Smeggy

back from lowes with Deft semi-gloss and satin lacquer and sanding sealer. I'll let you know how it goes after I do a test on my Fostex.

I've just been having real problems with surfaces marking up too easily after I finish. I have all the grits down to 600 plus various wire wool grades so smoothing isn't too bad, I'm not having too much joy with other finishes. I have high temp shellac, wipe on shellac, wipe on poly, spray on poly, gel poly and so on but they all mark too easily even after days drying. The lacquer is the only one so far that's gone on nicely and fixes durably hard and doesn't easily mark with handling. I only have gloss lacquer right now so I'm hoping to pick up some other stuff later today. The gloss does look nice but shows grain ridges mercilessly hence the need for subtle filler.

Yeah, would prolly be better on the input I guess. It seems I do have all the parts, I bought a photocell assortment pack hoping they may do the job and it appears they might. The name seems to be interchangable with LDR.

Oh well, so much for getting them at rat shack... I did get led's, batt housing and pot. Just need to find LDRs now and I'm in business.

small pile of crap from rat shack

Heh, well I'm assuming my rat shack even carries these things. If they do I'm gonna play with the crossfeed idea first to see if/how that works. I may rig it as an external box from the phones out as a post process unless you think it'd be better on the input side. I'll try a pair of LDRs in a box with one LED and a linear pot with a battery holder in a small project box with a signal splitter so I can mix it. Wish me luck!

Hmm, crossfeed with incense burner, yeah, I can do that...

Oooh, light pipes.... sexy BTW, can the standard led types from rat shack or similar work with a 6v battery?

Ah, I sees. I was more looking to tinker and have fun doing daft stuff myself

I didn't understand any of it I need simple paint-by-numbers DIY On my simple setup based on the first post and my crossfeed idea, will it still be workable as I have a radio shack nearby with cheap parts and I can test on my next Starving student

Well the plan is to fix the LEDs in place with a baffle between them to stop light bleed, and the LDRs on adjuster screws so their distance from the LEDs can be adjusted individually on the fly to match volume and any time drift that may occur. Hope that makes sense. I just has a brainwave... or brainfart. wonder if the LDRs can be used to rig a subtle crossfeed circuit adjusted by LED brightness. Hmm, need to think about how to rig this. It would also be completely cut out of the circuit by turning off the LED. Thoughts? I'm looking at two LDRs crossing the signals and mixing by light input. Is this completely insane?

Yep, just perfect thanks!

Eh? Why would I need more than the four if they're screw adjustable?

Parts arrived in the mail last night thanks very much

Wait, they;re being delivered??

Pfft, excuses....

I'm not trying to completely hide the character of the wood, just make it look less lumpy and raggy when finished so it holds a nice smooth finish. Some of these deep/large grained woods are a real pain so I want to level up the surface a tad. I guess a clear sanding sealer would work best as it fills the grain without altering the color or structure. I'm really enjoying the lacquer too, very smooth, very fast drying and builds up nicely. Even the heavy handlig I gave it after just one hour didn't mark it at all. Anyway, I'm off to get some sealer tonight

I'm gonna make one A little clarity needed first, this needs Two of the LDR circuits shown in the drawing, one per channel with one LED circuit, is that correct? Looks that way in the photo. Parts list... Four Light Dependent Resistors (LDR) One 250k linear pot. Two 24-100 ohm resistors (is this an actual rating or just a range to work from?) One 5V supply. Any 5v supply? Even batteries? two input and two output jacks. I can fix any channel balance by adding screw adjusters for fine tuning. Did I miss anything? I'm notoriously bad at circuit diagrams.

can you do a $200 version as well, you could call it the SubLevel

I recommend an ear transplant immediately before the situation becomes serious and infects your whole head. Radical surgery is the only safe answer.

I started this chat for us general wood monkeys in the hope of getting some good tips on finishing wood. I've managed to get my stuff to a decent level of smoothness and nicely sanded without too many blemishes but some woods have a honking big and deep grain. What is a good method of filling grain to get a very smooth surface without the filler looking artificial? I've tried wetting the wood to raise the grain and smooth it down, then using wet sanding to help fill the grain with it's own sawdust. That's not too bad on the finer grain woods, the coarser stuff is still problematic. I tried some various generic wood fillers with little success, so any hints as to what is a good thin paste that would do the job while not killing the look. I have no idea how AT etc, gets that incredibly smooth surface that I'd like to achieve myself (unrealistic I know) but something vaguely similar in the level of smoothness and grain filling. If you have hints, tips, ouiga board readings I'd like to know about it. On the plus side, I actually got a tin of lacquer today and apart from stinking up the whole house, it works pretty nicely.

Sounds like someone has a little chip on their shoulder. I'd offer to give him a hug but he slaps like a girl.

Why is she thinking about Gary Colemans willy? If she's the slapper I suspect she is there's probably room for the whole Coleman in there.

Just a groupy hanging around with the stars

Cheers Naaman, are you looking at seal-a-cell and Arm-r-seal as decent options together? Nothing I try seems to work too well and quickly gets destroyed with handling.