Finally, some progress...

[skatz]

Perfectly clear, thanks. I will have to try the heatlock. I have not had good results ironing on aliphatic glues, and not with water soluble contact cements either. Best for me has been solvent based contact cement, seems that once its down, its down for good. I have had problems with the water based contact, like I used on my Solstice cabinets letting the veneer delaminate after a couple of years. I think its caused by humidity changes over the winter months, but that is speculation. You saw those speakers demo'd at an InDIYana meet, but Jeff was the one that discussed their design, I was a bystander. The veneer is now curled up at the bottom front of the cabinet, and on the sides at the bottom as well. Haven't been able to figure out how to try to fix that.

[tomzarbo]

Tom can you say how you applied the veneer, what glue you used etc?

Skatz,

I usually veneer in this order, Back, sides, front, top. I had the grain on the top going left to right to make it look like a continuation of the sides going over the top. It's hard to tell with Bubinga, it's grain is all over the place, but you can see the grain if you look for it.

I leave an inch or so extra around all the edges so I can use blue painters tape to hold the veneer down while I'm applying the glue with the roller. I pour some glue in a plastic Dixie plate and pick up the glue on the roller that way. Next day you can peel off the glue to clean it up.

I just used the same old Heatlock iron-on veneer glue I always use. I tried to keep it from touching with wood dowels where the convex curves are. It doesn't stick firm like contact cement, but it can stay 'tacky' in places so it's good to keep iron on the lowest, or flat parts first before letting the rising areas touch. (speaking of the sides and bottom of the front in this case)

There are a few links in my signature for videos on how I usually do this process. It's super easy though.... Apply glue with a roller to both veneer and cabinet... wait a half hour until the glue is mostly not really tacky anymore (a few places it may be tacky, but mostly it's not)... apply veneer to cabinet... place cotton buffer cloth on top of veneer and iron center-out at a medium to medium-high setting. I go over things a few times and move the iron slow, but it really works super-well. Some folks have success with regular Titebond glue, but I've always used this special Heatlock glue since it's specially formulated for this process, it's a bit thicker I think and it doesn't splatter any when applying it to cabinet or veneer.

This Bubinga was paper-backed by the way, it's much easier to work that way.

Sometimes depending on how the veneer absorbs the glue and dries out with the iron, the veneer may curl up a bit... I've actually had it try to pull away from the cabinet a bit at the corners usually due to this. I may use a little painters tape to keep the veneer from curling up, you may have seen that in a few pics here and there, that's what that's for. When you iron the veneer and get the glue surfaces really hot, it softens things up for a minute and it takes a bit for things to cool down and firm up. During that time if the veneer curls, it can lift up.

Hope some of that made sense.

TomZ

[skatz]

Tom can you say how you applied the veneer, what glue you used etc?

[tomzarbo]

Getting to work on the feet...

this is a slab of 2" thick oak I had in my stash.


I put my band saw to the test, but got it done.



They still need to be sanded/shaped up a bit, and I intend to put a 1/4" roundover on the feet where they show, but pretty much this is what they will look like.



There will be a rubber bumper at the bottom of each foot that is about 3/4" thick or so instead of spikes. Those are from an old plastic outrigger set PE sold as a buyout years ago.

I think these will get painted with black, and then clear lacquer.

Oh, and thanks Dukk. I'm working so slow these days, the patience part is taking care of itself.

TomZ

[Dukk]

Looking fantastic Tom! I'm not sure I would have the patience for such an exotic shape but the results are killer.

Relevant side story: I recently built 3-way's using an isodynamic tweeter and a dedicated mid-range, and they've absolutely floored me (a design a shan't promote on PE).... They blow away any 2-ways I've ever built, including my rather-perfectionist and more expensive SR-71's.... I just sit there for hours slack-jawed-drooling to 50's jazz recordings, wondering where 3-ways have been all my life.

Since then, I can't help wondering why 3-ways aren't more often done, given the real estate and budget.... surely you have the spare drivers kicking around, no?

Agreed. While there are many fantastic examples of 2-way designs, it is a rare case that they can hold up against a similar 3-way design. Freeing up the midrange to just be a midrange really changes the game. Of course the hurdles are: Size, Cost, and Complexity. Making a mid mesh well with both the woofer and the tweeter is truly an art.

[tomzarbo]

This pic is from a few years ago, but I'm not too much thicker... Once we went on quarantine last March, I picked up the pace on the running in a preemptive strike to try and combat any unsightly weight gain.

TomZ

[Chris Roemer]

(Tom IS eight feet tall though ... ;-) )

Wow Tom, you're lookin' pretty trim.
Didn't you put on any COVID pounds, like I did?

