M300 mixers and new side panels

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evm1024

evm1024

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One of the many things I'm doing to my m312b is getting ready to make some new side panels for it. The big choice is what wood? Should I do mahogony or perhaps oak? Or should I go for a more exotic wood like zebra wood?

As some of you know I tend to like African mahogany so that is my first choice.

When I get around to making the panels it is not much more work to cut out 2 sets as it is to cut out 1 set. Or perhaps even 4 sets.

So the next question is: Who would like a set of solid wood side panels for their M308, M312, M320? I don't have a price in mind but one should note that the wood alone is around $20 to $40 (more if I use Teak). I expect to put in 3 or 4 hours a set. I usually put on 7 or 8 coats of marine varnish....

regards, Ethan
 
Sounds like an interesting project! :)

I would think a darker wood would be pretty key in terms of maintaining the original colour scheme of the mixer and I believe what's on there from the factory is a fake rosewood which I assume is fairly pricey stuff to do in real rosewood?! :eek: :D

Not to slag the good membership here, but I see this crowd as mostly being of the dumpster diving, fire sale, buzzard variety! :D

We might have a problem, Houston! ;)

Cheers! :)
 
The Ghost of FM said:
Not to slag the good membership here, but I see this crowd as mostly being of the dumpster diving, fire sale, buzzard variety! :D
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And then you have the other extreme like moi… if I get the slightest bit of rack rash I want to throw the thing away. My reels have to be symmetrical (same size and style on each side); no missing knob caps or anything like that. Its tough to be me. :D
 
I was probably doing a fair bit of internalizing when I wrote that! :o :D

Cheers! :)
 
Rosewood is good

The Ghost of FM said:
Sounds like an interesting project! :)

I would think a darker wood would be pretty key in terms of maintaining the original colour scheme of the mixer and I believe what's on there from the factory is a fake rosewood which I assume is fairly pricey stuff to do in real rosewood?! :eek: :D

Not to slag the good membership here, but I see this crowd as mostly being of the dumpster diving, fire sale, buzzard variety! :D

We might have a problem, Houston! ;)

Cheers! :)
Click to expand...

Remember the rosewood sides I did for an A3440:

http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=164277

That would be very nice too.

I'm proud to count myself as a dumpster diver. No slight taken....by anyone. Just an offer.

I may do 4 sets and eBay them. Then at least I would know the materials and time costs.
 
evm1024 said:
Remember the rosewood sides I did for an A3440:

http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=164277

That would be very nice too.

I'm proud to count myself as a dumpster diver. No slight taken....by anyone. Just an offer.

I may do 4 sets and eBay them. Then at least I would know the materials and time costs.
Click to expand...
That 3440 looked good with those new side panels! :)

I just realized that I posted in that thread you linked to and didn't compliment you on them at the time...my apologies for that. ;)

I think the M312B would look mighty fine with a similar effort and perhaps worthy of a decent bid by yours truly, once I see the finished product! :cool:

Cheers! :)
 
A trip to crosscut hardwoods

Yesterday I was able to get down to crosscut hardwoods. A forest of exotic hardwoods in Portland. I picked out a 4/4 board of African Mahognay (Khaya). It is a great favorite of mine because of its character and dark striations.

You can find a photo of a dash I made from it for a 1975 Fiat at:

http://arafel.org/fiat/dcp_0683-a.jpg

Anyway, I made 3 sets of M3xx mixer side panels. they have been cut to match the sides from my m312b. Now I need to find the time to do some sanding and final shaping. Then I will be able to put on the varnish. Might do one in polyurathane and the other two sets in spar varnish (something like zSpar Captains varnish), 6 to 10 coats....

Here are some photos:

The three sets (and an Akai that I was given)
The first cut
The planer
The bevel cut using the existing panel as a jig.
 

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Beck said:
And then you have the other extreme like moi… if I get the slightest bit of rack rash I want to throw the thing away. My reels have to be symmetrical (same size and style on each side); no missing knob caps or anything like that. Its tough to be me. :D
Click to expand...

I guess I am somewhere in the "extreme middle" of the "swing party" as I am into converting exclusively! dumpster ready trash into must be symmetrical things :D My rule is: "Use new parts and materials only when there's absolutely no way around it" :p
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Ethan! The project looks cool. Now lookin' at Fiat - WOW! super - :cool::cool::cool:
And as my once brand new VW golf now is 11 y. o. and i'm thinking about what I can do with it ...heh heh - this gives me some ideas. I aclually am chewing on idea about installin' some small 'portable' type reel-to-reel machine into my car and doing some fun "reconstruction" around :D.

respects
 
More progress...

Rather than load this up with photos I made a crude web page of the progress of the panels. You can see it at:

http://www.arafel.org/audio/tascam-m312/sidepanel.html

The only thing new is that I've put the first varathane coat on one set of panels to see how they look. They should become darker over time.

I might get time to drill some holes and mount them on the mixer in the next day or so just to get a look at what we have here.

I'll be doing the other 2 sets in spar varnish.

Regards, Ethan
 
Ethan,

Those panels look pretty cool so far! :)

The color seems to be a bit light still...do you really think they will darken up with additional coats of varnish or verathane?

Is this the same wood that was used in the Fiat dash project?

Cheers! :)
 
The Ghost of FM said:
Ethan,

Those panels look pretty cool so far! :)

The color seems to be a bit light still...do you really think they will darken up with additional coats of varnish or verathane?

