Patrick Sun
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Jun 30, 1999
- Messages
- 39,666
This weekend I finally got serious about building my DIY speaker stands. The reason I was dreading this project was because I didn't want to kick up all that MDF sawdust again, and I hadn't decided how tall I wanted to make the stands. So after polling you fine people as to what I should use to line up to my ear height, I finally decided on a speaker stand height.
I made the stands out of some left over MDF (had to buy a 2'x4' sheet though) and plenty of left over PVC pipe (both 4" and 6" wide pipes from my previous Sunosub projects). I decided on an overall height of only 13.5" for the stands. So I only needed 12" sections of PVC pipe (the other 1.5" came from 2 layers of 3/4" MDF.
Here's my famous documentation of the construction process.
Oops, left out this photo which details for boards:
June 9, 2001:
Photo 0 : Here are the MDF boards I will be using. The outer base is 15"x15", and the inner base is 12"x13" (this is where the PVC pipes will fit into the overall bases). I used a 3/4" roundover bit to give is a nice polished look to it. These boards were cut and rounded over well over 6 weeks ago. That's how long I've been sitting on this project!
July 28, 2001:
Photo 1 : Here I have marked off where I want to glue the top layer of MDF to the bottom layer, and poured the glue where it's needed.
Photo 2 : Here I clamp the boards together. I do this for each of the 4 sets of bases (top and bottom)
Photo 3 : Next I start on cutting the PVC pipes down to size. I use a couple of pieces of typing paper, taped together to form a banner around the pipe so I can mark off a clean cut line that will be as square as I can cut it.
Photo 4 : After hours of hand-sawing the PVC pipes, I'm finally done! My shoulders were aching badly after I finished. I had to rest between each piece. This was the part I dreaded the most. I'm getting old...
July 29, 2001:
Photo 5 : Just to make sure my paint will stick to the PVC pipes, I first spray gray primer on it.
Photo 6 : Hey, look, it's Mickey Mouse! I place the pipes in position where they should go on the bases. I draw circles, and I locate the center of each circle with a compass. The centers will allow me to use my router/circle jig to groove in the trenches for the pipes to fit into later.
Photo 7 : I drill in the center holes for circle jig. I do this for 2 of the bases.
Photo 8 : After routing through MDF, I had trenches for the pipes, and here are the test fitting of the trenches. I've made quite and a mess, and I'm only half-way through!
Photo 9 : This is how I insure that the top and bottoms of the bases will have mirrored trench holes. I use that block of MDF to measure one set of center distances from the block and mark them on the bases that will be mated to the base on the right and side. First you do one set of markings, and then turn each bases 90 degrees to the right, and mark off the intersection of the hole distances and that gives you the mirrored center hole for the trenches.
Photo 10 : So finally, I routered through the 2 top bases and created the pipe trenches. Here's what they look like after I put in the pipes in the lower base, and covered them with the top base. Ta-daaaa!
Photo 11 : Here's a shot of the SunOne on top of the new speaker stand. I'm not sure if I need to glue in the pipes to the bases because the trenches I routered were very tight and the pipes fit very snug. For now I'm going to leave it unglued until I get a good reason to glue them (and even fill them up with sand or kitty litter).
Photo 12 : And this is a final shot of how the stands look in my humble home theater setup.
I haven't decided if I will paint the stands totally black (my initial plan), or maybe paint the pipes and bases a lavish metallic silver color to go with Sunosub II.
Any suggestions for the color of the stands?
[Edited last by Patrick Sun on July 29, 2001 at 07:32 PM]
I made the stands out of some left over MDF (had to buy a 2'x4' sheet though) and plenty of left over PVC pipe (both 4" and 6" wide pipes from my previous Sunosub projects). I decided on an overall height of only 13.5" for the stands. So I only needed 12" sections of PVC pipe (the other 1.5" came from 2 layers of 3/4" MDF.
Here's my famous documentation of the construction process.
Oops, left out this photo which details for boards:
June 9, 2001:
Photo 0 : Here are the MDF boards I will be using. The outer base is 15"x15", and the inner base is 12"x13" (this is where the PVC pipes will fit into the overall bases). I used a 3/4" roundover bit to give is a nice polished look to it. These boards were cut and rounded over well over 6 weeks ago. That's how long I've been sitting on this project!
July 28, 2001:
Photo 1 : Here I have marked off where I want to glue the top layer of MDF to the bottom layer, and poured the glue where it's needed.
Photo 2 : Here I clamp the boards together. I do this for each of the 4 sets of bases (top and bottom)
Photo 3 : Next I start on cutting the PVC pipes down to size. I use a couple of pieces of typing paper, taped together to form a banner around the pipe so I can mark off a clean cut line that will be as square as I can cut it.
Photo 4 : After hours of hand-sawing the PVC pipes, I'm finally done! My shoulders were aching badly after I finished. I had to rest between each piece. This was the part I dreaded the most. I'm getting old...
July 29, 2001:
Photo 5 : Just to make sure my paint will stick to the PVC pipes, I first spray gray primer on it.
Photo 6 : Hey, look, it's Mickey Mouse! I place the pipes in position where they should go on the bases. I draw circles, and I locate the center of each circle with a compass. The centers will allow me to use my router/circle jig to groove in the trenches for the pipes to fit into later.
Photo 7 : I drill in the center holes for circle jig. I do this for 2 of the bases.
Photo 8 : After routing through MDF, I had trenches for the pipes, and here are the test fitting of the trenches. I've made quite and a mess, and I'm only half-way through!
Photo 9 : This is how I insure that the top and bottoms of the bases will have mirrored trench holes. I use that block of MDF to measure one set of center distances from the block and mark them on the bases that will be mated to the base on the right and side. First you do one set of markings, and then turn each bases 90 degrees to the right, and mark off the intersection of the hole distances and that gives you the mirrored center hole for the trenches.
Photo 10 : So finally, I routered through the 2 top bases and created the pipe trenches. Here's what they look like after I put in the pipes in the lower base, and covered them with the top base. Ta-daaaa!
Photo 11 : Here's a shot of the SunOne on top of the new speaker stand. I'm not sure if I need to glue in the pipes to the bases because the trenches I routered were very tight and the pipes fit very snug. For now I'm going to leave it unglued until I get a good reason to glue them (and even fill them up with sand or kitty litter).
Photo 12 : And this is a final shot of how the stands look in my humble home theater setup.
I haven't decided if I will paint the stands totally black (my initial plan), or maybe paint the pipes and bases a lavish metallic silver color to go with Sunosub II.
Any suggestions for the color of the stands?
[Edited last by Patrick Sun on July 29, 2001 at 07:32 PM]
Since the stands are so short, you really can't tip them over, and there's not enough of a ledge for the kitties to jump on to. 
