Wolf's PC, Sprite, and Voxel Subwoofer 2.1's in Walnut

[Cajun Jeff]

Re: Wolf's PC, Sprite, and Voxel Subwoofer 2.1's in Walnut

What a great thread - really enjoying it

Do you have a moisture meter or does your lumber distributor markup the boards with their moisture content when selling them?

I'm sooooooo tempted to buy a sawmill. I'm obsessed with the milling process. I don't really have the time or money to start that sort of hobby though :(

I don't own a moisture meter. All of the lumber from this source is kiln dried. It goes out to cabinet shops.

I have used air dried locally sawn sinker cypress on less critical projects.

[dels]

Re: Wolf's PC, Sprite, and Voxel Subwoofer 2.1's in Walnut

Absolutely awesome work.

[dustinbagby]

Re: Wolf's PC, Sprite, and Voxel Subwoofer 2.1's in Walnut

I buy rough cut hardwood lumber from a local supplier. This is solid walnut. Its a huge operation selling truckloads of hardwood to cabinet shops. The bundled stacks of hardwood are random width. Generally 4" to 8" in width. Rough cut lumber has not been "dimensioned". It is sold by quarters from 4/4 at its thinnest on up to 6/4 or 8/4. 4/4 is cut at one inch thick there abouts before kiln drying. From there it has to be milled on a planer to desired thickness. Rough cut lumber also has no straight trued edge. I have a jig for this but...... Straight edging and milling 4/4 rough cut walnut to 3/4 or 1/2 inch lumber can be time consuming and hard on tools. For larger projects, I pay an additional $.11 per board foot to get one straight edge cut and have it surface planed to 13/16". I plane to 3/4" on my own equipment.

He sells plywoods and veneered mdf to match most all of the hardwood he sells.

So far, on this project I have spent $310 on walnut lumber. Thats $62 per 2.1 system. Not too bad considering how nice they will look. I considered walnut plywood, but the desire to use finger joints required solid wood.

Couldn't, if done very carefully, ply be used to make finger joints? May yeild some very interesting results, that might actually look pretty cool.

And for the record, I look forward to updates on this thread. Your work is great.

[Cajun Jeff]

Re: Wolf's PC, Sprite, and Voxel Subwoofer 2.1's in Walnut

Couldn't, if done very carefully, ply be used to make finger joints? May yeild some very interesting results, that might actually look pretty cool.

And for the record, I look forward to updates on this thread. Your work is great.

Yes. Absolutely.

I had a particular look etched in my brain as I approached this project though, and it relied heavily on solid walnut.

I could have done this in solid genuine mahogany for a out 30% less dough on lumber. Sapelle would have been cheaper also, but is harder on tools.

My second trip to buy walnut I was able to buy it considerably cheeper than my first trip. Prices on this stuff fluctuate. Im lucky my supplier passes savings on.

[Cajun Jeff]

Re: Wolf's PC, Sprite, and Voxel Subwoofer 2.1's in Walnut

I was able to work on these again in the last couple days. Yesterday I cut all the box joints and the curves at the bottom of the enclosures.

I decided to use MDF for the bottom panel since it will be hidden except for the rear of the cabinet. I laminated walnut to the MDF where it will show.


Here are the bottom panels cut and ready for glue up.


The bottom panel clamped into the dados that I cut into the side panels.


Squeeze out on the box joints.


Another look at the dado joint.


Three of the Sprite cabinets after removing clamps.


All six of them...


And a look at the bottom panel in the dado again. You can see on the left the rear of that cabinet where I laminated the walnut for aesthetics. The cabinet on the right show the front where the baffle will hide the MDF.

[dustinbagby]

Re: Wolf's PC, Sprite, and Voxel Subwoofer 2.1's in Walnut

Impressive, as always.

Would love to see these in person. You should try to make it to some diy events in the midwest.

[dynamo]

Re: Wolf's PC, Sprite, and Voxel Subwoofer 2.1's in Walnut

Wow, the cabinets are beautiful, I love the rich, dark look. Nice work!

