Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Got Wood?

Really? So the cabinet is assmebled like a waterfall joint w/ all the joint angles cut, then laid face-down onto the sheet goods?

As far as I know, yeah.

The raw cabinet material is MDF sheets with the vinyl pre-applied. These are fed into a CNC machine that cuts deep v-shaped fold lines just a hair's breadth away from the vinyl. It also cuts dados for internal bracing and holes for drivers, ports, and rear terminals into the back of the sheets. Then, glue is applied to the v-cuts and dados, braces are inserted, and the cabinet is folded into its final shape.

It's a pretty effective process and is why Axiom cabinets are so seamless.

I'm surprised the veneer will bend as sharply as they get it to bend. When I try that it cracks. Impressive.

This is the way the vinyl speakers are assembled. Vinyl is flexible. I suspect the VaSSallo wood finishes are done differently.

Ah, yes. Good point. I built some computer speakers last week for giggles and got a decent bend from the veneer but then cracked an edge on the face forcing the issue. Thankfully they were test subjects with left over veneer.

NO, I won't take pics. They are not cute...but sound okay.

I would imagine that both the species of wood veneer as well as the grain direction would play a part in how much you can bend it, not to mention if it is paperbacked/reinforced as well.

Not sure about the species, but that makes sense. The grain and backing clearly have a big role. I use 3M backed and that let's them bend pretty good, but 90 degrees is too much unless you bull-nose it.
A truly skilled friend of mine uses pure wood veneers, no backing. He says if you wet it correctly and do certain steps you can bend any veneer to any shape. But he makes beds from 3" thick mahogany, so I am not about to say 'just do it like he does'.

Charles, did you use one of those veneer edge trimming tools on your project?

I did. Should have spend much more on it as my last little project has a big tear from using a dull blade.

The cheap little plastic edge tool does the job but buy lots of extra blades and replace as soon as you grab at all on a cut. I was surprised how good a corner could look just using that tool.

You can't really see but the sub above has two trimmed parts meeting at the edge showing. The gap is less than you would expect from using real wood for the sides with good miter cuts, which is all I can ask for.

But not to the quality of Axiom where it looks like one piece of wood.