1st Boombox Project - The Madeleine

[Thumper Tom]

Re: 1st Boombox Project - The Madeleine

WOW :eek: That looks fantastic!!!

[Gordy]

Re: 1st Boombox Project - The Madeleine

I have considerably less hours into this cabinet that I do than last one, right now about half the time. I started the finish today. I know folks like to use stains and dyes for different hardwoods or veneers but I have always liked the natural color of the wood. It will get darker with the applying of any finishes but it still captures the natural color of the wood.

For this exercise I decided to use a grain filler as I have never used one before. This is almost a must with red oak if you want a glassy smoothness. I did not go to the effort on the last box. I found a product made by Timbermate. It is a water based wood dough and grain filler. It is like skim coating a car body with bondo. I only did one application and really should have done 2 but I satisfied with the results. Some of the grain shows but not much. Enough to give it a "still natural" look. It also filled in some of the hairline items around the joints of the cabinet.

Timbermate makes many colors and since Mahogany I have is more brown than red. So, I used their Walnut color as this proved to be more of a match. After the cabinet was sanded with 220, I applied 2 good coats of Deft Sanding Sealer. It is being finished in Deft Clear Wood Finish and in a Satin luster. I am a big fan of Deft products especially in the spray can variety, half the price of most things on the shelf and the most consistent and smoothest spraying finish I have ever found. The nozzles on their cans are some of the best. Once it sets up and drys is it super durable as well and it does not yellow wood over time.

The remainder of the parts arrive tomorrow and I want to have this done and ready to begin the final assmebly.

[Gordy]

Re: 1st Boombox Project - The Madeleine

Finish is done. Now to wait for the rest of the parts and a good 24 hours to dry.

[Paul Carmody]

Re: 1st Boombox Project - The Madeleine

WHOAH. You're killing us, dude!!!

[okiefz1]

Re: 1st Boombox Project - The Madeleine

Man! Those are very nice!

[Gordy]

Re: 1st Boombox Project - The Madeleine

I finished the second box today. Assembly took 3+ hours. I had to be very careful as to not mar or scratch the finish. I have been listing to this box all night. It sounds just as good as the other and I am sure my dad will like it. I really wanted to pay close attention to detail from the heat shrink to the allen head button head machine screws that the speakers are attache with. That was a list minute trip to Fastenal this afternoon. I have really enjoyed building these two enclosures and am pretty happy with my 1st and 2nd time out building DIY speakers. Swopes are next and in-between I might do a a set of OSs with a matching hardwood amp. Bluetooth of course with an aux input and some minimalistic connections. I wanted to play around with the Sure volume control and that might be a good project to do it with. Or even a hardwood headphone amp. I think I might be addicted.

Assembly














Finished and ready for delivery

[Chris Roemer]

Re: 1st Boombox Project - The Madeleine

VERY nice. Very "rich" looking.

[bkeane1259]

Re: 1st Boombox Project - The Madeleine

Great job Gordy. What's your general location, if you don't mind me asking? It would be super cool to see one of these at a DIY show!!

[Gordy]

Re: 1st Boombox Project - The Madeleine

Great job Gordy. What's your general location, if you don't mind me asking? It would be super cool to see one of these at a DIY show!!

I am in central Texas. Pretty far from you but at least in the same time zone

[Chris Roemer]

Re: 1st Boombox Project - The Madeleine

Yeah, so're my nephew and his fiancee, teaching in San Salvador, El Salvador.

[lowpolyjoe]

Re: 1st Boombox Project - The Madeleine

Beautiful builds! Great thread!

I will definitely keep that Bluetooth board in mind.

[greywarden]

Re: 1st Boombox Project - The Madeleine

Wow they both turned out fantastic. Is that gorilla glue (or a urethane glue) that you used for the threaded inserts? I'm about to use that on a hardwood speaker I've been working on for a while, and I don't want to jack it up.

[Gordy]

Re: 1st Boombox Project - The Madeleine

Wow they both turned out fantastic. Is that gorilla glue (or a urethane glue) that you used for the threaded inserts? I'm about to use that on a hardwood speaker I've been working on for a while, and I don't want to jack it up.

It is tight bond 2 wood glue on the inserts. Like T nuts, these inserts have a tendency to cross thread and strip out. I wanted the insert to stay put, but I also wanted it to be removable. Even thought I routed out the back of the speaker cut out there was still enough material for the insert to grab on to.

I used 8-32 allen button head machine screws and had to drill out the speaker to accommodate the larger thread size. Like any insert, these work best when the object being mounted has a little wiggle room.
I had a set of inserts that had a flange and ones that did not. Next time I will be using the ones with a flange. It gives the screw a little more guidance into the threads.

I really wish I could just find a sheet metal or wood screw that has a black finish and that was not tamper resistant or stainless. Maybe I could find some stainless screws that fit the bill and have my gunsmith park them.

[Nsanderas]

Re: 1st Boombox Project - The Madeleine

Those are really nice builds to say the least! You have a PM Gordy!

[Difvision]

Re: 1st Boombox Project - The Madeleine

Congrats! Great appearance. Product / store worthy!