The Loudspeaker Kit - TL6 Veneer

Of course, buying and constructing the TL6 kit means that the builder needs to make the decision about what sort of finish is required for the speakers. I found the painting to be quite a "fussy" process when I did the M4s and I wanted the TL6s to look as good as I could, so I decided to do a veneer finish.

The Veneer

After much searching, the veneer was found at a place called World Wide Timber Traders, down in Bibra Lake. If you go to the web site they have an area under products for "Natural Timber Veneers" which you can go into and call up photos of all of the timbers they have available. There is a quite fantastic range there and when I went down to the factory, they had shelves and shelves of stacked veneer panels. I had thought that the "Mappa Burl" would be a fantastic finish (and I still think it would be) but it was, as I had expected, one of the priciest in the range. It was just on $150 per square metre, which when you calculate that it takes just under 3m2 to cover the TL6s, would have cost me around $400. As much as I would have liked it, I settled for my second option which was the American Cherry at $42m2 for the paper-backed version of the veneer. You can also get a "raw" version of the veneer, which means it has no backing on it, which makes it a little tricker to apply. For a beginner, the guy at WWTT recommended the paper backed version, and I was happy to follow advice as a first-timer.

There are, I know, other options out there, specifically the "Iron-on" veneers that you can sometimes get at Bunnings and some timber and hobby shops. I found a supplier, carbatec, that had the pre-glued iron on sheets available in sizes 1200 * 300 for the sum of $33 per sheet. That calculates out to be around $96m2 and to get the 3m2 required to cover the TL6's you would be looking at almost $300 and lots of fiddling and joins seeing as the side panels on a TL6 360mm!

Because I went for a veneer that was not an "iron-on" type, I had to source and apply the glue to stick the veneer to the MDF. The guy at the timber place suggested a spray-on application, so knowing that aerosol cans of glue were available at Bunning's, I thought it would be pretty straight forward.... I ended up with this can of glue which according to the blurb on the back, would be up to the task. Luckily, I don't normally take all blurb to be true... For sale, one can glue, hardly used, ideal for sticking tissue paper together.

After my test patch had been left for a good 24hrs, I was still able to get a fingernail under it and with minimal effort, lift the veneer. Not good. Time to rethink the glue.

Talking to a friend that is in the house-building game, his suggestion was to ignore advice and use a brush and a good quality contact glue. Who am I to argue... Got these from my mates at Bunnings for just over $20 for 1.5 litres - more than enough according to the coverage rates on the back to do the 6m2 of the combined TL6 and veneer surfaces. A test run of this yielded a piece of stuck on veneer that was only coming off in the event of a fire!

Measure Once, Cut Twice!

Veneering

The process of applying the veneer was pretty straight forward, and I got both TL6s covered in one, fairly long day. Took a good 10hrs, but quite a bit of that was the 40min cure time for the glue to reach a tack free point before I could bring the two pieces together.

The first panel to be tackled. The process is pretty straight forward - put a thin, even coat of contact glue on the surface of the speaker. Wait around 40mins or until the glue is tack free.

The veneer side of the first panel. Again - put a thin, even coat of contact glue on the paper surface of the veneer. Wait around 40mins or until the glue is tack free.

Bringing the two pieces together takes a bit of care. Being a contact glue, once the parts come together, it's pretty much impossible to separate them again. You had better make sure you have the veneer piece lined up bang on before any part of it touches the speaker surface! The best way I found to do this was to cut some pieces of pine into dowels and use them as supports for the veneer above the speaker surface. While it was on the supports, I carefully lined the veneer up with the speaker panel. <-- Click for a bigger pic

Once the veneer was ready, the application method was simply making contact on the end, and using the heel of my hand, in a radiating pattern to apply and ensure there were no bubbles. It was then just a matter of moving the dowels along the panel and using the heel of my hand to work my way to the end. The whole process was really quite easy and painless, and thankfully, bubble free! <-- Click for a bigger pic.

A quick butchering of the veneer before using a little more finesse to trim around the rear port. The best tool is the sharpest knife you have, ideally a stanley knife with a new blade, or a surgical craft style knife.

Running the stanley down the edge of the panel. As long as the blade is sharp, and you take a bit of care, you can get a very good edge trim. One word of warning - a sharp blade will quickly cut into the MDF and you may find yourself attacking the speaker panel if you go at it too hard! Leave some work for the sander, as it's safer. <-- Click for detail of the edge.

Trimming down the long edge of the panel. One word of caution here as well. I had only allowed around 10mm of leeway on the edges, which was fine for the internal cuts of the veneer. As this picture shows, I was cutting very close to the edge of the veneer on the paper backing as well. The problem with this I noticed a little late, was that the veneer at the edge of the sheet was rippled and lifting from the paper backing. So while I was gluing a bubble free finish with the paper, the veneer itself was lifted from the paper. The first coat of varnish penetrated and re-stuck the veneer to the paper, but it was a concern for a while. <-- Click for a close-up of the veneer lift.

Two panels of veneer coming together and with a quick hand sand, the join is damn near invisible with no evidence of the paper backing. The trim around the driver cut-outs was a lot tricker to do than the straight edges, and it did take quite a bit of time and fiddling around to get right.     <-- Click for a bigger pic.

There's a join in this picture, the only one on the speaker and I tried to keep it in a spot that would be as unobtrusive as it could be. Once I'd finished each speaker, I used a bit of cabots wood putty to patch up my nicks and cuts from the stanley and to make the join as seamless as possible.     <-- Click for a close up of the join.

Putting the very last piece of veneer in place!

No more need for this dodgy old brush - in the bin you go!

Front of the veneered speaker.

Rear of the veneered speaker.

Thoughts & Tips

The Veneering process was not as onerous a process as I had been anticipating. Once the measuring and cutting was done, all pieces laid out and ready to go, it was simply apply glue, wait, place the dowels and line up the veneer, apply and move on to the next piece.

• The contact glue was very easy to use and is probably a better option than using a spray glue as long as you take the time to apply it consistently and lump-free.
• Use a sharp knife!
• Don't try to do too much of the trimming with the knife, leave a bit for the sander!
• Take your time with the driver cut-outs. It's easy for the stanley to start biting into the MDF if you go too hard.
• If I was to do it again, I would change the order in with I applied the veneers:

1. Back Panel
2. Side Panels
3. Top Panel
4. Front Panel

This will ensure that the front panel is the panel without an edge facing outwards. This may be being a little pedantic, because I cannot pick out any edges on mine, but if you want to absolutely make sure of it, the order in which you apply the panels is just as easy to do it in the order described as any other order.

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