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One Method for Veneering Speaker Cabinets

visiman said:
I owe my job to mike! Again, Thanks..



They turned out super! I followed it like a bible. The only thing problem I had was that the veneer got splits on two places that I had to fill but are no longer visible even though I used the blue painters tape. The splits came minutes after ironing on the veneer (while cooling) maybe from air humidity in the room being too low? But anyway , A really super documented help, and The Advents will not be the last thing I re-veneer using this methode.

Thanks Mike! :thmbsp:
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Wonderful job visiman! Glad to have been of help along the way. :thmbsp:

Mike
 
I hope nobody minds commenting on a thread this old, but I have a question regarding the process. I read the tutorial and agree with all of you it is an excellent documentation of the veneering process. I am contemplating refurbishing some CS-99A's and was hoping for just such a recipe.
My question concerns veneering the 2nd through 4th sides. If you leave the 1/16th lip over the edges of the first side, how can you get the next side flat? It seems like it should be sanded flat before going on to the next side. I can't picture what is going on with the lip left by the first sheet while the second sheet is being glued and especially ironed. Maybe I missed something?:scratch2:
 
You want to veneer the bottom, then the two sides, then the front, then the top. Trimming each piece before applying the next..

I'm sure some others will switch that a little and say the bottom, then the front, then sides and finall top... just depends if you want the edge of the sides on the front, ot the front edge on the sides.. I prefer to see the front with only the top edge showing..
 
Most veneer today comes 1/32" or less in thickness. You're going to have a hard time spotting that edge from more than a couple of feet away.
 
313guy said:
I hope nobody minds commenting on a thread this old, but I have a question regarding the process. I read the tutorial and agree with all of you it is an excellent documentation of the veneering process. I am contemplating refurbishing some CS-99A's and was hoping for just such a recipe.
My question concerns veneering the 2nd through 4th sides. If you leave the 1/16th lip over the edges of the first side, how can you get the next side flat? It seems like it should be sanded flat before going on to the next side. I can't picture what is going on with the lip left by the first sheet while the second sheet is being glued and especially ironed. Maybe I missed something?:scratch2:
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Are you referring to the step in Part II of the document, page 4? You're right I didn't explain the next-face-union step very well.

The way I did it was to trim each face's edges (four of them per side of the speaker after glued down) close to flush by using the metal scale/ruler as the guide to steer the knife. Yes, you are left with a little lip (about 1/16") that's easily sanded down to form a neat little miter after all four sides of the speaker are glued down.

Let me see if I can explain it a little different. If you start by veneering the left side of the speaker box, (looking at the speaker as if you're listening to it), you'll have four edges of that left side veneer sheet with 1/4"-1/2" overhang all the way around. If you trim each of those four sides down using a metal straight edge as shown in the pic, then you have four edges with a small +/-1/16" overhang. If it's easier for you, trim the end of sheet #1 "flush" that sheet #2 will lay over with it's own 1/4" to 1/2" overhang. I didn't find it a problem to leave the +/-1/16 overhang for each face as I worked my way around....then carefully sand the edges after all four sheets are glued so the miter forms.

It looks kinda like this ---| at each corner as you lay each new face of veneer down prior to trimming. You can trim closer (more flush) to the edge, but in doing the overlap-method, you can sand the meet points later to a near invisible line and REAPPLY the heat if needed to weld the very edges down if necessary. If you trim flush before placing the next adjacent sheet, you need to make sure you don't go beyond flush and risk having the edges of the veneer not meet up.

Hope that helps.

Mike
 
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Thanks for the follow up explanation. That does make it clearer, but I am leery of mashing that overhang while ironing the second side. I know 1/16" is not much, but it is double the thickness of the veneer and the stuff is pretty brittle when unsupported. I had not considered the threat of going beyond flush, though. I will definitely try some expendable cabinets to practice the techniques first. I may also try a laminate trimmer that I already have just to see how it does on veneer when cutting cross grain.
Thanks again for the excellent instructions and the clarification. I especially like the idea of not using contact cement. I usually need at least two chances to get it right, and contact cement is too one and done for my style.:thmbsp:
 
similost said:
I use a router with an edge trimming bit on it to trim the edges. Works perfectly.
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Do you mean the kind with the bearing on the end? That is what I meant by Laminate trimmer. That will make it impossible to go "beyond flush". Hopefully it won't splinter the wood. If I trim to 1/16" first per Mike's recipe, it likely won't.
 
313,

The use of the router bit (laminate trimmer) would be a good test, but not sure how it'll do with the endgrain because it can be quite brittle. Other wise, on that one edge where the next sheet lays-over, you could very carefully sand that piece flush with a large flat wood block wrapped in 120 grit. Sand perpendicular to the sheet/edge, not with it's length to keep splintering to a minimum.

You also might find that using a straight edge like shown, and angling the knife blade enough (running along that straight edge) might get you flush enough. I think this must have been what I had inadvertantly done....because as you said, "mashing that edge down doesn't seem right"....and I didn't run into that problem either. It seems that would have been noticeable if I had.
 
Mike...Thanks for your great tutorial :thmbsp:. I'm going to do a set of L-100's as a gift for my daughters graduation this May...maybe rosewood :scratch2:.
 
NealinNevada said:
...I'm going to do a set of L-100's as a gift for my daughters graduation this May...
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I wish my kids were into the vintage gear. They all love music, but at 14, 18, and 21 they grew up with stuff you can fit into your pocket.:music:
 
Nicely done. Very helpful and informative. Thanks very much for posting this. ..... and ... beautiful work.

Tom
 
Thanks for the wonderful veneering tutorial. Very well done with nice pics and helpful explanations. I may even give it a try now. :thmbsp:
 
If you are going to DIY, this is a great thread. If you are going to pay some one, that's another story, $$. I would try and find a one man shop and see what he would charge you to build a new set of boxes. As long as there are no compound miter cuts, it's a simple job, but not a quick one, for a good cabinet maker.
 
Those JBL L96's turned out really super, Mike. Congratulations on a fine job and a really great writeup too! It's very encouraging and inspiring to see what you've done.

I do have one question. When you trim the veneer after having applied it to the cabinet, you mentioned leaving an 1/16" overhang for sanding later. So, when you apply the next sheet of veneer, I expect you then align the sheet flush to the edge of the previously applied sheet. However, doesn't this present a problem for the bottom sheet of veneer applied? Judging from your tutorial, you did side-->top-->side-->bottom. But the bottom will be restricted from fitting fully due to the 1/16" overhang from the two sides. Do you trim one side a little more so that the bottom will be able to overhang on one side?
 
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