Walnut Vinyl Wrap - Good one?

[Tenson]

Hi,

I want to make a small speaker product from birch plywood and then give it a walnut veneer. To make the prototypes I am using real wood veneer but it would save me a lot of time to use a self-adhesive vinyl that can wrap around the whole cabinet in one length.

I used Fablon sticky-back plastic from B&Q once many years ago and it looked really cheap. However I saw the Cambridge Audio Areo speakers recently and although they use a wood effect vinyl they look really lovely! Great speakers too, if a little bass heavy.

Can anyone advise where to source good quality self-adhesive vinyl?

https://www.cambridgeaudio.com/sites/default/files/Aero2_Gallery_walnut-front.jpg

[EddyCurrent]

Don't do it, stay with the real wood veneer ; http://tannoy.com/residential/#!products_1520
You can buy ready veneered ply, or if you intend making loads why not get a price for outsourcing the veneer work then you just cut the panels out.
If it's the corners that are giving trouble maybe this video will inspire; http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/114082/veneered-boxes-with-a-twist
the bit I'm on about starts around 1:30 minutes in.

[Tenson]

I make high priced speakers with real veneer if customers want them, but the aim of this project is something small that packs a punch and doesn't cost a high-end price. If the retail price is about £290 in a shop then every little added in material and especially time counts for a lot at the manufacture end.

Also vinyl doesn't need to look bad at all. Obviously I have some experience regarding quality speaker cabinets and I needed a good hard look to tell the Cambridge speakers were not real wood veneer!

P.S. I happen to think those Tannoy speakers are pig ugly! ;P Here is one of mine with solid walnut and white leather.


http://www.audiosmile.com/images/audiosmile/Kensai/WalnutWhite-PairAngled.jpg

[JAZZCNC]

Also vinyl doesn't need to look bad at all. Obviously I have some experience regarding quality speaker cabinets and I needed a good hard look to tell the Cambridge speakers were not real wood veneer!

Ye but I bet the plastic wasn't stuck on by hand and some vacuum forming wrapping machine was involved.? Look into plastic vac forming.

[Tenson]

Hi Jazz,

You are probably right, but I notice they chose the very simple square cabinet probably to make it easy to wrap. A chamfered edge would cause less distortion to the sound but they didn't bother. I could put these small speakers I want to make in a vacuum bag if it helps... The good thing about being so small (the size of a DVD box-set) is that they will be easy to wrap without air bubbles.

[Tenson]

Maybe I should turn this question around and ask: If you were to design a 11x18x10cm speaker box to be easily manufactured on a home CNC machine (no atc, but with vac bed) how would you go about it? Bare in mind how to finish it nicely.

I'll post up a picture of my prototype later after a bath.

[EddyCurrent]

P.S. I happen to think those Tannoy speakers are pig ugly! ;

Looks is not the important point, I see where your priorities are now.

[Musht]

Vehicle wrappers are where you want to be looking

3M Di-Noc is the gold standard wrapping material, hard to get smaller Qs of though:

http://solutions.3m.co.uk/wps/portal/3M/en_GB/3MGraphics/GraphicSolutions/Products/DI-NOCSelector/

Other brands by the meter:

http://www.mdpsupplies.co.uk/vehiclewrapping.asp

Used the cheap taxi wrap in white for a few ply things, works an absolute treat , vinyl finish in one hit, not 25 coats of paint.

Wrapping film ain`t your Dad`s Fablon, air release liners and flexible so wont rip at first curve, hot air gun is handy.

[Tenson]

Thanks that is exactly the info I needed! I'll see what I can source.

[Tenson]

My apologies for the delay in replying. Here are photos of the cabinets I have made for the prototypes. In these photos I have wrapped them in a 'DC Fix' vinyl finish and to be honest it looks pretty nice.

The issue for me is mostly the edges of the cabinet. If I try to wrap this finish around the edge I need to cut it at the corners so it never looks very neat. This is basically fablon. In this photo I dyed the edges of the cabinet and then cut the wrap flat to the edge. I think it looks nice, but it would be better if I could wrap the edges too, in a neat way somehow.

So my question - can Di-Noc wrap stretch around the edge so it doesn't need to be cut at the corners or is that asking too much?

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-sJ4rscRygjg/VKBtK_tRX7I/AAAAAAAADlQ/2utjQgmRHxU/w889-h658-no/IMG_20141228_204441.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uEja0FiS_rs/VKBtKz8kHwI/AAAAAAAADlQ/PQCz0CqsL88/w889-h658-no/IMG_20141227_193112.jpg

[Musht]

So my question - can Di-Noc wrap stretch around the edge so it doesn't need to be cut at the corners or is that asking too much?


Guessing could probably get it to wrap round front edge neatly enough and mitre the corners with a knife or wrap per panel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DikifarIW4

Di-Noc will go round extreme curves:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3A8rEgzJus

As will most of the wrapping vinyls, just 3M don`t seem to make duff products, MDP quote 2 woodgrains one much thicker than the other, but to try wrapping out try some of the sub tenner a meter KPMF vinyl , found a paint stripping gun better than a hairdryer, pro car wrappers use a soft gas flame, can be quite spectacular to watch.