here is what i made/gave for christmas

[Coaster]

i made some speaker stands and a box, this is how they turned out:

 

 

this is a temporary setup just to try them out:

 

 

they work well, i used bedliner as a coating to match the speakers. its real close.

 

also made a 'tiny footlocker'

 

 

with a 'tiny tray'. the tray is made from a 2" by 4" ripped into 1/4" strips, brad nailed and glued.

 

 

it has a false floor to er um, hide stuff.

 

 

 

actually quite a bit of room down there, rails are the same 2" by 4"

 

 

both gifts went over very well!

[tuchan]

That case is impressive indeed, good job!

[BenBroChill]

both are quite impressive.

 

PS. how did the bed liner coating adhere to the wood? I was going to do something similar but was unsure of the outcome, as bed liner is primarily for metals.

[Bobby1Note]

Very nice job Coaster. Kinda motivates me to get back into the shop.

 

Bob

[Coaster]

thanks for the comments!

 

 

both are quite impressive. PS. how did the bed liner coating adhere to the wood? I was going to do something similar but was unsure of the outcome, as bed liner is primarily for metals.

 

 

I've tried this a couple ways - it sticks great to bare wood but it takes probably 5 or 6 coats and most of an afternoon to apply. i have found it works much better to apply a water based primer (buy the $25/gallon stuff) and sand it down with 200 or 150 grit on a ROS (random orbital sander). i sand it until i can clearly see the grain and color of the original wood through the primer. what i believe to happen is the primer makes the wood 'hard' so it will really take a 200 grit sanding and get really smooth; much smoother than without the primer. it seals up the end grains really well too (i use the word seal and i think that is the incorrect word.)

 

if you do that it will only take two coats of bedliner and you are done. 2 is a lot less $$$ than 6. i have also found it works best at about 60F to 75F. any hotter and it dries to fast (so it gets a sandpaper like finish that rubs off easy) cooler temps it goes on very smooth with a 'rumple' or a 'nappy' finish.

 

also it tends to scratch and leave it black. as in, you drop the case off the truck, it scratches hard against the bumper and leaves a black mark on the case (instead of a wood mark or a primer mark). this pleases me to no end, i have several boxes in the truck with bedliner and some of them have gotten scratched so far, all black scratches. my latex painted cases leave white marks (primer showing through).

[BenBroChill]

 

thanks for the comments! I've tried this a couple ways - it sticks great to bare wood but it takes probably 5 or 6 coats and most of an afternoon to apply. i have found it works much better to apply a water based primer (buy the $25/gallon stuff) and sand it down with 200 or 150 grit on a ROS (random orbital sander). i sand it until i can clearly see the grain and color of the original wood through the primer. what i believe to happen is the primer makes the wood 'hard' so it will really take a 200 grit sanding and get really smooth; much smoother than without the primer. it seals up the end grains really well too (i use the word seal and i think that is the incorrect word.) if you do that it will only take two coats of bedliner and you are done. 2 is a lot less $$$ than 6. i have also found it works best at about 60F to 75F. any hotter and it dries to fast (so it gets a sandpaper like finish that rubs off easy) cooler temps it goes on very smooth with a 'rumple' or a 'nappy' finish. also it tends to scratch and leave it black. as in, you drop the case off the truck, it scratches hard against the bumper and leaves a black mark on the case (instead of a wood mark or a primer mark). this pleases me to no end, i have several boxes in the truck with bedliner and some of them have gotten scratched so far, all black scratches. my latex painted cases leave white marks (primer showing through).

 

 

Thanks! I will give it a try soon. I have quite a few things that need a nice new coat and the methods are nowhere to be found via a google search (at least not by me) and the bed liner is way to expensive to just "try."

[Coaster]

its a lot cheaper if you buy it by the gallon and roller it on rather than by the spray can. i think a gallon of duplicolor is $65 where each spray can is $10. a gallon of really, really good latex is $45 - $60 so its pretty comparable. (i usually only buy $33 latex)

[BenBroChill]

yea its the $30 to $65 jump is what kills me but if it lasts twice and long and looks twice as good ill go the distance

[Coaster]

i think the bedliner may last 10 times as long as latex or more in an impact type environment. sitting in your living room is a different story, but in a truck/trailer...

 

my experience has been that a box painted with latex will need repainted in less than a year if seeing typical handling/usage in a mobile environment. my computer rack was looking pretty shabby in 6 months; it has large white primer spots and some bare wood scrapes. the worst my bedliner boxes have are black scratches.

 

 

this is brand new - never used latex: this box looks trashed right now.

 

 

its actually worse than this now:

 

 

this is latex at 2 months:

 

 

 

this is brand new duplicolor: this box looks exactly the same at 3 months age.

 

 

this box has some heavy scratches on it at this point - in the pic it is new. the scratches are all black and do not go through the bed liner. i'll try and get some current pics this thursday

 

[BenBroChill]

what do you think about coating speakers (previously covered in rat fur) with the bed liner? I was looking at another coating that is specifically for speakers and is about the same price http://www.acrytech.com/store.asp?pid=14119 but if i could get something locally I would instead.

[Coaster]

i've never used duratex but somepeople like it. we have a few monitors that have something like duratex if it i snt exactly duratex, they are chipped up on the edges but in pretty good shape considering their age.

 

i like the way bedliner looks more, the srx series uses bedliner as does the C series yamaha.

 

if you coat speakers that had rat fur on them i would spend a long time prepping them, i would plan on a week and a half at least for prep alone. they didnt leave the best surface underneath that fur, its probably not even sanded and would likely need a good amount of mud in spots.

 

whether duratex is better than duplicolor i cannot say; i just dont know. i like the look of duplicolor better though.

[RoadRanger]

I just bought a couple year old Duratex'd subs - they really need major touchup already . I might get them bedliner'd instead as they are nice cabs otherwise .

[agedhorse]

Duratex is very difficult to spray. I did a job with 20 gallons of material and I would not do it again.

 

It might be better rolling but your technique needs to be very good.

[Coaster]

everything i have read about duratex suggests that a "medium nappy" roller is best.

[BenBroChill]

Well just from what I've heard on here I think I am going to go with the bed liner.

I should be getting started this week. Will post pictures later possibly.

[lifeloverwg]

In my experience, Duratex is a breeze to roll on, is very easy to touch up and leftover product lasts for years in it's original container.

However, it is not as durable as the bed liner type products. To my eye it has a cleaner and more finished look. Our speakers with slip covers are holding up very well. But for full time or rental type usage I would consider bed liner types to probably be a better choice.

 

Winston