Desktop speaker stands for Audioengine A2 speakers - made at Techshop

My audiophile friend is giving someone a pair of speakers for a holiday gift. To go with those speakers he came to me to commission a simple pair of speaker stands. The design was pretty open ended, he just wanted them to be heavy, "shiny", match the footprint of the speakers, and look good with the white version of these speakers. This is how I built the speaker stands - and yes, I made it at Techshop.

The first picture is the finished speaker stands on my home computer table, the second picture is a model of the stands with the speakers in Sketchup.

UPDATE 12-18-2012: My friend just sent me a picture of one of the speakers on its stand, pictured last.

This project was a great learning experience for me. I've got a lot of experience working with wood this past year, but really haven't tried many finishing options - this was my first time trying a laquer finish. My results were not perfect, but I think they were pretty good - especially for my first attempt at using laquer. Also, my friend wanted the stands to be "as heavy as possible."  I didn't have a plan for this when I started the project, I just had to improvise a way. I was happy with the results - each stand weighs just over 4 lbs, with the weight evenly distributed so it feels like the wood is just really heavy.

In all, the materials cost ~$35. They took me perhaps 2-3 hours actual labor time to build, spread out over several days to allow time for glue and laquer to fully cure. I also spent a lot more time experimenting with techniques that were new to me.

As always, I'm still a novice woodworker, not a professional, if you have any comments or suggestions to help improve this instructable, please share it in the comments! I love hearing feedback, and want to improve my own work and my instructables.

Step 1: Materials and tools

Materials used

• Peruvian walnut 26" x 6" x 1"
  • Any wood will work for this project, I just chose peruvian walnut because the dark chocolatey color caught my eye when walking through the lumber yard. I thought it would look good with white speakers.
• Wood glue (titebond II)
• Quick set epoxy (ace hardware brand)
• Lead fishing weights (6oz) x 16
  • I originally planned to use lead or steel buckshot - but there are not many gun shops in San Francisco, so I changed my mind. Lead is the densest, still affordable heavy metal. Iron or steel will also work, they are just a bit lighter than lead. Larger stands can be filled with sand, stone, or any other stable ballast.

Tools used

• Chop saw
• Drill press
• Forstner bit (1.75")
• 10" screw clamps X 4
• Random orbital sander

Laquer finishing tools / materials

• Deft spray laquer (semi-gloss)
• SC Johnson paste wax
• Dry sandpaper - 80 grit, 120 grit, 220 grit
• Wet/dry sandpaper - 400 grit, 600 grit, 800 grit, 1200 grit (use higher grits if available)
• #0000 steel wool
• Cotton rags

Comments

[WhySoSirius]

This is so cool! Congrats

[workislove]

I appreciate it, thank you!

[workislove]

Thanks a lot, I try to include as much helpful information that I can think of.

[audreyobscura]

This is a really nice post, you did a good job with your photos and your directions were thorough. Thanks for the share, and the tips.