I've been working on the PF; inserts are in. Glue is drying. Tomorrow I hope to complete sanding the inserts flat in prep of clear coat on the whitewood this weekend.
Inbetween sessions in the cold garage; I've been working on the External speaker solution. A while back I asked for some suggestions and
femto here at the Aussie Pinball forums suggested that I make the speakers look like the nacelles of the Enterprise. I liked that idea; but was unsure how to execute it. Well; that all came to a head a couple of weeks ago when I came across some older
![](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71hXZkSzcFL._SL1500_.jpg)
Altec Lansing FX2020 Expressionist speakers during the uptenth time I looked for a suitable speaker set. These speakers had the same basic shape as the warp nacelles so they be a good starting point. Once I had the speakers this past weekend; I unpacked them and promptly voided the warranty by taking them apart. Once I had them apart; I hatched a plan to making them into warp nacelles. First; I was going to ditch the polycarbonate "stands" and replace it with a 3D printed "wrap" which I'd mock up in sketchup.
Removing the 4 silver screws on the front allows the speaker grill to be removed; then you have access to the speaker and the 4 screw tubes/standoffs which sandwiches the polycarbonate stand between the sliver ring and the black body. I decided I wanted to sandwich the 3D printed "nacelle wrap" identically as the stand.
Here's my 5th revision of the nacelle wrap:
![](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5541/11096377215_48e3336e8f.jpg)
Here's a rear view showing the hollow center for the speaker tube... thereby still giving access to the rear panels.
![](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3719/11096482314_80cc0dfaf9.jpg)
The wrap is about 4.5inches in diameter and about 5.9inchs long not including the spoke pattern guard.
One of the tradeoffs I ended up doing was that I wanted a "speaker grill" rounded like the front of the nacelles. IE a semi-spherical shape. The problem was I wasn't sure I could find a suitable material to "bend" in the correct but exacting shape. As I result; I brought out the spoke patterns into a spherical speaker grill to give the nacelle shape. I'll probably print the body in grey and the nacelle spokes in black to give it a better indication.
If anyone has the capability or know how to create an oval grill please let me know... I was thinking something like this:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#expanded-metal/=pkkkg8but have no ideal how to shape it easily.