Translam Subwoofers with 18" Passive Radiators - The Jedi Mind Tricks

[crossbound]

I have to agree with Wolf, the layers in the ply by itself looks amazing. I was surprised to see you gonna put veneer on it.

[tomzarbo]

Not sure if I'm misunderstanding here, I probably am, but I think Keith is planning on just putting veneer on the back panel where the plate amp will live, as well as the front baffle for the driver; not the entire cabinet. I'm usually wrong, though.

It would be cool to do a front baffle out of the plywood scraps and have that be a laminated panel as well. I bet with some careful trimming on the table saw, that would go pretty quickly. Make it a bit oversized, then trim to match the existing lines on the plywood. Either way, it's gonna look super-cool.

TomZ

[KEtheredge87]

Ben, Alex, Crossbound, Tom... I can see how my picture with the veneer has been misleading. Let's try this again. Am I covering the whole cabinet with veneer? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!! No way I've worked this hard with this kind of material to hide it at the very end!

My plan is actually what Tom mentioned (for the most part). I have front and rear baffles made of laminated 3/4" and 1/2" MDF to make a 1.25" thick MDF panel (same wall thickness as the rest of the box). The Veneer is going on these MDF panels that I pictured a few days back in this thread. I chose the quartersawn walnut veneer because it had so many layers that I hope will blend in well with the plywood layers that WILL be exposed on the top and sides.

Once I have the MDF panels veneered and cut for driver recesses (RSS315HF-4 on the rear panel, 18" passive radiator on the front panel) I will stain the walnut veneer a nice darker color to add some extra pop against the natural colored plywood layers. I even have some 1/4" black guitar binding on order that I can inlay between the walnut baffle and the plywood walls for a smooth border and a super crisp transition!

To Tom's comment about a plate amp, I'm keeping these guys passive and plan to power them from my Crown XLS 1002 amplifier. Each channel can put out 350W at 4 ohms, which is what I used in my bass box model back on page 1.

I hope this has cleared up the confusion and restored people's trust that I am not clinically insane!

Thanks as always for the feedback. Shows how much you guys care for the craft and your fellow DIY'ers!

[KEtheredge87]

I think I woulda just Poly'd the tar out of them and not worried about veneer. Why cover up those beautiful layers?

I forgot to tell you in my previous post... I had a good laugh at "poly the tar" out of them. You bet that's my plan! I hope I bought enough poly! General Finishes High Performance water based poly so that it won't yellow with time. 1 quart seemed like a good starting point. Think that'll get the job done?

[Zephyr]

I would strongly consider sealing the inside as well. Generally considered best practice to balance the inside and out. Lots of potential for expansion and contraction with the plies oriented in this fashion. Beautiful work there.

[KEtheredge87]

I would strongly consider sealing the inside as well. Generally considered best practice to balance the inside and out. Lots of potential for expansion and contraction with the plies oriented in this fashion. Beautiful work there.

Thanks Zephyr! Part of my plan includes an internal coating of Total Boat 5:1 laminating epoxy. That should help stabilize the internal surfaces of the cabinet while the polyurethane helps hold the outside in place. I've been working up the gumption to actually roll that epoxy on to the insides, but I've been procrastinating that while completing intermediate steps! I'm almost out of those easy things to do, so I'm gonna have to jump in soon!

[jhollander]

When you are creating your finish schedules you might consider testing tung oil to pop the grain before the water based poly. I like BLO and oil based poly but you mentioned staying away from the yellow tones.

[KEtheredge87]

When you are creating your finish schedules you might consider testing tung oil to pop the grain before the water based poly. I like BLO and oil based poly but you mentioned staying away from the yellow tones.

