Apple themed Overnight Sensation MTM

[B_Rich]

Those look amazing pcmofo. Where did you get access to the CNC mill?

[pcmofo]

Those look amazing pcmofo. Where did you get access to the CNC mill?

Fiancee's father = carpenter. Also you can mail order cnc cut MDF etc from "shop bot" owners. Acrylic was laser cut from Ponoko.

[pcmofo]

I finally was able to part with the speakers for a while and disassembled them. After being broken down into components, I taped off some of the ports and more important, crossovers etc, and prepped them for painting.

I set up a spray booth in my garage with some 4mil plastic, a few air filters and a box fan. Its working quite well. I got both speakers with their first coat of high build primer. This weekend I will sand, bondo, prime, repeat, until their is a smooth coat of flawless primer on the surface, then its on to painting!



Here is the test piece I made specifically to test out the wood joints, glue, and most importantly, paint. I previously painted 3-4 coats, but since the primer was such a close shade of gray I hit it with another 3 coats last night to make sure that was the color I was getting.

The silver color and texture are spot on, the shade is a tad to dark however. Here you can see it next to the apple remote, which is the same aluminum color as the rest of the stuff I am trying to match it to. I am going to see if they can correct the paint tint and try to spray it again. I want to make it perfect.


Here is a close up of the texture.


Once its done being painted and cured, I just have to add feet and its done! I'm excited to get these finished before the holidays.

[B_Rich]

Bootyful

[WWWJD]

That finish looks incredible! That's gonna be sweet when it's done.

[pcmofo]

It's been a few weeks since I posted an update. Since then I have been bondo'ing, sanding, priming, etc. I found a cool product, called a dust coat, that you spray on and dries instantly and you can use to see the high/low spots while sanding. It also reveled small pits and imperfections.

I also tried two different paint colors and finally settled on a slightly lighter one that shown before. Which, hopefully is close enough to the real thing.

Here is a quick picture of the speaker sanded to 600g which makes it feel like smooth plastic.



I let the pieces sit for a few hours before I decided I would paint them the same night. I only had a small (pint) amount of paint, which needed to be mixed 8:1:1 so I used basically the entire can, though the pot life was 8 Hr so I was committed to finishing last night. I had plenty of paint to do 6 coats for each speaker.

Here is the speaker hanging from the ceiling so I can rotate and spray it. After it was dry it was hung in the garage to fully dry.



And this morning, I couldnt resist taking a picture of the finished paint job, its super smooth and even. The secret was getting a level, flat, even sanded coat of primer on top of the wood, with no bondo or wood showing through. Once super smooth and flat the paint lays on great, as long as you dont shoot it too heavy to cause a run.



Its a good thing that it took this long for me to paint the speakers as my spray technique has improved since then to the point where I am now spraying nice light even coats that dont run.

I'm really happy with the coat coverage and general color, it might not be a perfect match but it should be pretty close.

So what is left to finish off these speakers? I tested some PVC dye I made from PVC primer and petroleum dye and it seems to work well, though applying it will be tricky. After that, I have to spray a quick spot of black on the back on the speakers where the binding posts are, drill out the binding posts a little wider, add feet, stuff with accousta stuff, and put the electronics back in, test, and calibrate with the stuff.

It should be another day or two to pull most of that off, then take a few nice pictures of it. Check back after the holidays for some nice finished pictures.

[B_Rich]

Phenomenal work. I don't think I could ever spend this much time on a project. I'm not patient enough

I can't wait to see the drivers mounted in there.

[Pete00t]

It's been a few weeks since I posted an update. Since then I have been bondo'ing, sanding, priming, etc. I found a cool product, called a dust coat, that you spray on and dries instantly and you can use to see the high/low spots while sanding. It also reveled small pits and imperfections.

I also tried two different paint colors and finally settled on a slightly lighter one that shown before. Which, hopefully is close enough to the real thing.

Here is a quick picture of the speaker sanded to 600g which makes it feel like smooth plastic.



I let the pieces sit for a few hours before I decided I would paint them the same night. I only had a small (pint) amount of paint, which needed to be mixed 8:1:1 so I used basically the entire can, though the pot life was 8 Hr so I was committed to finishing last night. I had plenty of paint to do 6 coats for each speaker.

Here is the speaker hanging from the ceiling so I can rotate and spray it. After it was dry it was hung in the garage to fully dry.



And this morning, I couldnt resist taking a picture of the finished paint job, its super smooth and even. The secret was getting a level, flat, even sanded coat of primer on top of the wood, with no bondo or wood showing through. Once super smooth and flat the paint lays on great, as long as you dont shoot it too heavy to cause a run.



