How to put speaker fabric into doors?

[Craig D Peltier]

I have to put speaker fabric into shaker style doors. Stiles and Rails will probaly be 2.25 wide. Fabric will be black.
I have only done this once and outside looked fine, inside door was a mess.
How do you do this? Any pics or diagrams would be helpful or explanations.

Anyways the way I did it was I glued together a 1/8 mdf frame and then cut fabric to size with scissors.Then applied contact cement to frame and fabric I think. It was a sticky mess and cutting fabric with scissors didint leave such a nice edge either.Then I nailed frame into a rabbet I had in door.Plus it was brutal trying to get fabric tight and to hold on contatc cement without creases, fold-overs etc.

[Sean Nagle]

I have made speaker grills using 1/4" veneer core plywood for the frame. Attach the fabric using 3M 77 spray adhesive. Works great.

[Jamie Buxton]

Leave the fabric large. Staple or tape it to the bench, show side down. Tension it just enough to take out the folds and such while you're doing this. Put contact cement on your frame. Pu it down on the fabric. After it has bonded, trim the fabric to the edge of the frame.

[Eric DeSilva]

Another option might be to make a frame out of thin ply, then rout a groove on the inside of the back, maybe 1/4" in or so and install the cloth the way the people do screen doors/windows. You could trim it afterwards and it would also have the benefit of allowing the speaker cloth to be replaced.

[scott spencer]

Another option might be to make a frame out of thin ply, then rout a groove on the inside of the back, maybe 1/4" in or so and install the cloth the way the people do screen doors/windows. You could trim it afterwards and it would also have the benefit of allowing the speaker cloth to be replaced.

This was the method I was thinking about suggesting. Should be attractive and robust.

[Brian Smith3]

I did this by making a rabbet in the rails and stiles of 1" x 1/2". Then built a frame from a solid piece of 1/2" MDO Ply and painted them black. Installed the fabric with the 3M 77 adhesive and some staples, and then installed them into the rabbet using glass panel retaining clip and done.

[Rob Sack]

Be sure to spray paint the outside face of your frame black, otherwise, you will probably see the frame through the stretched speaker fabric. Also, be sure to use acoustically transparent fabric. Using black stretch fabric from your local fabric shop, may block some of the sound.

[Craig D Peltier]

Okay seems like most make a frame of some sort. How about when you open the doors though, how do you hide that ugly back of the frame with the cut fabric and fold overs etc?

[Salem Ganzhorn]

I did this in an entertainment center: http://photos.ganzhorn.org/album729

But I thought just cloth would be too weak. So I used perforated metal as a substrate. I spray painted it black then used 3M adhesive and wrapped it in speaker cloth. This worked pretty good and my IR remotes still work through it. Only problems were getting it stretched tight/even. I have one small bubble in my 3 panels.

Good luck!
Salem

[Craig D Peltier]

So has the bunch here just left it looking kind of raggety in the back when door is opened? I could see it could be covered with another frame thats 1/4 thick and width of frame that fabric is around. I dont think it would look that great since there would be a seam on inside edge of stiles and rails.
Anyone else here on what thye did inside?

[Jamie Buxton]

If you do it the way I described, the only thing visible on the inside of the door is the back of the frame -- the frame that the cloth is glued to.

[Craig D Peltier]

If you do it the way I described, the only thing visible on the inside of the door is the back of the frame -- the frame that the cloth is glued to.

I reread what you wrote. So I think I understand it the way you intended it now. The back of the frame really has no fabric on it. It could even be better if it fit into a dado so any uncleanliness could be tucked in dadoe.

Thanks

[Karl Brogger]

No need for glue, or even to make a frame.

-Notch out the back of the door like you would for a glass door.
-Cut something small enough to fit in that rabbet, with some allowance for the cloth, and cut it to length.
-Lay your cloth over the opening, put a stick in and starting at the center nail it in and pull the cloth away. Pin nails, or micro pins are plenty.
-Do the sides working your way up both.
-Do the final side, making sure to keep it tight as you nail it in.
-Take a blade, I like an xacto knife for this, and trim the excess off.

Pretty easy to make something like this more complicated than it needs to be.

[David DeCristoforo]

"...make a frame...rout a groove on the inside of the back..."

For me, this is the only way to go. I make the frame out of (gasp) 1/2" MDF, rout a groove on the back and ease all the edges. Then I sand it smooth and paint it black. Speaker cloth can be stretched so that there are no wrinkles at the corners and then pressed into the groove using black vinyl screen spline. Afterwards, the excess cloth can be trimmed with a sharp utility knife and the end result presents a very clean and professional appearance, even when looking at the "back" with the door open.

[Brad Townsend]

This pic shows what I did recently for an entertainment unit for our family room. I routed a 1/8" deep dado in the back of the doorframe and got some 1/2" wide adhesive backed "hook" material and stuck it in. The "loop" side was sewn onto the fabric by the wife. The nice part about it is, it isn't permanent. She can changed the fabric to a different color scheme or it can even be changed with the seasons if she wants.