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  1. #1
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    Mittered box building.

    I am making a subwoofer box and going to mitter all the corners so I can use Oak veneer plywood and not have to laminate the box. I was planning on useing 1X1 bracing in all the corners. How do I fasten all the sides together, will woodglue be enough?

  2. #2
    Color me gone... Resident Loser's Avatar
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    Never built any speaker cabs...

    ...but I have done some furniture and cabinets...

    I think you shoud be OK. Properly made glue joints are usually stronger than the materials you are joining. You could drill pilot holes in your bracing and screw them(carefully) to the cabinet sides...or use biscuits(but you need the tool)...or use locking mitres(but you will need the proper blades and tool)...

    Again, I'm no expert in speaker cabs(or much of anything else, for that matter), but most folks seem to use MDF(including manufacturers) and then either paint or veneer them...less resonance and such. Ply may be OK, but the layers can de-laminate under some circumstances...check out some kit sites, find out what they use...hopefully there is someone out there who can provide some insight on that issue.

    As a side note, cutting and fitting veneered ply can be an absolute b!tch...you always run the risk of porking up the edge...unless of course you have a workshop and skills like Norm Abrams(and I've seen some questionable things even from him). Most of what I have done required building and then veneering...it may seem as though you are saving a step by using faced material, but in the long run I have found the two-step porocess a bit less taxing on my patience. Using a good quality veneer and contact cement, you can even bookmatch the woodgrain exactly. This could even eliminate the need for mitre cuts...

    jimHJJ(...good luck...)

  3. #3
    MCH
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    Cool

    ibhkilla:

    I won't use the oak plywood (I assume you are using 3/4"). The problem with regular plywoods is that they have voids in them that may cause a vibration problem. If you use plywoods use Baltic Birch or marine grade plywood (on the Adire site they actually recommend these plywoods over mdf for subs). I built my Tempest Octagon with 3/4" baltic birch (has 13 plys and void free). I mitered the side panels (22 1/2 deg. to get the octagon shape) and glued them with some screws in the bracing. I then caulked all the seams on the inside with silicon caulking.
    Alternatively you can make the body of the cabinet out of MDF (I use 1" in my speaker cabinets) and wrap it with 1/4" plywood (I've used oak in this case with no problems).
    Just my thoughts.

  4. #4
    Forum Regular FLZapped's Avatar
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    Talking

    Quote Originally Posted by lbhkilla
    I am making a subwoofer box and going to mitter all the corners so I can use Oak veneer plywood and not have to laminate the box. I was planning on useing 1X1 bracing in all the corners. How do I fasten all the sides together, will woodglue be enough?
    I have found that the guys on the Madisound Forum are excellent wood workers:

    http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/discuss.cgi

    -Bruce

  5. #5
    Kursun
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    Quote Originally Posted by lbhkilla
    I am making a subwoofer box and going to mitter all the corners so I can use Oak veneer plywood and not have to laminate the box. I was planning on useing 1X1 bracing in all the corners. How do I fasten all the sides together, will woodglue be enough?
    I would use nothing less than 50 mm (2") MDF for the front panel and 30 mm (1 1/4") MDF all around. And of course, a driver not less than 15"...

  6. #6
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    Thanks for the advise guys, I just had some extra laying around from building a shelf unit so I thought I would save myself the time and money of driving to get MDF (45 min. from my place). I think I will probably go with the MDF than.

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