[Cajun Jeff]

Re: Wolf's PC, Sprite, and Voxel Subwoofer 2.1's in Walnut

Progresssing on the Sprites!

I got a little work done on the Sprite cabinets I am building yesterday. Im hoping to get them all out of the clamps tomorrow and construct the rear panels.

Here is a front baffle.....ready for glue up.


I used a rabbeting bit to make a pocket for the speaker terminals. A smarter approach than what I did on the PC cabinets.


Rabbeting bit.....



I am also using a rabbet on the rear of the enclosure to flush mount the rear panel.


Another view.


And lastly, the baffle glued and clamped in place. The cold weather has me keeping these in clamps til tomorrow.

[Cajun Jeff]

Re: Wolf's PC, Sprite, and Voxel Subwoofer 2.1's in Walnut

Sunday's progress.


I started the day at the router table using the flush trim bit to trim the baffle flush with the cabinets.


Then it was on to the back panels. Here, Im drilling a hole to glue the vent tube into. I cut small blocks.....then mount blocks to inside of rear panel. Ill use a flush cut bit and roundover to finish this off from the outside.




I cut the tubes 1/2" short to allow for the 1/2" thickness of the rear panel.



Rear panels drilled for terminal cups and a starter hole for flush cut bit where the port will be.



I radiused the corners at the bandsaw and belt sander.


Then glued the ports to the inside of the rear panel.



I'm hoping to get the cabinets sanded tomorrow and get my roundovers done on the front and rear of the cabinets.

[Cajun Jeff]

Re: Wolf's PC, Sprite, and Voxel Subwoofer 2.1's in Walnut

I've just about got the Sprites finished up. All I need to do is to glue in some small blocks to screw the back panel to. At this point, I have one pair clamped shut and connected to a lepai amp. The bass coming from them is mind boggling. This shouldn't be possible. Mr. Carmody has brewed up something special here.

Here are the cabinets lined up awaiting the roundover bit.


Roundovers completed.






The rear of the cabinet is also rounded over.


The port exit has a slight roundover also.




The danish oil applied and waiting for it to soak in.


The Sprite filters ready for installation.


Pig tails soldered to the NS3's.


Ready to close the cabinet.

[matt996]

Re: Wolf's PC, Sprite, and Voxel Subwoofer 2.1's in Walnut

Those look amazing, and nice photography too!

[Derekj]

Re: Wolf's PC, Sprite, and Voxel Subwoofer 2.1's in Walnut

Looking good Jeff!

[Leroy R]

Re: Wolf's PC, Sprite, and Voxel Subwoofer 2.1's in Walnut

These are beautiful. I love the look of the finger joints and the walnut. Always been a big fan of walnut.

[benhinkle711]

Re: Wolf's PC, Sprite, and Voxel Subwoofer 2.1's in Walnut

The walnut is beautiful. I can't believe what a difference a coat of Danish oil makes!

[Cajun Jeff]

Re: Wolf's PC, Sprite, and Voxel Subwoofer 2.1's in Walnut

The Sprites are completed and I have begun the last push to get the Voxel Subwoofers ready for christmas. I had a productive weekend getting all pieces cut to size. I still need to cut the driver cutouts and then assemble. Ill have a pretty good bit of router work to do. I am somehow missing a couple terminal cups so I ordered those as well as the parts to try the Sprite filter in the PC speaker. I also decided to add bluetooth recievers to the ensemble. All on the way!

Glueing up the Voxels. The dado for the bottom panel makes this much easier.


Bottom panel is MDF.


The finished box joints look very nice, but glue ups can be messy. Theres a very fine line between having to loose a fit and having to hammer them together. Most of mine hammer together. A thousanth of an inch adjustment can be a huge difference.


I decided to put the terminal cups on the bottom under the skirt that will allow me to incorperate feet to the cabinet.


There they are, Five of them with the joints cleaned up and ready for the router table. Ill need to progress a little each day in order to get them done on time.