Another weekend gone by. Yesterday was eaten up by prep, sealing up the garage to heat it better and waiting for primer to dry. Holy fumy stuff! Alkyd primer with extra stink included! By this morning they were dry enough to start to work with without gumming my hands up.

They have been sanded down so the baffle should fit without having to drill into it a bunch like the other panels getting wrapped. A level on its side is a pretty good tool to check for high spots and get them perfectly flush with the outside of the cabinet. I have a couple places to patch on them anyway but I dont want more holes if I can help it. I might end up putting a few screws in just for piece of mind.

Here is the bottom with the lower port section installed. I drilled a 3/4" hole for the individual driver leads that will run out the bottom into the crossover boxes. This way it is concealed better than out the back.



I had a 5" hole saw on the shelf so I thought I would save some time and knock the midrange tunnels out of the back. MDF doesn't really get along with holesaws. Burned a bit but got it. Pretty hard on my cordless drill. I should pick up a corded one for this kind of stuff.


The cabinets are pretty much ready to be insulated and wired so I started cutting out the baffle for the drivers. Measuring the drivers on site was a good idea. They varied from the plans by a bit. An 1/8" or so in one case. The Jasper Jig is awesome and things went smoothly. I didn't quite get finished though. The MDF was hard on the bit and I stopped when it started stalling and cutting roughly. I will have to pick up a new 1/4" straight bit to finish.


And here is where we are at. Through the week I might get the guts of the speakers in order and be ready to glue the baffles on. If all goes well I might have them on and ready for real paint next weekend. Hopefully it warms up a bit for it.


Thanks Matt for the idea of sealing the inside of the cabinets. Probably a good idea to reduce future warping or twisting from moisture. This weekends MVP was the shop vac. What an invaluable tool! Must have.