SevenSixTwo - InDIYana 2018 Coax Design

[Kevin K.]

Table routers and their accessories are difficult to recommend, so much to pick from. It really comes down to how often will you use it and what it's primary uses will be. I like the KISS rule for the table router and just have a basic 2'x4' table built with 2x4 legs and a plywood top covered in Formica. The body of the router is actually mounted to the underside of the table. Sorry, I completely forgot about the table you built a while back, surely you can fix it to suit your needs. Remind me again why your table had independent sections on the top? Or post a pic.

[KEtheredge87]

All good Sir The table top has 3 sections to it, so it can be a multifunction type setup. I built it off these plans: https://www.popularwoodworking.com/projects/aw-extra-51514-ultimate-tool-stand

The side sections are screwed into place, and have slots cut into them to allow clamps to secure work against the table anywhere along the depth of the table. The center section is removable, and is where the router table lives. That section can be stored underneath, and replaced by my chop saw (bed height is matched to the side panel height), or any other tool that I chose to fit into the space.

In a perfect world, all of my table saw cuts to make those sections would have given me identical heights across the whole surface. Apparently, my world is not perfect, and those sections are not 100% flush!

I suppose I could go big with the KISS principle and buy a scrap section of countertop. I could clamp that down to my workbench and have one uniform router table surface. Although the more I think about it, I'd probably just make the router table part of the table saw wings (once I buy it) and convert the workbench into a more dedicated chop saw station.

One way or another... I'll be tweaking my shop to improve after this project is completed.

[Kevin K.]

Damn, how could I have forgotten that work bench, sweetness! If it's possible, lift the center section up to be higher than the other surfaces. I rarely need more than a 2'x2' table area to flush cut driver openings. At least you could try that until you pick up that ridiculous Table Saw and get the extension for it (envy is ugly, I know). Tried with all my might to convince the boss years ago we needed that table saw but it was bad timing and our slower part of the season, Grizzly won out. Still a decent saw but not near as good as the industrial version of the SawStop.

I understand your time constraints and wish you luck on the other two cabinets. If you have trouble and end up needing the hardwood option, let me know, be glad to help out.

[KEtheredge87]

Hi Guys!

I'm happy to report I have finished the veneer application and most of the trimming on my last cabinet, and I did NOT screw this one up with the veneer trimming flush cut bit! I think I even saw a Star Wars style vision of Kevin K. dressed as Obi-Wan Kenobi reminding me to "use the force"... just do it lightly and keep moving!

Now I only need to make the final bushing guided cuts to trim the side panels down and I'll be ready for final sanding and the start of the finishing process!

I have heard people comment that their children are all unique and special... If we want to call these cabinets my children for a moment, the adage definitely applies. Each one presented me with challenges doing the 360 degree veneer wrap, and 2 of the 3 didn't stay within the pencil guides I had drawn for myself. I figure this result is half due to my best attempt at lining up the sheet before gluing it down, and half a byproduct of how square my basic cabinets were. Any little bit of variance out of square would cause the veneer to start wrapping around the 3/4" rounded edges at an angle, and then show compounding error all the way around the cabinet. I planned to make the veneer seam on the bottom of the cabinets only, but I had to call an audible during the wrap last night once I started getting too far outside the lines. I made a second seam on the back of the cabinet, so I just cut the veneer sheet, scooted the piece back to center, glued it down and proceeded onward. This worked out pretty well for an area of the cabinet that isn't critical from an aesthetics perspective.

As a byproduct of the 360 degree wrap shenanigans discussed above, I couldn't use the same slot cutter location for veneer trimming on each cabinet. I had to decide on a unique cutter position for each cabinet in order to trim the veneer wrap while still making those cuts an equal distance from both sides of the cabinet. At the end of the day, this means that the apparent thickness of the cabinet side panels are a bit different on each one! The difference is fairly small, but it's there if you look for it. Adds character, right?

Lastly for the night.. a few words on the XO board mounting arrangement. As I have shown before, I'm using the PE phenolic circuit perf boards and the little case stand-offs to secure the boards in the cabinet. Well... I can't quite secure those stand-offs to the cabinet without trying to add some funny drilled holes to sink the M3 threaded posts into the cabinet, so I elected to cut the external threaded rod off the posts. This leaves me with the internal threaded section that receives the circuit board screws above. I decided to take some 1/4" hardboard and drill clearance holes for those posts, then epoxy the posts into those holes. Now, I can mount the whole assembly into the cabinets, and still be able to remove individual XO boards from the cabinet if needed. I assume I'll just use some epoxy to glue the XO mounting boards into the cabinet, since trying to do any other kind of wood screw would be a total pain at this stage!

