B460 - The Twins

[RedCoat23]

Okay I'm including some images from last week that I neglected to post.

First is the addition of the 5mm plywood base that was glued and furniture nail tacked on the base. You can see from the image it was oversize. I used a flush trim bit to tidy up the edges.



The next is after flush trimming. Those dowels you can see were to pin the base board in place. The side panels for the footer are doweled together so I had to put in the base and the drill/dowel through the sides. These have yet to be bondo'd. The entire base will have duratex on so they will not be visible.



Now for this weekend. The first task was to roundover those sections of the cabinet that required them. For this I used Freud's 1" round over bit (34-132 ). It's a fairly large bit and requires a 2.6+" opening on your router - seen here fitted to my Festool OF1400. A four cutter design, made like a hot knife through butter on the MDF.



Final two images show the results.

Lid - obviously not yet mounted.



Underside - I got lucky here. The edge of the routers footer resting against the side of the box was just the right distance to complete the round-over. Especially given the round-over bit is designed to rest a bearing on a 90 degree surface for guidance but in this instance is not present in the design of the cabinet.

[RedCoat23]

As 4343 suggested I added some capture wood behind the T-nuts should the worst happen. Instead of screwing directly into the face - I was concerned about splitting the baffle this far down the road. I decided to channel just enough space to clear the T-nuts and allow the wood to be directly glued to the baffle.

Here are the wood pieces. I just used a laminate trim router for these quick and dirty - no measuring



Finally one in place



The rest of my day was spent applying the surface dampening sheets followed by the insulation batting on all surfaces. Here's a shot from work in progress.



Work remaining.

I have to re-cut the top lid again. All the tightening and clamping with the dowels has meant the lid doesn't fit exactly so I need to make a new one. I have a few edges to tidy up. Fitting the lid is going to be a challenge with dowels but I like the positive registration it provides so I'm going that route. Does mean all the drilling has no room for errors...
Then I'm on to surface preparation before those areas to be painted can be tackled. Finally the veneering. My plan is to have the lid cut mounted and insulated by the end of next week so look out for upates!

Best Regards

[FE3T]

The following weekend I put in the port tubes. The next shot is the day after I'd epoxied the port tubes. These are just slightly smaller internal diameter than the original plans - 4 inches as opposed to the originals at 4.125 inches. I calculated the original volume based upon 4.125 diameter and 14.75 length. I extended the ports based upon the new diameter to 15.69 inches and I'm within 0.02in³ of the original volume

Smaller diameter = Shorter tubes if you want the same tuning.

If Your original B460 has 3 Ø4.125" tubes x 14.75" long
and Your mirrored copy has 3 Ø4" tubes they need to be 13.77" long, not 15.69"

But i dont know if the difference are audible, it may not be.

[RedCoat23]

You're right. Don't know how I missed that.

Using an online calculator having a 8ft³ box with 4.125 diameter tubes at 14.75 length gives a tuning frequency of 26.8Hz. Changing to 4 inch diameter and moving out to 15.69 just means I've altered the box tuning from 26.8 to 26.12Hz (if I did the maths correctly). So I guess you're right, chances are I'm not likely to notice the difference, but thanks for spotting the error.

[RedCoat23]

Didn't get to mess with the clone last weekend so here's the small update for this weekend.
I finally got to fit the lid to the box!
Here it is with all the clamps I could find - Note to self, need more... I used some table saw frame rails as cauls, they worked just fine.



After 24 hours and now with all clamps removed, but before edge clean up



Finally the reason I didn't do any work last weekend. I put some entertainment in the garage to make the work more enjoyable



I've subsequently cleaned up all the edges. Redone the roundover and bondo'd any sections that needed it. It's starting to feel like I might just finish it this time

[dprice]

Nice call on the 1" roundover bit. I was wondering how you were going pull that off. I had to build a replacement grill frame for mine and ended up faking the roundovers by making a few passes on the table saw to rough out the profile. Then I used a belt sander and finishing sander to get the final profile.

