First thing I have ever built

[Midnite Mick]

I built these for a friend of mine from work. The build went well, however the finishing isn't perfect...but I did learn from it. I guess that's why you try it on other peoples stuff first.:) I took some photos today with my cheap camera.

I have never posted pics before I hope this works:

edit: Damnit my jpeg files are too big....like 3 times too big.

Mike

[Midnite Mick]

okay computer guys/gals....what's the solution here?

Mike

[shack]

Resize you picture. (use your photo editor)

[dudeinaroom]

download and use irfanveiw, you can get it at tucows.com (http://www.tucows.com/get/194967_75076)

[Midnite Mick]

Alright I know there must be a better way. I still have to figure it out. Using my software I cropped, emailed to self, saved to desktop, uploaded from there here. Yikes. The pictures got pretty degraded but here are a few anyway.

Thanks,
Mike

[punk-roc]

looks good to me, nice work!

Jason

[disneyjoe7]

Nice work :)

BTW for pictures I email to myself using Win XP email file(s) in picture viewer. I usually make them 800 x 600 but you can make them 640 x 480 or 1024 x 768. I can make a 2.5gig picture like 60k nice and it doesn't degrade to bad.

[Midnite Mick]

Thanks guys.

I'll play around with those other methods as well.

Mike

[Early B.]

Looks great. Nice job. Be proud.

[schwarcw]

Nice! Congrats on your nice work!

[mlhm5]

Alright I know there must be a better way. I still have to figure it out. Using my software I cropped, emailed to self, saved to desktop, uploaded from there here. Yikes. The pictures got pretty degraded but here are a few anyway.

Thanks,
Mike

Go Here For Picture Posting
http://imageshack.us/

End of Problems!

[vhabaygiurbm]

Nice job on the design.

[Midnite Mick]

Thanks for the kind words gentlemen.

Mike

[pearsall001]

They look damn good to me!! What's your next project?

[Midnite Mick]

Hey Phil. My next project is actually one that I started before these stands. It is the Exodus 2641 kit from DIY cable. I put it on hold because my friend from work was pretty pumped up the stands. I figured I still have music with my Lsi's and thought I would build his. His wife loves them as well, so if one can do that, they can't be that bad.

I am going to be having some goodies in this weekend for demoing that I know you have some familiarity with. I should be getting them probably on Saturday, I will post some pics (hopefully:) ) as I know the people around here will be interested when they see the beauts. Stay tuned.

Mike

PS. I am picking up the MKII version of Consonance ref cdplayer as well

[pearsall001]

Yo Mike, I can't handle suspense!! Tell me, tell me, what are you bringing in to audition??? Speakers, amps, pre's???

[amulford]

Nice work, Mike. I like the laminated bases and the contrasting finish details. I take it they are hollow? Are they loaded and how much do they weigh?

[danger boy]

those are some nice sized and built stands.. how tall are they?

[Midnite Mick]

Thanks guys.

They are 4 and a half feet high (in hindsight I probably should have made them 4 feet). They are not hollow and are very heavy and solid. They are totally constructed of 3/4 MDF. The stems are 5 pieces of 3/4 inch MDF glued together (ie. laminated). The stems alone required basically a full sheet of MDF. The middle piece of MDF is 1 inch less in depth, thus creating a 3/4 inch by 1 inch channel going the length of the stands for the cable. Given that they were laminated I needed to cover the seems of the stems both front and back which led to the walnut stained ash pieces. The front is just 2 strips of door jam stops. While the back, because I needed to also hide the channel had to be one piece. It is ash that I cut to length, width, and routered the rear edge so it would not look chunky and blocky. I applied 2 coats of walnut stain and 3 coats of varathane. I used varathane because I was told that it would knock down grain rather than accentuate it. I preferred this because the rest of the piece was just painted. I thought it would look better.

Top and bottom "plates" are then drilled and squared off in the spot of the channel to accomodate the wire. A keyhole slot is routered on the top and the bottom of the channel to the direction of the rear. This allows up to 16 gauge wire. The wire is turned sideways slips in and then sits flat. It will not come out unless someone twists it and pulls it out.

The top and bottom plates (3 pieces roundovered and stacked) are joined to the stems using glue and lag bolts. They are very strong. I was moving them around constantly by just lifting the top plate.

There was a little to the predrilling through the bases and into the stems for the lag bolts. I lined the top plate and bottom plate up and clamped them together. Drilled through the top and bottom plates. With the bottom plate on the ground I then put the stem in the proper position. I used 2 way tape on the base right next to the stem and put scrap pieces around the stem, thus making a template. I would invert the stem and bottom piece so that the bottom piece was upside down atop of the stem and used the wholes that were already in the base to continue drilling into the stems. I also did this for the top of the stems using the same bottom plate template. Because the top and bottom holes already lined up from drilling them together before, the holes for the top of the stem would then also line up with the top plate. Drilled for the bolt heads/washer countersink, glued the plates and stems together, and lag bolted away.

Hope all that made sense. It is not always easy trying to communicate in a way that makes sense when one is reading.

Thanks,
Mike

PS. I made these specifically for the Rti6's. The top plate was made to the correct width but I should not have made them as deep as I did. I should have made the top plate so that it was the exact size of the base of the speaker.

[schwarcw]

Are these stands being used for surround speakers?

[Midnite Mick]

Are these stands being used for surround speakers?

Yes. I have never seen stands marketed for this purpose.