Saga of the "Old Vic" - Page 17

Sweet! I left behind some of my wood projects in my last house. My wife still misses them...


No paint in the HT, just hardwood and fabric. The star ceiling is black GOM as will be the corner from the soffit to the walls. To match the carpet a midnight blue would have been a better choice but I think black will be fine too (it has to be I have a big roll of GOM already). The only decisions left to make is the color of the mid wall "stripe" and the color of the seats. I don't want the room to become too dark.

It's been a while but I have some progress to share. I finally finished up all the internal framing including screen wall, back bar and rear table/shelf.
The bar outline is inspired by the bar BIGmouthinDC built. Actually inspired is not really the right word I blatantly stole the outline. The curve was cut from some 3/4" sheathing ply and doubled up top and bottom for the plates. The framing is 2x4 with a couple of layers of 1/4" ply laminated together around the curved section. To avoid resonance I filled it with insulation.



Then completed the skinning and prepared it for hardwood veneer.



I still need to add a 5" radius to the left and right returns ala BIG's design.

I also framed in what I'm calling the "Oscar shelf" since that how a friend referred to it when they saw my drawing. The primary function is to hide the rear subs. In keeping with the rest of the theater it is also curved.



I used the same methodology to frame the curved screen wall but I screwed this together rather than use nails because I'm sure I'll have to modify the framing slight after I build my screen and figure out how to mounted it. The wall forms a continuous curve and so at least I've defined the threshold for the carpet. Incidentally I didn't compromise my stage isolation -- the screen wall is not anchored to the side walls and is attached to the ceiling via three DC-04 clips.



The other work I needed to complete before carpet was fitting the hardwood bull nose to the stage and riser. Any woodworkers out there (I'm not one) will probably appreciate just how much work goes into creating custom curves like this, it certainly took me longer than I planned (the carpet shop has been bugging me on when I'll be ready).
Here are a couple of shots of the results after just one coat of shellac. The plan is to add a couple more then, since this is a wear surface, finish with some poly.




I have some picture of the process which I'll post in the next post...

Just in case anybody other than my mother is interested in how the bull nose was made, here is a little summary. It started with the creation of a set of templates drawn onto Masonite directly from the stage/riser profile. I planned and sanded the outside profile by hand then used the offset attachment on my jigsaw to cut a 3.5" wide strip. Then I set about cutting up the hardwood boards to an approximate size and making sure I had complete coverage of the template.


Then using the template and a hand held edge router I cleaned up the rough cuts and joined the sections together on the midpoint of each bend. I used some tape and as I went to ensure an exact match to the template. After each section was complete I glued them together with a couple of pocket hole screws from the underside.


After a while I had one layer of the complete set glued up. These were test fitted and the backside marked so I knew exactly where the stage/riser edge would be on the underside. The second layer (the underside of the bull nose) was made next by sifting through my pile of scrap to find pieces and gluing pieces being careful not to cross over the marked line (edge of stage/riser).


Once ths bullnose lip had set up I used a jigsaw to cut as close to the finished upper surface as possible. The idea was to reduce the quantity of material to be routed and thus reduce the possibility of tearout. Then back to the edge router on the table this time. Final routing procedure was to change to the 1/2" roundover bit (I didn't have a 3/4" and anyway I kind of like the flat edge that results from an undersized bit) and route both the upper and lower surface in several passes. Last step was a bit of sanding cleanup to 150 grit before fitting.


Fitting was performed with polyurethane construction adhesive and screws in the back surface of the trim. That way I would avoid any visible nail holes.


The large sections were joined with a single biscuit joint. A little bit more sanding, tack rag, and some shellac. Mission accomplished!


The walnut I used had a fair amount of sap wood (lighter color). I tried to match the layers as best I could but I found this little mismatch amusing. It is the center join of the stage and is exactly aligned with my room center line scribe (seen in the background). My very own permanent center marker!

No easy road for me. Once an idea is in my head I can't let got of it.
The wood I'm using is Walnut. I may try blending the sapwood although I might have to pick up some new trans-tint colours. I didn't use poly on my soffit but will on all the lower level woodwork.

I do have a small gap under the bullnose but I didn't pay much attention to keeping this even. The two carpet installers I talked to said it didn't matter one way or the other whether the gap was there. The reason they cited was that they would fit and cut the carpet with the blade right underneath the bull nose. One said the recess may help them tuck some carpet away and speed up the process but it wasn't a big deal. Anyway mine ranges from 1/4" to 1/2" with 3/8" being the original goal (the carpet installers "thickness of a pencil" measurement).

The future screen and screen wall are at a 42' radius -- calculated from Aussie Bob's spreadsheet. I assume you know the trick for scribing a short arc of a large radius circle? I had to search for it..

As for your poly tip, are use suggesting that gloss+gloss+satin is better than satin+satin+satin?



Thanks!! I guess I'm getting better..

Geez, stay off the golf course and finish will you Actually I figured you were already watching movies and it was THAT which was lighting a fire under my ass to finish! I will be watching movies this summer for sure.


That's a great idea ... rather than the selection of pre-mixed shades I have now.


I can definitely see the light at the end of the (long) tunnel. The screen wall is the only area that I'll not be using the fabricmate tracks because I want easy to remove panels. I'm going to try to make semi flexible frames that can be attached and bent with industrial velco. If that doesn't work I'll have to make some curved forms. Hmmm, on typing this I'm thinking I may just go straight to curved forms... building the screen is going to involve laminating some precise curved sections on an accurate jig. If I have the jig built it would be fast to reuse for the panel frames which are exactly the same radius as the screen.


An accurate template helps, also I have a neat electronic protractor which is great for transferring measured angles to the miter saw. It avoids many cut and test cycles..


Sorry but I my wife informs me I have a living room and master bedroom/bathroon to tackle next.

Hi Danny,

I did not use the so called Barker code sequencing which employs inverse panels. As you probably already know the idea is to remove excessive lobing by constructive reinforcement from a series of panels. If you haven't already you can read about it here. My understanding is that is becomes a problem with a large number of panels and that 4 panels is not sufficient for the effect to become a problem. Note that if your panels are square I've heard a common approach is to alternate horizontal and vertical orientation.

Note that my rear panels are alternative N7 and N11 designs which may well have similar lobe cancellation effects(?) This alternating approach was from bpape who has helped me with acoustic design.

You might want to drop Collo a PM -- he posted in my thread but also is responsible for QRDude and the content at the above link.

Cheers

Hi Simon, I'm still plugging away. I actually caught a really nasty chest infection which has taken forever to get rid of. Consequently my productivity took a dive. I'm have some updates to share soon though. Looks like you are making good progress..

Thanks Bryan, but did I implement your acoustic design correctly?!?

Great. It does sound great even without the carpet and seating. Once those were in I was going to take some measurements with REW and see if there is anything else I need to do.

Cheers.