A couple of months ago I came across a very enjoyable video where a maker, King Minhvuong, builds a Bluetooth speaker from scratch. I started watching the same maker’s more recent project video, and realized I never shared about their first one yet.
There are lots of reasons why I enjoyed the build video and what I felt compelled to share it.
Advertisement
A lot of time and effort went into their work, but they make it look easy. Yes, quite a few woodworking tools are involved, but it’s not like they are using a $10,000 CNC machine, or exotic state of the art machinery in a huge industrial-sized space.
So not only is the project video enjoyable to watch, it’s inspiring in a “hey, maybe I can try my hand at that” kind of way.
Videos like this also provide a wealth of tip and tricks. For creating an oval-shaped cutout, I would ordinarily drill two holes and connect them. But what if you need arcs of a different size? The maker here uses a trim router with circle-cutting guide.
I enjoyed this DIY Bluetooth speaker building video, you might too.
And hey – they use epoxy, but it’s not another river table!
Advertisement
Creator: King Minhvuong via YouTube
MoogleMan3
These videos are a slippery slope lol
A bt stereo is on my project to-do for use at bbqs and things like that. The issue is that I’m a stickler for audio quality so picking the components and electronics can be tedious. I’ll get it done. Eventually lol
Jared
That was awesome.
There is definitely an element of – “hey I could do that!” – but I also know enough about some of those steps to think – “nope. That is way more difficult that he just made it look”.
Good inspiration though! Makes me wonder if I could make a dummy version.
Kollin Kenady
That is a very cool build.
Luke
Fascinating! I feel like I need a commentator though. So many questions!
Stuart: Great questions! I’ll add some answers here inline, as best as I can.
Why did he hand plane it and then use a planer?
He hand-planed the board to create a flat reference face. Passing the boards through the planer then created a flat face parallel to the reference, either to just clean them up or to plane down to the desired final board thickness.
What’s the point of the clamping sled at 1:30?
This is done to create a straight line rip on one edge of the board. This creates a reference edge that can be used against the table saw fence (or other fence such as miter saw). Once you have a straight line rip, you can glue boards together to get a wider board, or rip them to final size against the table saw fence. The jig that the boards are secured to has a flat edge that rides along the fence. With one flat edge, you can use that against the table saw fence to cut a parallel flat edge on the opposite side. Placing either flat and parallel edges against a miter gauge fence, miter saw fence, or miter box fence then lets you cut the ends of the boards to a perfect 90° on each side.
Is that hot glue or epoxy at 4:20?
Looks like hot glue (or similar) to me. They use hot glue in other builds in a similar manner.
How’s the router making those tight circles at 8:00?
Circle-cutting router jig – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H9QRX1G/?tag=toolguyd-20 (or very similar). This fooled me at first too, but it seems there’s a reference pin very close to the router bit. This model is said to have a minimum cutting diameter of 20mm.
I wonder what the significance is of that fancy looking drill bit at 12:33.
Screw-holding magnet? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085DV9CJG/?tag=toolguyd-20
I’ve seen bits like that one at 18:50 but I always thought they were for metal.
Step drill bits are indeed primarily used in metal and other sheet materials. He’s improvising. I’m guessing he likes this way better than a hole saw, or maybe it was just convenient.
The padding at 19:05 is an interesting tough and not something I would’ve ever though to do!
What’s on the rag (linseed, tung, danish?) at 21:02?
Hard to say, could be any wood finish or sealer.
Is the heat gun at 22:00 for faster curing or just to add some aesthetic to the epoxy?
Some makers use a heat gun or torch for eliminating bubbles. You could also mix very slowly and carefully or use a vacuum system to draw any bubbles out.
22:22 – didn’t know you could plane epoxy!
What’s he spraying at 23:56? I can make out “KOBB” on the can as he’s shaking but google’s coming up blank.
Gloss finish maybe?
NO idea what that tar looking stuff at 24:19 could be. He uses it quite a few times throughout though. Black hot glue?
I believe this is an electronics-grade silicone adhesive sealant. I believe he’s using this one – https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001171341026.html – a “704” high temp silicone rubber sealing glue.
Feel free to chime in if you know any of the answers above! Honestly a lot of them would be answered by wider shots, slower edits, and higher f stops (but if he did all that he wouldn’t be getting 10 million views on his videos)
Stuart
Let me know if you have any other questions!
This is another reason I like King’s videos – they mix in a whole lot from different fields.
Luke
You’re the best Stuart. Thanks for answering!
Nathan
The table saw for a jointer reference is nifty – until I have the money for a real jointer I’ve been getting great results doing something similar for edges. I made a taper jig with set blocks to make it also a straight jig. that I use to clean a board edge. Then run that edge along the fence to clean the other edge. And use those for my glue jointed board with biscuits.
I use a 50 tooth combo blade in my saw. so far so good but I’ve only done 3 table tops this way so far and the oldest is only 2 years old.
JT
Another reason/benefit would be for ripping small parts where your hand might otherwise be uncomfortably close to the blade as you’re trying to hold it tight to the fence and pushing it through. A little more control.
Koko The Talking Ape
The guy has fast, accurate hands. I’m impressed by his skill with a jigsaw, especially.
I’m not so impressed with the build itself. Cheap drivers, a class D subwoofer amp. I believe you can hear how that affects the sound quality, even through BT, home recording, YouTube, etc. Notice how much more alive the drill sounds than the music coming from the speaker.
Solid wood is not typically used for speaker enclosures. The box can’t allow much room for wood movement, so I wonder if that box will crack open eventually. MDF is more uniform and resonates less. Manufacturers typically cover it with veneer, printed vinyl or laminate. You can use other materials of course, like cast concrete. People have made excellent subwoofers with concrete form tubes.
Also, flitch-cut oak with a natural finish and unsealed pores just screams cheap furniture to me.
If people are interested building really excellent speakers, you might enjoy checking out
https://linkwitz.store/category/lxkits/.
Siegfried Linkwitz is the real thing, an audio engineer who is focused on consumer products (which is rare.) He co-developed the Linkwitz-Riley crossover some 50 years ago, which is probably used in your home stereo right now. The speakers look odd, but there actually is an engineering rationale for every aspect of them.
If you want to get REALLY geeky, you can check out his personal (clunky) website where he explains his thinking behind his designs.
https://linkwitzlab.com/
Frank D
He may have had a limited budget and/or a limited set of products to make it possible. For a lot of people good sound is good enough and many people – especially of they appreciate wood working – prefer the look and warmth of real wood; over pressed pulp and dust, with that 1/nn th inch paper veneer … that will just delaminate, chip, swell up with the first bit moisture, …
Koko The Talking Ape
Yep. And the bad thing about sound quality is that one you notice it, it’s hard to let go of it, especially if you ever hear something with better quality.
Limited budget though? The guy has, or has access to, at least ten times the tool budget I do. That 3D printer alone cost more than my entire set of tools, I’m pretty sure.
And sure, good materials can matter, except solid wood is actually a worse material for this application than some others. For instance, he could’ve made a very nice box out of Baltic and veneered it with something really great, even with radiused corners and all. That would be better than solid wood.
I’ve seen $4k speakers made of CNC shaped MDF, then sanded and lacquered many times to a mirror finish. Solid wood might have even been cheaper to build, but MDF was better for acoustic reasons.
Kent_Skinner
Not my style of project, but it’s always interesting to see how other people work. I’d much rather have narration, simply because I want to know the thought process.