Is this the same wood that was used in the Fiat dash project?

Cheers! :)
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Hi,

I've got the same question. Will it darken up enough? It is the same wood but the Fiat dash was made years ago and was darker from the first coat. I'll have to try Captains on the next set this weekend. It's 105 here (er make that 40) and I'm not doing anything.

We should have a cooling in a few days. More then.

--ethan
 
evm1024 said:
Hi,

I've got the same question. Will it darken up enough? It is the same wood but the Fiat dash was made years ago and was darker from the first coat. I'll have to try Captains on the next set this weekend. It's 105 here (er make that 40) and I'm not doing anything.

We should have a cooling in a few days. More then.

--ethan
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Nice looking sides. This is an area I would like to explore a lot more. I see the nice woodwork by people like Ethan and Mike (Dr. Zee) and I just stand in awe. I want to make some handsome side panels like this for both of my M-200 mixers and maybe a few other things. The most I've done since high school shop class is some basic staining, but nothing too ambitious. I have the original panels for reference and I can do the cutting and shaping, but finishing layers and layers of what, how long to wait in between etc… seems to be so many ways of doing it. :confused:

I did make a really cool round, 2 ft in diameter plaque when I was in high school to hang on the wall of my basement dojo. Perfectly round, stained and finished, beveled edges and all that, with a Yin-Yang carved into the wood. It took me forever (which is a quarter in teen years), and I look at it now and wonder how the hell I did it. :cool:

I also have on the back burner to refinish a gunstock from the first 22 rifle my late father gave to me when I was a youth. I don’t want to screw it up though, as I will be passing it down to the next generation.

One thing that always mystifies me is the concept of filling… I don’t think I’m doing it right, partly because I don’t know what it should look like done right compared to done wrong or not done at all.

So anyway, threads like these are inspiring and appreciated… always something to learn and look forward to.

:)
 
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Deja vous all over

You thinking of something like this? It is Philippine mahogany (Lauan) which I don't like very much. It splinters too easily. I think that there are about 5 coats of Captains varnish on it.
 

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Oh I forgot

Hey Beck,

I intend to document the creation from start to finish in that web page I posted. I'll get into which varnish I use and coating/sanding with progress photos. All to the final on the machine results.
 
evm1024 said:
You thinking of something like this? It is Philippine mahogany (Lauan) which I don't like very much. It splinters too easily. I think that there are about 5 coats of Captains varnish on it.
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Yes, exactly... that is a beauty! Being keen to the environmental psychology silently working with or against us in the studio, warm wood panels are really appealing to me... and the more the better.

Wood selection is another thing… I have no idea.

Looking forward to seeing the details. :)
 
Ethan! Looks great. Also thanks for taking time web-publishing of the details of some of your projects. I know what it takes.

Tim! From my exprerience when it comes to woodwork the most important quality to be in possession of is patience. That is not a joke :). And you really simly have to do it, put your hands on it , that is. No "know how" step by step read-about works here nor it takes much of "academia" at all, as all the woodwork-academia cames from hands to begin with :p. Well you take 'instructions' as a guide, of course, that's common sense. Also, even when you follow some routine (something what you've done before) every new project is a challenge, as a bit different material, a bit different construction/design, different weather in your garage and in your head etc - all come into effect :). But there is the way to deal with all this: if you can manage to stay focused on the process rather than on the result and expectations - then you'll get a pleasing result often beyond the expectations. And you'll have to screw up a few times here and there. There's no way around it :D
 
Dr ZEE said:
Ethan! Looks great. Also thanks for taking time web-publishing of the details of some of your projects. I know what it takes.

Tim! From my exprerience when it comes to woodwork the most important quality to be in possession of is patience. That is not a joke :). And you really simly have to do it, put your hands on it , that is. No "know how" step by step read-about works here nor it takes much of "academia" at all, as all the woodwork-academia cames from hands to begin with :p. Well you take 'instructions' as a guide, of course, that's common sense. Also, even when you follow some routine (something what you've done before) every new project is a challenge, as a bit different material, a bit different construction/design, different weather in your garage and in your head etc - all come into effect :). But there is the way to deal with all this: if you can manage to stay focused on the process rather than on the result and expectations - then you'll get a pleasing result often beyond the expectations. And you'll have to screw up a few times here and there. There's no way around it :D
Click to expand...

Good advice. As long as I know it takes time and patience I won’t have unrealistic expectations. :)
 
nice job! this is great, cause i'm planning on rebuilding sides for my tascam 388 soon.
 
A few new photos

Its getting really busy at work so I have not had much time to work on these. I've uploaded 2 new photos of the work in progress to the web pages. The wood is darker and getting quite nice to look at.

I'm using captains varnish and expect to have 8 or more coats on the panels. Varnish does not have the plastic look of ureathane based products. And with 8 coats will have significant depth.

zSpar Captains Varnish has a lot of UV protection and should wear will. If you get nicks or thin spots just sand it lightly and reapply a coat or 2 to restore the full shine.

I may have a set of photos with the mounting holes drilled in a week or 2 and some photos of the panels mounted on the mixer.

You will note color differences between the 3 sets. This is due to testing different preps.

Regards
 
looking good.
8 coats? !!! wow , I've never ever went over three of any kinds.
 
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