I love about speaker building. Ears first but don't ignore the eyes.
Shot the 3rd and final coat of redwood today. Relative humidity was a little on the high side (65% on my meter), but I had already lost several days due to weather delays (high humidity) and I needed to get these things done. I was going to stop at 2 coats, but I decided that I needed a 3rd coat because I could still see a few white primer spots here and there. The 3rd coat was needed for full coverage. Even after 3 coats, I can still "see" the white primer underneath the base coat because the white color tends to "bleed through" and make the redwood color tone look lighter. So, each coat of redwood yields a slightly darker shade of red. I'd like to put on maybe 4 or 5 coats to get it even darker, but I'm running out of time.
I decided to hand paint the shadow lines on the main cabinet sections before re-assembly. I am using Scotch #2080 Delicate Surface masking tape (the more expensive purple stuff) for easy removal.
Today I installed 1/16" thick neoprene rubber gaskets on all the back panels. I still have a few to do. I'm using Elmers glue stick to hold them in place. The neoprene rubber is fairly dense and will not compress like foam rubber when I tighten the screws. When done, this type of gasket will create 1/16" shadow lines on the rear of each cabinet that will serve as a visual complement to the 1/16" shadow lines on the front of each cabinet.
Installing the wedges:
I'm now on the home stretch, getting ready to re-install the eight Tectonic BMR drivers. When I was taking them out a couple months ago, I noticed that a couple of the Tectonic terminals were actually loose and would move back and forth a little bit as I disconnected the push on type terminals. The electrical connection was good, but the plastic holding the terminal had broken loose from its mounting tab. So, I mixed up a small batch of two part 5 minute epoxy and applied a single drop of epoxy to the terminal junction, being very careful not to get any epoxy on the metal connector itself. The epoxy has been setting up for about 12 hours now and seems very solid. But just to be on the safe side, I think I'll will wait until tomorrow and give the epoxy about 36 hours of set time before re-installing the drivers.
I hate when that happens. I've used hot glue to fix that in the past but the epoxy is probably a better option.
I've used a dab of super glue gel with good success.
All done!
Impressive build
Wow!!
Awesome job, Bill! Those look fantastic🤘🏼 The gold trim really sets the colors off.