Dangit John, you've got me questioning my life choices again! Just kidding... I always appreciate the help

Truth be told, I *think* I like water based poly because I have read it will cure faster and won't add additional color to the project. It seems like a "safer bet" in terms of final color. Having said all that, I am not opposed to the oil based poly finishes if they can turn out like this fellow DIY'er's project!

http://techtalk.parts-express.com/fo...r-based-finish

For reference, my finishing schedule for the walnut veneer baffles is going to follow Option #3 from this woodworker's source article (helpful since I already have all the products from my Swope tower speakers build)

3 Walnut Finishing Tricks

So I guess I'm torn on what will look best with a deep brown walnut finish.... a lighter natural wood color on the sides of the cabinet, or a more amber, warmer look to the wood? I could put a test together (which would probably be the right thing to do... but I was hoping to finish at least one of these in time for MWAF. No way to test AND finish in time... but I guess there's always the option of bringing them to MWAF in a raw state to play.

I'm open to any thoughts you or the other guys have here. Thanks as always!

[jhollander]

You may be disappointed having to compete against a full range speaker. The demo track is 3 minutes...

[KEtheredge87]

You may be disappointed having to compete against a full range speaker. The demo track is 3 minutes...

Heh, yeah... That'd be a bit odd! If I make my target and finish them in time, I'll just bring them for fun, not so much for competition. Although I'd sure like of those T-shirts. I'll get one some other way.

[JavadS]

Hey Keith, cool project! Man I wish you would have pinged me that you were starting this reading through the thread I think I could have lended some tips a long the way as I dealt with some of the same issues. So glad you can use some of what I learned, that's what DIY is all about!

Really looking nice, great job pushing through the challenges, now I'm subbed and will be following along

Thanks,
Javad

[KEtheredge87]

Thanks Javad! I appreciate the comments and encouragement. Admittedly I didn't want to steal your thunder and be all "Oooh! Oooh! Me too!" about the whole translam speaker thing. Your project goes well beyond impressive, I can't wait to see and hear them at MWAF!

I'm sitting here thinking about finishing techniques after John got me thinking again. I may be reconsidering my choice of water based finish. Maybe the oil based amber color would actually work quite well with the right brown walnut on the baffles? Really hard to guess up front. I'd probably like both styles of finish (water base clear vs. oil base amber)... Not sure how I'll come to a conclusion except to roll the dice here!

[donradick]

K -
I don't know what DoubleTap used for that ultra whitish version.
All of my BB ply looks just like your - sort of light tan / medium brown layers.

I did some experiments with a small price of BB translam - used clear ploy vs tung.
At first I thought I liked the clear best, but after a few weeks, I like how the Tung
darkened up the brown layers for a nice contrast.
It's your project, though. I just play around in the shop and try to have fun.

Speaking of water-based poly -
I used some GF water based poly on a few projects and found that the first project or
two turned out real nice, but after a period of time, the water-based poly would just
not even flow good enough because oxygen in the can caused a little bit of thickening.
I couldn't get a good flat coat to lay down, no matter what the application method.
Googling this showed a number of guys have this problem.
I'm sure the finishing experts here will have some advice......

[JavadS]

Thanks Javad! I appreciate the comments and encouragement. Admittedly I didn't want to steal your thunder and be all "Oooh! Oooh! Me too!" about the whole translam speaker thing. Your project goes well beyond impressive, I can't wait to see and hear them at MWAF!

Nah don't be silly, this is all about sharing experiences, I want to follow along in real time =) I've been so swamped with my projects that I haven't had much time to look at other threads on the forums (been all I could do to post my updates), great to see you taking this project on!

I'm sitting here thinking about finishing techniques after John got me thinking again. I may be reconsidering my choice of water based finish. Maybe the oil based amber color would actually work quite well with the right brown walnut on the baffles? Really hard to guess up front. I'd probably like both styles of finish (water base clear vs. oil base amber)... Not sure how I'll come to a conclusion except to roll the dice here!

My advise and what I did, I tested 7 different finished on pieces of Mahogany, then I decided what I liked best. I ended up with Spar Varnish on the Strafi because I did like the slight amber color as well as it laid down so nice and glossy with no orange peel or irregularities. I'm really happy with the finish, but it was an easy once I saw it on the test pieces, there was really only one choice.

Thanks!
Javad

[donradick]

Here's my little translam with Danish Oil.
I think most of the uneveness is due to a quickie sanding.
Oil will definitely warm up the blonde layers.