I'm happy to keep making progress... I've got some TransTint Dark Vintage Maple dye to start playing with very soon!

[4thtry]

Those cabinets are really starting to look cool. Can't wait to see what happens when you hit them with finish. Keep up the good work.

[KEtheredge87]

Those cabinets are really starting to look cool. Can't wait to see what happens when you hit them with finish. Keep up the good work.

Thanks Bill! I've actually got some dye samples drying on a test board right now As always... it's a good thing we test before we hit the final work piece. I ordered some TransTint Dark Vintage Maple dye based on the internet photos I've seen that have a beautiful burnt orange look to them. In the real world, the stuff looks more like a really nice brown than it does an orange color! Maybe it'll magically transform into something else once I hit it with some polyurethane.

In the photos below, TT = TransTint (Dark Vintage Maple), GF = Behlen Solar Lux Golden Fruitwood, and BLO = Boiled Linseed Oil. I pulled out the Behlen dye after reading some more on finishing this wood online. I think the Golden Fruitwood is much closer to what I had in mind here. Might make one more board and throw a dash of maple brown in with the golden fruitwood to see if that burnt orange look comes through.

These samples are kinda intermediate. It's just the two colors, and one of each with a pop from boiled linseed oil. Polyurethane comes next to see the final result of testing.

[Kevin K.]

I vote for the Golden Fruitwood with BLO. Me likey, me likey a lot.

Meant to get back with you before now on your previous post but I've been at the grinding stone (CNC) and couldn't break loose. A tip for next time (I know, should have been before, not after). Draw reference lines the width of your cabinet on the back side of the veneer before applying the glue and starting the wrap. With the veneer sitting upside down on a table, you can place the cabinet between the lines to get it started and as you wrap it around, watch the lines to make sure you are staying true. That helped a little when I did Brian's speaker but I guess I forgot to reference that when I was uploading pics and updates. Too little, too late this time but maybe there will be another time later. They're still going to look fantastic when finished, keep up the great work.

BTW, it's OK to point out your mistakes to us fellow speaker builders but don't go out of your way to do it for others, you'd be surprised how many people wont notice those things unless you tell them. This build is a heck of an accomplishment, plenty to be proud of.

[KEtheredge87]

...Draw reference lines the width of your cabinet on the back side of the veneer before applying the glue and starting the wrap. With the veneer sitting upside down on a table, you can place the cabinet between the lines to get it started and as you wrap it around, watch the lines to make sure you are staying true. ...

BTW, it's OK to point out your mistakes to us fellow speaker builders but don't go out of your way to do it for others, you'd be surprised how many people wont notice those things unless you tell them. This build is a heck of an accomplishment, plenty to be proud of.

Thanks Kevin! I appreciate the ideas and tips as always. I did something similar with some reference lines this time, except I made them on the cabinet rather than the veneer. I gave myself two lines inset from the sides of the cabinet to show where the 1/4" slot cut would start and end. Those were the goal posts to stay within. From there, I made sure to cut my veneer sheet 1/4" to 1/8" narrower than the widest mark (giving me ~1/16" to 1/8" of margin to either end of my goal posts if I centered the sheet on the cabinet correctly). In theory, this works great... but in practice, that doesn't leave much margin for error if my cabinet edges aren't 100% square! Being the tiniest bit out of square around one of my rounded corners throws the whole wrap direction a bit off kilter to the left or right. Best case I just get a difficult spot to glue at the round, or maybe a tiny bubble.

Time to go play with finish a bit more in the garage to complete the test panel, as well as finish prepping the SuperBees for paint. Even if those aren't 100% done from a XO perspective, I can at least get the cabinet work done while I'm set up as a paint operation in the garage.

[KEtheredge87]

Hey Guys,

Tonight begins the finishing stage of the SevenSixTwo Coaxials! I don't have loads of step by step photos on this one since my hands were covered in gloves and dye, but I've got an dyed and drying cabinet photo for you

I deviated a little from my test panel with the finishing, and I am glad I did. I wasn't 100% happy with the depth of the dye color that I got from three coats of 50/50 SolarLux and Denatured Alcohol on the test panel. I just wanted it a little bit darker. That's an easy problem to solve... add more dye! The result I'm sharing tonight came from two coats of 50/50 mix (sanded off with 220grit then tacked off between each coat), one coat of 75/25 mix (dye/alcohol) that was sanded off as before, and one final coat of 75/25 mix. I immediately wiped it down with a clean rag and some denatured alcohol to blend in any lap marks, as this stuff flashes off fairly quickly! Finally, a liberal application of boiled linseed oil was applied and allowed to soak in for 10 minutes before wiping off the excess with another clean rag.

