NEIL Blanchard Designs MLTL-6 Assembly Manual

Neil Blanchard Designs MLTL-6 Flat Pack Assembly Manual v1.0
List of parts – 18mm Baltic birch for all panels:
(2) Left Side Panels
(2) Right Side Panels
(2) Front panels - cut for the dome tweeter if you chose it
(2) Top panels - drilled for the Lineaum dipole tweeter if you chose it
(2) Bottom panels
(2) Sets of the (3) panels for the back – bottom back (with terminus opening), top back, and access panel
(2) Terminus panels
(2) Horizontal inside baffles
(2) Vertical inside baffles
(2) Braces – if you are using the dome tweeter, there will be a notch at the front
(4) ¼" diameter Poplar dowels – these are to support the polyfil along with the wires to the drivers
Please refer to your MLTL-6 Build Manual for drawings, to identify the panels.
Tools & materials you will need:
Sanding tool – I use a random orbital sander with coarse pads for assembly and initial sanding, fine finishing pads
Wood glue – I use Titebond III as it is waterproof when dry, and very strong yet flexible bonding
Clamps – 12", 18", & 24" – probably (4) of each minimum – and/or (4) 8'+ strap clamps. Shorter clamps w/
strap clamps is a good combination.
Wood/soft mallet; or finish hammer & wood block for pressing snug parts into slots
Finish – I use Odie's Oil, but a wood butter or bee's wax – or varnish is also fine. You can veneer the cabinet, as well.
If you want the chamfered edges – the rabbet joints are designed for these, and I think they look much better
because they hide the seams, and make a virtue out of the laminations – then you will need either a router, or a
table router, or a table saw, to cut the 12mm x 12mm chamfers. The other advantage of these is they trim off
any misalignments and/or dings, etc.
The key thing is to avoid chipping – the outer side of the chamfer bit should be at the bottom or top edges of the
cabinet sides (for example) where the end grain of the surface veneer of the plywood is. The front and back of
the top panel is the other critical edge grain, can be vulnerable to chipping with a router bit. A table saw will be
better (I think) with the end grain veneer face down on the saw table top; and the tips of the saw blade on the
side grain, when possible.
To assemble the CNC cut flat pack – I highly recommend dry fitting everything first and clamping with 3-4
claps to check the alignments at all the joints. This is when a good sander is needed – some panels may be
slightly too long (much better than being too short!). Tolerances of CNC cutting is generally very good – but
almost never perfect. And variations of thickness of the Baltic birch is generally very good, they do vary, and the
way it is cut is intended to account for this; but there are cases when adjustments need to be made. I will go over
these along the way. Once things fit well, then gluing will go much better.
I would start with fitting the back of the 'C' shaped brace into the slot on the vertical inside baffle. The narrower
short leg goes into the slot, with the radiused top edge at the radiused end of the slot. The end of the slot with a
flat end can be filled with glue. Be sure the brace is square/perpendicular with the vertical baffle.
(See photos at the end of this document)
Next step is to insert the edge of the vertical baffle into the corresponding slot on the (left?) side panel, and then
the horizontal inside baffle into its corresponding slot in the side panel. Please note the horizontal baffle is close
to square – the shorter direction should be from the front panel to the vertical baffle; and the edges of the vertical
and horizontal bafffles should be flush where they will insert into the (right?) side panel.