Speaker Build - CNO Grande

I wouldn’t be doing anything that technical of course, it’d be purely visual! I’ll see if I can get a chance to try it today.

Finesse?! I’d be happy to just get a decent result first :slightly_smiling_face:

Cheers,
Mark

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Thank you! Will order some and try it out, also looking at a shellac based primer instead of the MDF primer I have been using.

Yesterday was a second Christmas as covid prevented my daughter, her partner and my two year old grandson coming round.

Love this from my grandson!

:joy:

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That’s really nice, and obviously special in more than one way - Grandad!

Brilliant and courageous work Mark and I’ll follow your trial and trepidations with glee. :+1:t3: Chop chop now :joy: Best Peter

@Nickd :slightly_smiling_face: Indeed, I’ve already put it up.

@PeterR haha, thanks Peter :slightly_smiling_face:

Pulled off one of the side panels (took some doing!) to see what it might look like with a panel line down the sides.

This would be used if I decided to go for a paint and veneer combination. Painted side panels and veneer centre or the other way round.

Thinking of a joint like this:

If I were to go for painted side panels I may be able to get them painted separately and glue afterwards … risky maybe.

I think this could look really nice with grey stained oak (maybe) veneer with white painted side panels, could even be gloss if I get them spray painted.

What do you think? Maybe I’m getting a little ambitious :slightly_smiling_face:

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Yes, a great look I think, and very similar in appearance to what PMC have done as mentioned previously, you can do it!!

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I think that would look really cool Mark, now don’t you worry about us prolonging the project! :relaxed: Best Peter

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I think I’m hooked, find myself checking several times a day for updates, think I need to get out more, lol.

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I find shellac based products nice to work with, and usually very good for building up multiple coats as the drying time is so short. The products I’ve used (including some from Zinsser) are always quite thin so for a really smooth high build finish you need a lot of coats. I haven’t tried it on MDF, but on natural wood I would use a grain filler first if I wanted a nice flat, smooth finish.

:slightly_smiling_face:
Unfortunately I’m back at work so I’ve just got evenings and weekends now.

To be honest the biggest hurdle I’ve got is the weather, it’s too cold for glueing or painting at the moment :confused: … and for me!

I have some veneer samples and wood stains on their way. The company that makes the grey paper backed veneer I found above only sells to the trade unfortunately.

So the next job is to get the paint off the test cabinet and try a bit of veneering … looking forward to that :slightly_smiling_face:

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I didn’t realise it dries so quickly, should be good for this. I’ve got some Zinsser B.I.N primer sealer to try.

Shellac paints dry fast because they are spirit based and you need towork reasonably quickly to keep a wet edge. B-I-N is good stuff, but it’s primarily intended to be used as a stain blocking primer so perhaps not the obvious choice here? Still, I’m sure it will work.
The good thing about shellac being spirit based is that you can use any finish coat on top, spirit, oil or water based.

Shellac darkens quite a lot over time though. something to consider.

True, but with a water based finish coat on top I imagine it would still be OK.

Entirely as a poor DIY person …is veneer very expensive compare with high level paint?
If you scratch the paint what do you do as I’m guessing one could could lightly sand/stain a veneers if scratched?

@Mark84 @ChrisSU Thanks Mark, Chris, I chose that one as I saw it recommended in a couple of articles and videos on sealing MDF back when I was first trying painting the test cabinet. I liked the sound of it as it’s a sealer and primer, couldn’t see many others that were both … but open to other suggestions!

@sjw Hi, veneer prices vary a lot depending on the type of wood and whether it’s paper backed, pre-glued or plain wood. For example one paper backed white oak veneer I’m looking at is around £75 for a 2.4m x 1.2m (8ft x 4ft) sheet, which is more than enough for my needs and less expensive than I thought it might be.
Then you have the stains, varnishes etc on top, all adds up but then so does painting with all the primer, top coats, protective finishes etc!

Cheers,
Mark

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Sanding off the paint kept me warm out there today :slightly_smiling_face:

Selection of grey wood stains to try, once the veneer samples turn up.
image

Still looking to get samples of the reactive stains, not so easy to find here so far.

Plan for tomorrow (if it’s not too cold) is to dowel the side panels and route the joints.

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Started on the side panels for the test cabinet today, first job was to route the recess for the new joint line.

This is the profile from the earlier sketch, trying a 3 mm joint which will be a bit smaller when the veneer is added.

Lining up the chamfers …

… looks wrong along the edges of the tweeter section, too much of the cabinet sides are visible now.


However I noticed that the other bevel lined up with the tweeter panel, so I made another side panel without the stepped chamfer.


This looked promising so I cut the stepped chamfer off the other side panel, routed the joint again and dowelled both panels.

I think this could work? A little cleaner? May reduce the joint width a bit but will wait and see what it looks like when the veneer is added.

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