BTW, are you working from a set of plans? Or just figuring it out from your original?

[RedCoat23]

Nice call on the 1" roundover bit. I was wondering how you were going pull that off. I had to build a replacement grill frame for mine and ended up faking the roundovers by making a few passes on the table saw to rough out the profile. Then I used a belt sander and finishing sander to get the final profile.

BTW, are you working from a set of plans? Or just figuring it out from your original?

I wasn't going to build a grill for mine. My original doesn't have one, plus I have cats. Grills and cats don't mix...

In answer to your question I'm working off the metric plans on the site, though I had to make some adjustments - as documented earlier in the thread - my footer section is taller than those called for in the site plans so I re-built the base. They are now within 2mm of each other.

[RedCoat23]

Didn't get a chance to do much last weekend hence the lack of update. This weekend I sprayed the front baffle and rear panel.
I used one of my damaged 2245 drivers (has coil rub, needs new cone) just to get a sense of how it will look finished.

It's getting closer!



And here's a shot from of the back panel.



It'll probably be a couple of weeks again before I'm able to update, hopefully it'll show the base complete with the touch up work on ports also done; only veneering will remain.

[RedCoat23]

Here's an update I neglected to post. I was working on the base of the cabinet painting with Duratex



Though the colour is slightly different from the main baffle, it's not really noticeable and I feel actually turned out quite well.
I'm using 8 furniture sliders from home depot.

[RedCoat23]

Today I applied walnut veneer to the end caps of the cabinet. I used weldwood contact cement and a veneer hammer.
I veneered directly over the 3 ports and then used flush trim bit after drilling a suitable sized hole in the centre.



A slightly better angle. Those blue painters tape lines indicate where the centres of the port holes are.



Finally after all 3 holes are complete.



Tomorrow I'll be attaching the final piece of veneer (top and front). Will post once done.

[Ed Zeppeli]

Excellent progress. Thanks for all the detail.

Are you planning on finishing with Watco?


Cheers,

Warren

[RedCoat23]

Excellent progress. Thanks for all the detail.

Are you planning on finishing with Watco?


Cheers,

Warren

Thanks Warren, it's certainly taking me a while!

Yes I'm using Watcho Danish Oil medium walnut. I did a test piece from one of my offcuts last weekend, matches my original B460 really well.
The plan is to post pics of the two of them side by side once complete.

I'm a little nervous about the final piece - it's giant 'L' shape but I think I've figured out how to do it without drama...I hope...

[RedCoat23]

Today's the day for the final piece. Here's where it was this morning as I was checking for about the 12th time how much overhang I had and exactly where it needed to be placed.



This was after I'd completed attaching the veneer in one piece but without any edge trimming. I used a veneer hammer to press the two surfaces together. The painter's tape was just to catch glue from the roller



Top and left side edge trimmed. I'd not got the book-matching perfect but close enough. I figure once the stain is on, it'll probably be less noticeable



Final shot of the box complete. I've done first pass edge trimming. the brown wavey edges you can see at some of the corners is part of the paper substrate that still needs removing. I also have some touch up to do on the black painted surfaces where the flush trim bit got a bit too flush...



I'm leaving the glue a week to fully cure before I start staining next weekend. I'll be doing a restore pass on my original at the same time. Sunday I plan to photograph them side-by side so look out for that.

In closing I just wanted to say that this is the first woodwork project I've undertaken since leaving school about 30 years ago. I went to the trouble of detailing a lot of my steps for those who are perhaps a little reluctant to undertake such a project. My advice, take your time, measure 10 times and cut once (maybe...), but above all have fun. I've really enjoyed my journey with this.

Best Regards

Redcoat.

[JeffW]

Great work on an ambitious project, looking forward to seeing the finished product!

[RedCoat23]

Great work on an ambitious project, looking forward to seeing the finished product!

Thanks Jeff It's almost done.