Within the next day or so I'll setup and repeat this process on the second cabinet. Although I may need to buy some more dye. All that sanding off and reapplying to darken the curls is worth it, but it sure seems to blast through the dye supply.

Super excited to get these dyed, painted, poly'd and curing with a few days to spare before the competition!

[Navy Guy]

Looking great!

[1100xxben]

All good Sir The table top has 3 sections to it, so it can be a multifunction type setup. I built it off these plans: https://www.popularwoodworking.com/projects/aw-extra-51514-ultimate-tool-stand

The side sections are screwed into place, and have slots cut into them to allow clamps to secure work against the table anywhere along the depth of the table. The center section is removable, and is where the router table lives. That section can be stored underneath, and replaced by my chop saw (bed height is matched to the side panel height), or any other tool that I chose to fit into the space.

In a perfect world, all of my table saw cuts to make those sections would have given me identical heights across the whole surface. Apparently, my world is not perfect, and those sections are not 100% flush!

I suppose I could go big with the KISS principle and buy a scrap section of countertop. I could clamp that down to my workbench and have one uniform router table surface. Although the more I think about it, I'd probably just make the router table part of the table saw wings (once I buy it) and convert the workbench into a more dedicated chop saw station.

One way or another... I'll be tweaking my shop to improve after this project is completed.

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Sorry, a little off topic from the thread, but you brought it up ... One thing you can try is put a small round-over in your gaps (like 1/8" or less). Also, put a straight edge across and shim under pieces as necessary to make them all co-planar (strips of thin take make cheap shims). Also, you could make each side one solid piece and use aluminum t-slot instead of slots all the way through. I realize this means all new clamps, but hey, who doesn't like buying some new clamps .

[KEtheredge87]

Sorry, a little off topic from the thread, but you brought it up ... One thing you can try is put a small round-over in your gaps (like 1/8" or less). Also, put a straight edge across and shim under pieces as necessary to make them all co-planar (strips of thin take make cheap shims). Also, you could make each side one solid piece and use aluminum t-slot instead of slots all the way through. I realize this means all new clamps, but hey, who doesn't like buying some new clamps .

Thanks Ben, excellent ideas. I'll keep those in mind for the future. Some of those toggle clamps on t-track could be quite useful!

[KEtheredge87]

Good Evening Guys,

One coat of General Finishes Arm-R-Seal has been applied to the cabinets! I'm aiming for three coats on the veneered surfaces before I give those a day or two to cure, mask them off, and then hit the remaining MDF with some primer and 2K satin black spray paint from Eastwood.

Admittedly, I don't know if a total cabinet coat of Arm-R-Seal is required after that to make the painted surfaces and the veneered surfaces lock together as one layer... at the very least, it sounds good in my head. Anyone have thoughts on that approach? I've got a few days to consider it before I get to that point.

Thanks for following along as I barrel toward InDIYana!

[Kevin K.]

Admittedly, I don't know if a total cabinet coat of Arm-R-Seal is required after that to make the painted surfaces and the veneered surfaces lock together as one layer... at the very least, it sounds good in my head. Anyone have thoughts on that approach? I've got a few days to consider it before I get to that point.

Even if the sheen doesn't match, you've got a contrast since one is veneer and the other is paint, I'm thinking it will look fine. If you do decide to try coating everything, test the Arm-R-Seal over the paint on a scrap, there could be compatibility issues. They're looking really good man, love the veneer and color choice.

[KEtheredge87]

Happy Sunday night, Friends!

Over the weekend I've put a total of 6 coats of Arm-R-Seal on the cabinets, resulting in the sleek photos below. I'll admit.. that's the still-wet 6th coat being photographed. Looked so good I couldn't resist!

At this point the protective film is certainly there, and the finish looks good overall. I could keep going, and maybe even get some of the small grain pores or surface inconsistencies filled in, but I'm not sure how long that might take. I've been going with very thin coats to make sure I don't get any runs, and things have been going quite well.

Next week I'll have to shift my focus toward painting the MDF edges between the veneered sections and getting final wiring and XO installation complete. I'd like to have enough time to do a final set of measurements and listen to these in stereo once or twice before the competition!

Getting closer and closer!