DMS (Doing it Myself) Curved Cabinets

[blktre]

Gonna start a build thread. Hopefully my progress will be in a timely manner. I'm building some Modula MT's as surrounds to match my ZDT3.5 LCR. Might be a little overkill as surrounds. But my goal is to build speakers that can be used as Surrounds or as Mains if I felt like it.
So why build curved cab's when the box cab and roundover looks so good? Well, two things. First I wanted to have a new challenge at cabinet building. So far Ive built a LCR (Stangbat gave me guidance on the LR) and a 22" cube SDX15 sub. Second, I think for Rears the curved cab's would look better. I'm just getting started and this is what I have so far.

I want to thank lhwidget for the CAD drawings of the curvature. I did have a buddy that knows some Geometry show me how to strike arcs, but using the scale CAD drawing seemed easier.

So for .61cents, I went to the local print shop and got two copies of the radius. I then cut this out and traced it onto a 1/8" plywood. The plywood will be my template for the 8 pieces of radius. By freehand, i used my router and 1/8" bit and cut out the piece. I cant believe i didn't have any mistakes. Sanded the edges and there's my template.

Template...
http://techtalk.parts-express.com/picture.php?albumid=176&pictureid=1365

It worked. My first piece on 3/4 MDF. I used my router to cut and the base against the template. No CNC for me! 7 more to go!
http://techtalk.parts-express.com/picture.php?albumid=176&pictureid=1366

More to come.....

[Dirk]

I've done almost that EXACT same procedure. Except my template piece was 5/8" MDF. My curved speakers are still in the works, muddled largely by the stupid weather.

The big thing for me was not only the potential style, but the weight savings. My 3.5ft nominal towers should be under 100lbs each. Hard to get rectangular MDF-all-the-way cabs anywhere near that.

[blktre]

I've done almost that EXACT same procedure. Except my template piece was 5/8" MDF. My curved speakers are still in the works, muddled largely by the stupid weather.

The big thing for me was not only the potential style, but the weight savings. My 3.5ft nominal towers should be under 100lbs each. Hard to get rectangular MDF-all-the-way cabs anywhere near that.

I considered using a smaller thickness MDF. But each speaker will only have 4 radius pieces. And only the outer pieces will be solid. The inner radius pieces will be cut out for driver tolerance and of course a single compartment. I still want a solid cabinet when done. Sounds like your towers will be a fun project as well.

[Dirk]

Recently sourced my bendable luan. Just waiting for the temps to come up enough to make glueing them a reality...

[blktre]

Enough for one day...

Template. Notice the offset from the template to the router bit.
http://techtalk.parts-express.com/picture.php?albumid=176&pictureid=1367
Dust collection is a beautiful thing!
http://techtalk.parts-express.com/picture.php?albumid=176&pictureid=1369
Pile. Need to cut out a few more. But that wont take long now that ive got this thing figured out.
http://techtalk.parts-express.com/picture.php?albumid=176&pictureid=1370

Tomorrow I will be building the frame to connect the radius pieces to. My drivers should be here quickly as well so I can start the baffle. I plan on cutting the baffle before assembly of all the pieces so I know where and how much offset to cut into the radius behind the driver.

[johnzimmerman]

This may be too late for you but check out thses Ekta Grande build photos:

http://www.ulriklund.dk/?q=node/20

JZ

[blktre]

That guy has more time in that jig than i will have in my entire project:) I don't think my skills would be up to making a jig like that. By the time i got it finished, all my pieces would already be done using my template that i made in 30min. Thanks for the link tho. I will refer to it from time to time.