2 Bluetooth Speakers for Christmas gifts

[mountain]

As my kids get older, they are very difficult to buy for. Gone are the days of easy to decide on plastic toys. My kids are 19 and 16 and other than clothes and gift cards, we were at a loss. I stumbled upon Paul Carmody's Sprite build and thought it would be a great gift. My kids love their music, and their iPhones, so here we go.
A square box just wasn't going to cut it. I wanted something different. I only have 12 days (when I started) so I have to work fast. My idea is to make it look a bit retro, and a bit modern. I have a vacuum bag system I use for DIY jukebox kits I sell. It allows me to make different shapes based on molds. After coming up with the basic profile and required depth, I made the mold for bending the plywood.





Smoothed out with some Bondo.



Added a stop plate on one side to keep it all square to the mold.



Wrapped in packing tape to keep any extra glue from sticking to the mold.

[asmd]

Re: 2 Bluetooth Speakers for Christmas gifts

looking good.
cant wait to see how this turns out.

regards,
asmd.

[mountain]

Re: 2 Bluetooth Speakers for Christmas gifts

I will be using three sheets of plywood, one 3/8" piece sandwiched between two sheets of 1/8". The plywood is meant to be bent. Regular ply would snap on this tight of a radius.

Into the vacuum bag.







Out of the bag and ready to be trimmed on the table saw.

[mountain]

Re: 2 Bluetooth Speakers for Christmas gifts

I made a jig on my home built CNC for the front and back to guide in lining the sides up to the bottom at the right spot.





Once positioned, I clamped it all down.



Here are the two units after attaching the bottom and trimming.

[mountain]

Re: 2 Bluetooth Speakers for Christmas gifts

Here are the internal braces for the front panel being clamped. The braces are there to make attaching the front and rear panels easier. Clamping a single panel correctly all the way around the profile would be very difficult and messy.







I need to get the main cabinet parts done soon so I can shift focus to the painting. It's going to take some time and I ain't got much of it. More pictures soon.

[WilZirkle]

Re: 2 Bluetooth Speakers for Christmas gifts

Fantastic! How did you trim after you had the bottoms attached.

[mountain]

Re: 2 Bluetooth Speakers for Christmas gifts

Thanks! I have a crosscut sled I made for my table saw which made it very easy.

[mountain]

Re: 2 Bluetooth Speakers for Christmas gifts

More progress. I got the inner panels glued and clamped.









I am going with a rounded over edge on both sides of the face. I had a little tear out in a few spots from the round over bit. No biggie, the next step was to apply Timbermate wood filler to the entire body to fill any voids. This stuff is amazing. It dries rock hard, doesn't shrink, and sands really easy. I like to mix it thin and use a cheap paint brush to apply. Once dried and sanded, I will seal it with shellac, sand, and move on to primer.

[Thumper Tom]

Re: 2 Bluetooth Speakers for Christmas gifts

WOW, very nice build!!!

[dougjohnson]

Re: 2 Bluetooth Speakers for Christmas gifts

Nice build. What are your plans for the electronics?
Thanks,
Doug

[mountain]

Re: 2 Bluetooth Speakers for Christmas gifts

I am using the Dayton Audio DTA-2 amplifier with the Parts Express BT-1A Bluetooth Receiver. I bought the parts to do the amp mods I have seen documented on here. Those may have to wait depending on if I have the time.

I've spent the last two days sanding and smoothing the case. I really want to get the paint on it tomorrow evening and let it cure for 3-4 days.

Those tear outs were a big pain.



Prior to the shellac sealer



Two thick coats were sprayed on, about 1/2 a can between the two.



Primed. Tonight I will block sand these down and spray again in the morning.

[mountain]

2 Bluetooth Speakers for Christmas gifts

Had a long night last night getting these thing prepped for paint. The blue one is a hammered finish, the silver is a metallic.

[Leroy R]

Re: 2 Bluetooth Speakers for Christmas gifts

Looking great. Can't wait to see the finished product. Thanks for documenting how you are building them so well.

[mountain]

Re: 2 Bluetooth Speakers for Christmas gifts

What a crazy few days. I was able to get these done just in time for Christmas, literally. I had to pull an all nighter Christmas Eve in order to get these done. I wrapped them up at 9:30 in the morning and the kids woke up at 10 It was worth it, they loved them. I was running on empty and didn't take too many pictures down the stretch. Plus, one of the bluetooth modules died on me and one of the amps died too. So I gave them as gifts but each had their own issues. I have since fixed the one with a spare amp I had for a different project, so I just need to get a new BT module.

Grill frame cut. This one is finished with black acrylic. Lightly beveled edges were polished for effect.



The one with blue tape is finished with .063 aluminum.





Grill insert test fitting



Grill insert wrapped

[mountain]

Re: 2 Bluetooth Speakers for Christmas gifts

Here is the back



One done



These are the speaker plates after there were cut. I left the center section in place in order to match drill and pattern cut the grill frames. This way I only had to fit around the inside perimeter once, then use it for the remaining pieces. If you're wondering why I had to do this since I have a CNC, it's because the mold was built fast and I didn't have enough 1/8" plywood laying around. The 3/8" ply I used didn't fit perfectly around the shape so it threw everything off.



painted



Seal gasket installed around the grill snaps