Veneering cabinets - Driver holes before or after? (1 Viewer)

[Jonathan M]

Hi there,

Just in the planning stages still. Was wondering whether it is better to route all holes before or after veneer is applied to the cabinet. Will probably be doing the wrap technique.

Cheers
Jonathan

 

[David W Collier]

I would route out the speaker cutouts before I applied the veneer. If you venerred first and then messed up the cutouts, you would have wasted a bunch of time and $ on the veneers. Do your cutouts before you even assemble the speaker. This will save you time and money.

 

[DaveDel]

Are you going to be flish mounting your drivers?

If you are I'll make a suggestion. If you do cut the holes first make sure you take into consideration how you will flush trim the veneer for holes after you apply it. I wish I had thought of that before I built my speakers. The problem I had was flush trim bits have rub collars on the bottom. The depth I needed to flush mount my drivers was not deep enough to allow the router bit edge to come into contact with the veneer edge. I wound up having to hand trim all five of the speakers I made. I'm not using grilles so I had to be very careful trimming in order to make it look good and it took me hours to get them all done.

Hope that helps.

 

[Brian Bunge]

Dave,

I had a buddy cut off the end of a flush trim bit so that it's shallow enough to do tweeter recesses that are less than 1/4" deep. Works like a charm!

Brian

 

[Jonathan M]

Thanks for the responses guys!
Yes, I am flush mounting the drivers. The tweeter/woofer recess needed are around 4mm (Just under 3/16ths), and my flush trim bit has a roller on it which takes up 8mm or so. I've thought of perhaps making a guide that would run along the inside cutout at the appropriate offset. I have one with my router, but it is too large to do tweeter cutouts.
I'd certainly prefer to get them sorted before veneering due to the potential costs involved in screwing up (Always a possibility
Any additional ideas/suggestions are welcome!
Cheers
Jonathan

 

[Jonathan M]

Another question for you all:

I'm planning on doing a veneer wrap, but don't want to exceed around 12mm radius roundover on the corners (9mm radius is preferred due to size constraints, but 12mm is probably more practical). Is this doable with paper backed veneers, or should I just go for square edges?

Cheers
Jonathan

 

[Ronnie Ferrell]

What is the difference between the radii of the clearance hole and the flush mount?

Mine happened to be .5" So I cut the clearance holes first. Then I veneered the speakers. I finished up with a .5" rabbeting bit. Doing it this way also kept me from having to allot for the thickness of the veneer when cutting the depth of the flush mount in the MDF. Also there was no chipping of the veneer because it was glued to the MDF.


Ronnie

 

[Pete Mazz]

I always make a template of the front baffle and use it to route the finished baffle after veneer or whatever using a pattern bit or router collar and bushing. Safer and easier to veneer w/o the driver holes, especially if you're doing a wrap. If you're going to screw up, might as well be a piece of scrap.

Pete

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

Well, I've done it both ways. If the drivers have circular frames, I'd probably veneer first, then use my Jasper jig and cut through the veneer for the recess cut, then the through-hole cut. I actually did that on only one pair of monitors and it worked fine. I used a spiral downcut carbide bit, so the bit cuts through the veneer with a downward shear and will leave a perfectly smooth edge. For small drivers, one pass with the 1/4" spiral bit will work. For larger drivers with a wide mounting flange, you'd have to make two passes at consecutive diameters in order to make the recess cut wide enough.
For drivers with non-circular frames (boy, I hate those ), if you're going to freehand route, then apply the veneer after you route. If you don't want to freehand, then make templates out of 1/4" masonite and do like Pete using a template bushing.
Jonathan, I usually use a 3/4" radius roundover bit, but have used a 3/8" and 10-mil paper-backed veneer wraps around those corners just fine (I assume you'll wrap with the veneer grain parallel with the cabinet edge you're wrapping around).

 

[Jonathan M]

Thanks heaps for the tips, guys!

Now to find a place that stocks Veneer in NZ!

All the drivers are circular, so I'll either use a circle jig (It'll be a DIY job) or the template method. I'll certainly try and obtain one of those spiral bits, and will likely use a 1/2" roundover to allow a bit less strain for the wrap.

Thanks again for the assistance.

Jonathan

 

[Jonathan M]

Just one last question.
How thick is 10-mil paper backed veneer? (Never heard of the mil measure before - another one of these crazy imperial units?)
Isn't it funny that in most metric countries, height still only makes sense in feet and inches?
Cheers
Jonathan

 

[Pete Mazz]

It's a little less than 1/32" thick. I personally like the 20 or 30 mil. Much nicer to work with.

Pete

 

[Brian Bunge]

Pete,

Could you elaborate a bit? What makes 20-30 mil nicer to work with? Have you ever used any of the NBL veneer? It's tough to get around anything smaller than a 3/4" radius, but seems to be of a higher quality in general than the 10 mil paperbacked stuff.

Brian