Trans-lam Caritas finished

[Jbarnes]

Motherinlaw likes, or at least she is very polite. I didn't get to spend much time with them. Seemed to have a nice snappy quality, easy to listen to. Thanks Meniscus and Jeff B.








Jay

[tomzarbo]

Re: Trans-lam Caritas finished

Nice looking cabinet... and I love the angular treatment on the top! I haven't seen that done before I don't think.

TomZ

[Paul Carmody]

Re: Trans-lam Caritas finished

Oh man. I want that cabinet in my living room right now!

[Kevin K.]

Re: Trans-lam Caritas finished

Fantastic looking! I especially like the book-matched tops.

[[email protected]]

Re: Trans-lam Caritas finished

Very attractive speaker.

[howard]

Re: Trans-lam Caritas finished

Beautiful!

[Jeff F.]

Re: Trans-lam Caritas finished

Very cool!

[Silver1omo]

Re: Trans-lam Caritas finished

Really cool!

[lightwriter62]

Re: Trans-lam Caritas finished

[emoji106][emoji106]

[Thezeek]

Re: Trans-lam Caritas finished

Pretty sweet.

[dcibel]

Re: Trans-lam Caritas finished

Those speakers look great! Well done!

I hope I can ask some basic translam questions here, I wish to try this type of assembly in the future. When you are gluing up the layers, did you run dowels through the pieces to aid alignment, or just line them up as best you can then sand the crap out of it afterwords? Also, I assume a clear adhesive like contact cement is preferred for gluing up the layers, as opposed to regular wood glue?

Thanks.

[Jbarnes]

Re: Trans-lam Caritas finished

Those speakers look great! Well done!

I hope I can ask some basic translam questions here, I wish to try this type of assembly in the future. When you are gluing up the layers, did you run dowels through the pieces to aid alignment, or just line them up as best you can then sand the crap out of it afterwords? Also, I assume a clear adhesive like contact cement is preferred for gluing up the layers, as opposed to regular wood glue?

Thanks.

I didn't use dowels, I butted them against a straight edge while tightening the clamps. And yes, sand the crap out of em'! I think it might be impossible to glue up all the pieces and not have a bunch of sanding to do. Actually the rough "leveling" sanding goes pretty quick with the right sander and paper. In the pic below you can see a little pc random orbit with a 40 grit disc, this works pretty fast. I also have a porter cable random orbit polisher/sander with a 6'' disc, more power and more aggressive action removes wood quickly. I shy away from the big girl because it doesn't have any dust collection.

This is the bottom during the clamp up. Hard to see but there is a rebate (rabbit? It's Easter!) that will hold the mdf bottom. The bottom panel also houses the crossover and the port. The location of these allow the down firing port.


Sand sand sand….This little porter cable does a good job, and hooked up to the big ridged vac and dust deputy, is pretty darn clean.


Just a shot of the back.


And one of the top.


Jay

[Jbarnes]

Re: Trans-lam Caritas finished

Oh the glue. I used Titebond melamine glue. I had most of a bottle left over from another project and it seemed like it fit my application. The plywood I used has a smooth phenolic face, wood glue won't penetrate and become part of the wood like it wants to. If you are using normal wood faced ply, use your favorite wood glue, maybe the extended open time titebond would be best. Wood glue is unbelievably strong.

All that said, I tested the melamine glue and titebond ii on some scrap pieces. I glued a couple scraps together in a "x" shape, leaving little handles to try and pull on. I could not budge either of them.

Jay

[dcibel]

Re: Trans-lam Caritas finished

Thanks for the tips, you've been a great help. My plan is to have laminated side panels that fit onto a normal flat front and rear baffle. This way I maximize material usage. My boards will be CNC cut, and I had planned to have a couple holes in the panels for dowels to help the boards line up and prevent them from slipping out of place as they dry.

My comment on the glue was more about the fact that normal wood glue tends to soak in a bit and dries yellow or brown. I guess its such a thin layer that is not noticeable after you send the edge back.

Thanks again.

[Jeff B.]

Re: Trans-lam Caritas finished

Very nice cabinets! You make a budget speaker look like a million bucks!