DIY Wooden End Panels - MPC60/ ASQ10

I fancy taking a shot a making some wooden end panels. Seems an easy job, but I'm no woodworker and nor is my brother/uncle/ grandpa. I've taken the measurements to shop for the wood, but have no idea what tools I'd need to cut, trim, plane, sand to get a good finish. And what type of wood? Or can any softwood be stained to the right colour? Varnish, how many coats 2-3? I'm thinking anywhere between cherry and mahogany for that classic look. Any ideas, suggestions or links appreciated. If I go ahead ill document my efforts here for the record...see if its worth doing a batch.

I wouldn't use softwood, stick to a hardwood like oak which you can get pretty easily in the UK. It will withstand a lot of knocks and bashes, while a software will dint just be looking at it.

What tools do you have? If I were doing this at a minimum I'd need a chop saw/mitre saw, a router, maybe bandsaw or table saw, depends how many angle cuts etc. It would also have to be repeatable to get symmetrical sides etc so you'd probably need to make a jig or three.

As for finish, keep it simple - sand it, and if you have a nice piece of grade A oak you could wax or oil it and it would look lush. Also by not staining it (sacrilege for oak anyway), if you scratch it you can easily repair as there's no issue about colour matching (a shallow scratch can be sanded out and re-oiled).

But yes, you could do it old-school with a saw, plane, sandpaper etc - in that case you'd be better off with softwood though, hardwoods are tough going with hand tools. But if you're not experienced either way you're in for some fun. I suggest you buy up a load of old crap wood or grab a palette off a skip, de-nail and spend time practicing. And get a screwfix account....

Bolivian Rosewood

Black Walnut

Unknown?? Walnut, Mahogany

Mahogany

Koa Wood

Walnut (left) Mahogany (right)

Walnut

Mahogany

Curly Maple

Various (Curly Cherry, Curly Koa, Curly Maple, Koa, Mahogany, Walnut, Zebrawood


Walnut with template and jig

Nice walkthrough on making some (MPC1000) end panels by sciguy here. Some good tips and mistakes to learn from...

Mahogany stained pine

viewtopic.php?f=41&t=152346


A good lookin' ASQ10

A mini walkthrough found on Tumblr using Maple wood to make MPC60 side panels.
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/akai-mpc-60

MPC-Tutor wrote:What tools do you have? .

Screwdrivers?

MPC-Tutor wrote:It would also have to be repeatable...so you'd probably need to make a jig or three.

Possibly, if I were to sell some pairs to recoup my investment. One pair isn't cost effective.

MPC-Tutor wrote:But yes, you could do it old-school with a saw, plane, sandpaper etc - in that case you'd be better off with softwood though, hardwoods are tough going with hand tools.

Old school = cheaper to make? Exotic wood/ tools = costly?

MPC-Tutor wrote:I suggest you buy up a load of old crap wood or grab a palette off a skip, de-nail and spend time practicing. And get a screwfix account....

Yes to the old crap wood to practise on, possibly to the skip raid under cover of darkness, Screwfix maybe...

clint246clint wrote:I fancy taking a shot a making some wooden end panels. Seems an easy job, but I'm no woodworker and nor is my brother/uncle/ grandpa. I've taken the measurements to shop for the wood, but have no idea what tools I'd need to cut, trim, plane, sand to get a good finish. And what type of wood? Or can any softwood be stained to the right colour? Varnish, how many coats 2-3? I'm thinking anywhere between cherry and mahogany for that classic look. Any ideas, suggestions or links appreciated. If I go ahead ill document my efforts here for the record...see if its worth doing a batch.

Go ahead would love to see the result, been thinking about this myself since we aint got Forat in Euorpe.

clint246clint wrote:Old school = cheaper to make? Exotic wood/ tools = costly?

I would be going the costly option, as I would want exotic/dark/sexy-interesting-grain timber, not standard/light/boring-grain timber.

Anybody got the measures for the 60mk1 sidepanels?