Back home, these panels were further cut down outdoors using a circular saw and straightedge. After that, the pieces were brought indoors for trimming on the table saw.

After the wiring and crossover mounting, then the missing piece was glued into place. The biscuits aligned nicely because they had been inserted (dry) when the majority of the cabinet pieces were glued together. A brace made of pine was also glued into position during the final glue-up.

Once all sides were assembled, then I fabricated some corner gussets that would later hold hurricane nuts for fastening the baffle. They were glued into position using a simple jig.

I used a 3/4" flat-bottom router bit to cut the recesses for the speaker mounting flanges, then cut the center away with a 1/4" spiral upcut bit.

Once routed on the front, I turn my attention to the back. I begin by using a Forstner bit to drill the large-diameter recesses for the hurricane nuts, then route a 45-degree relief around the woofer opening. With thick baffle material, the relief chamfer is necessary to permit the air to move around the woofer's backside. See the last picture in this group to grasp the consequences if there had been no relief for the woofer.

I also chamfered the tweeter opening here to. Although it's not necessary, it does provide a little more room for fingers to attach leads to the tweeter.

When attaching the hurricane nuts, I rough up mating surfaces using a triangular file, and add a drop of Gorilla glue to firmly attach them to the MDF. This reduces the chances that any of them will loosen and spin when driving machine screws into them. Also note how I ground flats on the edges of the woofer hurricane nuts to clear the woofer frame. I just used a bench grinder, and it went quickly and easily.

Once they were aligned and not likely to shift, I used transfer punches (from Lee Valley) to mark the baffle hole positions onto the cabinet.

Using the accurate marks provided by the transfer punches, I moved the cabinet to the drill press to drill holes for the hurricane nuts.

The whole cabinet would eventually be veneered in paperbacked cherry using the iron-on yellow glue method. If the baffle is trimmed without accounting for the veneer thickness, the veneered cabinet is slightly larger than the baffle. To account to the veneer thickness (~0.025"), I bought some poster board at the grocery store. It takes about two thicknesses of the poster board to equal the thickness of the veneer. I just used painter's tape to hold it in place when trimming the oversized baffle to fit the cabinet. I made sure the tape wasn't in the path of the flush trim bit's bearing.

The size of the baffle after this is a little larger than the cabinet, but once the final veneer were glued on, it would match perfectly.

After trimming the baffles to the desired size, I added a chamfer to the edges for appearance and to aid diffraction.

I almost hated taking them apart again for paint and veneer.

The top picture shows the existing maple veneer about to get a coat of glue. The cherry would be attached over the maple on the top to provide a double-thickness of veneer in an attempt to reduce the telegraphing of MDF butt joints over time. It does reduce, but does not completely eliminate telegraphing. The reduction is enough though that I will continue to use double-thicknesses on cabinet tops.

It was very apparent that cherry darkens with exposure to light. What began as a medium pinkish brown color became very rich after a couple months exposure to light. This happens even after finish is applied.

At this point, I assembled everything again for a test. The baffles still needed paint, and that requires warm weather because I paint in the garage.

Close inspection in glancing light usually reveals small imperfections in the surface of the MDF. I use 3M automotive spot putty (green paste in a squeeze tube) to fill the minor divots. It applies and dries very quickly, and sands easily.

After filling and smoothing the imperfections, I usually apply one more coat of Seal Coat before priming. In the case of this baffle, I got so frustrated with small imperfections that I puttied the entire edges of the MDF before sanding and painting. It paid off.

I used Rustoleum Sandable Automotive Primer because it builds quickly, giving me something to sand into. I use fine sanding sponges for the final smoothing before painting. Because it's an oil-based primer, I allowed it to dry for more than a week before painting over it with water-based finish. This part made me nervous, but after a couple years, there's no problem evident. I'm still on the lookout for a good, sandable water-based primer though.(Found! - see the LX521 construction notes, page 3, where I used General Finishes Enduro water-based primer).

General Finishes Lamp Black paint, diluted 1 oz water to 16 oz. paint, provided the final finish for the baffles. I used a Lowe's small gravity feed spray gun to spray the paint. The finish can be described as semi-flat in appearance.