Walnut Vinyl Wrap - Good one?

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...lnut-front.jpg

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/...s-with-a-twist
the bit I'm on about starts around 1:30 minutes in.

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/aud...PairAngled.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tenson

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!

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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.

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.

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.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tenson

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

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

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...I-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.

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

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/-s...228_204441.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-u...227_193112.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tenson

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?

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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.