[tomzarbo]

Quick pic of previous cabinet for size comparison...



TomZ

[lunchmoney]

Thank you Sir!

Ah, I might not have mentioned it, but there is a Tang Band W51138 5.25" subwoofer going in the bottom of these. These are similar to the Summer Winds speaker system from a few years back with a Dayton 5/8" tweeter, two ND65s and a 5.25" peerless subwoofer at the bottom.

So these will be three way speakers, or at least two ways with built in subs... a "Souped up" version of those. I know only a few folks have heard the Bantam speakers the upper portion of this pair is based on, but they are really a sweet sounding little speaker, my favorite I've built actually.

But yeah, I get what you mean, and I've for sure thought about it... a semi- exotic small midwoofer and fancy tweeter would be cool for this... and how about the new epique subwoofer for the underside thumping about? These could be made into a rather high end system with total full range performance... Hey, I have one more pair of these cabinets in the basement in-the-raw waiting to be finished! I'm not done yet!

TomZ

Yes a true dedicated midrange is along the lines of what I meant.... ya know, my sense of scale was off with these, I thought they were physically larger... not that much room for the sort of 3-way or 2.5-way I was imagining.... although something like the Overnight Sensation TMM's come to mind...

Relevant side story: I recently built 3-way's using an isodynamic tweeter and a dedicated mid-range, and they've absolutely floored me (a design a shan't promote on PE).... They blow away any 2-ways I've ever built, including my rather-perfectionist and more expensive SR-71's.... I just sit there for hours slack-jawed-drooling to 50's jazz recordings, wondering where 3-ways have been all my life.

Since then, I can't help wondering why 3-ways aren't more often done, given the real estate and budget.... surely you have the spare drivers kicking around, no?

I love that little sub by the way.... years ago I built a small vented sub with that I'm still using in my home office. Very impressive in a small space, although I find it falls off quite dramatically if used in a larger room.

[tomzarbo]

WOW. Nice work.

Question: if going through all the trouble to make such amazing cabinets, why such a simple TM configuration? Wouldn't they be worth a nice 2.5-way or 3-way? I can't imagine two more drivers would break the bank on these.

Thank you Sir!

Ah, I might not have mentioned it, but there is a Tang Band W51138 5.25" subwoofer going in the bottom of these. These are similar to the Summer Winds speaker system from a few years back with a Dayton 5/8" tweeter, two ND65s and a 5.25" peerless subwoofer at the bottom.

So these will be three way speakers, or at least two ways with built in subs... a "Souped up" version of those. I know only a few folks have heard the Bantam speakers the upper portion of this pair is based on, but they are really a sweet sounding little speaker, my favorite I've built actually.

But yeah, I get what you mean, and I've for sure thought about it... a semi- exotic small midwoofer and fancy tweeter would be cool for this... and how about the new epique subwoofer for the underside thumping about? These could be made into a rather high end system with total full range performance... Hey, I have one more pair of these cabinets in the basement in-the-raw waiting to be finished! I'm not done yet!

TomZ

[lunchmoney]

WOW. Nice work.

Question: if going through all the trouble to make such amazing cabinets, why such a simple TM configuration? Wouldn't they be worth a nice 2.5-way or 3-way? I can't imagine two more drivers would break the bank on these.

[tomzarbo]

Looks great! Why the 2 layers of veneer?

Thanks a lot.

The under layer of veneer should prevent the joint underneath from showing up as a raised area under the finish veneer later on, in a few years.

Here is a pic of what that could look like...



It is only visible on an angle in the light, but you can see it, and I would like to prevent that from happening to the ones I'm currently working on. I actually did the same thing with these speakers, but the veneer was slightly thinner, and not a hardwood variety... so not enough material to prevent the joint from moving slightly.

Also, the veneer has to be perpendicular to the seam to be fully effective.

I plan on keeping these as my forever set of speakers that I will keep until I'm old and shriveled up, so I want em to look good through the years.

TomZ

[mtmpenn]

Looks great! Why the 2 layers of veneer?

[tomzarbo]

Finished up the veneering work today. Tedious, but totally worth it when done.



Next I have to nail down the outriggers plan. I'm thinking something sculpted out of wood matching the angles of the sides, but not sure. Gotsta' think on it a bit longer.

July is coming fast!

TomZ

[tomzarbo]

Even though this rendering isn't accurate to what I'm envisioning color wise, I think I'm leaning toward something like this:



The idea of gloss black piano finish scares me. Veneer can get scuffed and dinged and not really show it, where gloss black takes much more care.

TomZ