Its a good thing that it took this long for me to paint the speakers as my spray technique has improved since then to the point where I am now spraying nice light even coats that dont run.

I'm really happy with the coat coverage and general color, it might not be a perfect match but it should be pretty close.

So what is left to finish off these speakers? I tested some PVC dye I made from PVC primer and petroleum dye and it seems to work well, though applying it will be tricky. After that, I have to spray a quick spot of black on the back on the speakers where the binding posts are, drill out the binding posts a little wider, add feet, stuff with accousta stuff, and put the electronics back in, test, and calibrate with the stuff.

It should be another day or two to pull most of that off, then take a few nice pictures of it. Check back after the holidays for some nice finished pictures.

Your progress as a painter in such a short time is impressive. Are you using a gravity feed?

[pcmofo]

Your progress as a painter in such a short time is impressive. Are you using a gravity feed?

Yes. A Husky brand Spray gun from Home Depot $100 its surprisingly good with 2 tips and 2 hoppers.

[pcmofo]

Finally the speakers are finished! Now for the fun part..... The final pictures!

Assembly went great, I was able to stuff them and the bass sounds much better as do the mids. I am really loving the black coated screws, from some angles and distances they completely disappear, then up close the detail comes out and they look pretty cool.

I plan on using these speakers with Apples 27" cinema display, as they are both the same height. Unfortunately, I dont have mine yet so I borrowed a 26" iMac which is also the same design for a few photos to get an idea of the size of these speakers.

(Click for larger images)















It was a lot of fun making these and I am happy they are finally complete. In the end I did 3 rounds of priming and sanding and two rounds of bondo with 4-6 coats of primer each time. The final paint job was 8 coats of bright silver in an egg shell finish to keep the gloss low. I made my own PVC dye with black petroleum dye and clear PVC primer mixed together and used a sponge glued to a dowel like a ram rod to paint the insides of the PVC ports after they were already in place. This worked out better than expected and makes the ports look very stealth.

While I can take credit for the ascetic design and the paint job, I did have help from a number of people here.

Undefinition was a huge help and it was his Overnight Sensation design that I modified to create my speakers. The fact that they sound amazing is really all of his doing, and a testament to the quality of his original design.

My fiance's father had my design CNC cut at work then he biscuit cut and joined the box and sanded it for me. I believe he made 3-4 prototypes before he delivered the final one and I think he even has an extra set of boards ready to make another pair.

Thanks to everyone else here for their comments, suggestions, and encouragement as I finished this project. I would love to hear what you guys think.

-Brett

[djbusyb]

... more to the point OMFG these look ****** amazing.
if you have access to nasa you could see if they'd color match the cones.
I like the pro touch adding the "brand" and even designers name, and done in a good font.

[Paul Carmody]

Really great work! You should be proud. I hope you don't mind if I post some of your pics on my website.

Those photos make it look like they're ready for sale at the Apple store for some inordinate amount of money. It's enough to make Jonathan Ive and Dieter Rams salivate.

[brianbunge]

I freakin' love the look of these! I'd LOVE to have a tower version, but the wife does not like the yellow cones! Now if there was a version with the Dayton DA115's, she'd be ALL OVER IT!

[greywarden]

Wow, those were totally worth the wait! they look really nice.

[pcmofo]

Really great work! You should be proud. I hope you don't mind if I post some of your pics on my website.

Those photos make it look like they're ready for sale at the Apple store for some inordinate amount of money. It's enough to make Jonathan Ive and Dieter Rams salivate.

Thanks! I would be happy to have my pictures on your site!

[pcmofo]

I freakin' love the look of these! I'd LOVE to have a tower version, but the wife does not like the yellow cones! Now if there was a version with the Dayton DA115's, she'd be ALL OVER IT!

I looked at the Dayton DA115's but they weren't what Paul used so I am sure the design would need to be changed... However it looks like they may be the same physical dimensions so it is possible to modify the crossover and use the same physical box design.

Really wished I could have gotten them in all silver aluminum cone but they still look really nice and add just a touch of color to the face so you know they are there. I tried a grayscale image and it makes the speakers a little less exciting with the drivers silver.

[WWWJD]

Those look incredible!

Did you think about painting the cones using the same paint mix? As cheap as the B4N is.. might be worth a shot.

[DjDisturbed]

Those really turned very very nice.

[ewetho]

Dude, those are just SIC!!!

Bravo!!!

[Pete00t]

Those look better than if Apple designed a pair themselves. You have proven if you take your time the result can be amazing.