[Brian Pokosh]

I've never done much woodworking so all of my current tools focus more on cars, though I do have a drill press and a circular saw. For building speakers boxes, what are the must have tools? I don't want to spend any more then a couple hundred dollars on my inital tool investment, though I might pick up additional tools after my first project (my plan is to evantually build an entire 7.1 system).

It sounds like I can get by without a table saw and just get a straight edge to clamp down. Would that be a better option then buying a cheap table saw anyways? That would leave more money for a router. Any recomendations on that - Lowes has a DeWalt 1-3/4 HP for $199, and I think Sears has a Porter 693 for the same (even cheaper with 10% off next week). Are those evenly matched?

I've never even used a router before. Do I need a table for it? What are the bits that I'm going to need? Anything else I should plan on getting? I figure I'll spend about $200 on the router, leaving $50-$100 for bits, a straight edge, and any other misc. things I'll need.

[Dan Wesnor]

You will need a router, a Jasper Jig (for cutting circles), a good 1/4" spiral upcut bit, and at least one rabbet bit.

I have the Bosch router that sells at Amazon for just under $200. I forget the model number, but it's an excellent router. It has a hookup for a shop-vac that eliminates a lot of the dust. The bits that may come with the router you buy are generally not worth the trouble. Get a 1/4" spiral upcut bit for making through cuts. I find I usually only need a 1/2" rabbet bit, which is used for cutting recesses for drivers. The Jasper Jig makes it easy to cut circles.

The Porter Cable routers are also considered very good.

I would not waste money on a cheap table saw. I had a $300 Craftsman that made it a lot of work to get boxes right - the cuts just weren't straight. I now use a Jet and it's 10 times better, but cost twice as much. You can cut the boxes using a circular saw and a straight edge just as well as you can with a table saw, but it takes more set-up effort to get it right. Maybe one of the cheaper Jet or Delta table saws would be good, but plan on spending at least $400 for a table saw.

You should also look at getting a decent random-orbit sander, but it's not really necessary.

I know of at least one guy who builds boxes using nothing but hand tools.

[Brian Pokosh]

Thanks, that answered most of my questions. What about a router table?

I guess I'll hold off on a table saw for now. One thing I heard about was cutting the boards a bit over, then using a flush trim bit on the router after 2 boards are already glued together. Any adivce in regard to this option?

[Patrick Sun]

I would advocate making the MDF panels as square as possible, and not try to fix mistakes by trying to route away unevenness afterwards, that's just extra work. If you don't want to invest in a table saw, either do your best to find a friend with a table saw, or go to a local wood shop and give them the specs/dimensions for the wood panels you need and let the pro's at least cut the panels for you.

I was in the former case as I had a friend who cut the panels for me, and he was pretty meticulous with making sure the panels were mirror images of each other so that they would fit as flush as possible.

I would try to obtain many clamps, at least 4, but 8 is better, to be used when glueing up the panels together. Feel free to peruse my DIY Project page link in my signature and see what I went through to put together speaker enclosures (that you can now buy from Parts Express at quite a nice price considering the time and energy of making the enclosures yourself).

Make sure you buy a carbide-steel tip router bit because if you are cutting through MDF (the most likely choice), you'll be glad you did.

[Dan Wesnor]

A router table has very little use in making speakers.

[Brian Pokosh]

Where is a good place to get the clamps? I was looking at sears.com and they seemed pretty expensive. What's a good size to get for making speakers?

One other thing about getting a router. Do you think the $200 Porter is worth it for this? There is a craftsman 9.5 amp with 1/4" collet for $90 this week. Compared to the 10 amp Porter with 1/4" and 1/2" collets. Other then that specs look about the same. I know I'm getting what I pay for, but do I need to pay twice as much in this case?

[Pete Mazz]

Get at least a 1 1/2 HP router with 1/2" collet. 1/2" shank bits are about the same cost these days and are much better performers.

Pete

[Dan Wesnor]

Clamps:

http://www.pennstateind.com/Merchant...tegory_Code=CL

You get what you pay for in tools...but that said I've been using my "cheapie" plunge router for a while to make the last 10 speaker projects and it works just fine. Given the choice between a cheaper plunge router with good bits vs a Dewalt and average bits I'd take the cheapie.

[Joey Skinner]

I agree with Andrew. Good carbide bits will make a cheap router perform fine for speaker building. If you want to do a 3/4" roundover you'll probably need a 1/2" collet router. The largest roundover I found for a 1/4" collet was 1/2".

[Brian Pokosh]

Thanks for the link Dan, though I see Harbor Freight has them pretty cheap as well. Should I get them long enough to clamp the longest boards together? I'd like to just pick up 4 or even 8 of the $5 24" clamps, but they'll only fit around 2 of the 3 ends of my various future projects.

Brian I've found that the longer the clamps the more useful they'll be. I have two long ones and two shorter ones and I'm forever wishing I'd got four long ones.