I finally found the enter button in backtalk.  ;)
Anyway, I've made a pair of speaker stands for small sized speakers.  I
have not finished them, but they are durning out nicely so far.

They are about 11" square at the base, 7" at the top, and about 28"
tall.  I am still debating how the top will be made.  Right now the back
and one side extend above the top face to provide a strong place to bolt
the speaker on (mounts in the side of these speakers).  I may just cut
those off, though.

They stand on four bolts sticking out the bottom of each stand.  They
will be partly filled with sand when done to prevent vibration.

They have dramatically increased the clarity of high tones.  Low tones
are a little worse right now since they aren't fully screwed together
yet.

If I had been more careful measuring and cutting I could have fit all
the pieces onto one half sheet of 3/4" mdf.  I used quite a few feet of
3/4" square molding for screw attachments inside, and about 7' of 1x6
pine board as part of the mounts at the top.

I have drawings that could be made useable by others if there is
interrest.

24 responses total.

Would a three legged design not have been better?  Three legs will
always be in good contact with the floor while a forth leg is usually
floating.  If floating just above the floor it may add a buzzing
sound to your music at some frequencies.

A point I worried over for some time.  Three legs with the current stands
wouldn't be stable.  With the limited tools I have, triangular stands, while
visually interresting, wouldn't have been built with reasonable effort.  My
current workaround for the four-legged-dilema is that I have a carpeted floor,
so vibration should be minimized.

another approach is a small stack of adhesive-backed dense foam pads on the
bottom of each leg.

But that would tend to remove the intended effect of strong mechanical
coupling to the floor, wouldn't it?

If bolts are used correctly, they will have adjustable length.  You can also
sharpen the ends so they will penetrate the carpet and dig right into the
floor.  I've seen stands that use that approach, the idea being that the
better coupled the speakers are with the floor, the better the bass since the
speaker can't move as much.

What is it about your design that would make three legs _less_ stable?

Less stable as too much weight would be outside the area of the base. 
I've been considering sharpening them as well.  At my current place
there is cement under the carpet and pad, so sharp wouldn't be a
problem.  I still have to decide where I am going with the top part.  I
went a long way out of my way to make them the way they are, but I am
considering cutting away the top.  I just don't see a way to get
vibration free mounting this way.  (Before I didn't realise how
sensative that would be).

        If you use t-nuts with a lock nut you can adjust and lock in postion
easily.

tee nuts are a *wonderful* invention!  what a hassle saver.  for those who
don't know, a tee nut is a short tube, threaded on the inside, which has at
one end a plate, like a washer, with little teeth on it.  to use one, you
drill a hole just larger than the tube, and then gently hammer the tee nut
into place.  this creates a threaded hole, which is much easier to deal with
than just a nut on the other side of the hole, because you'd have to hold the
nut with a wrench every time you want to remove or replace the bolt.

Never used them myself, I just thread the wooden part with my tap set ;-)

depending on the force being applied across the threads, and the hardness
of the wood, that may or may not be sufficient...  :P

It also involves having a tap set, though.

(That's okay, I'm immensely proud of myself for knowing what a tap set _is_.
I come from a long line of the mechanically declined)

Every now and than I like to build an item without metal fasteners.  A
few years ago I built a wardrobe using only wooden pegs and glue to hold
it (most of it that is...) together.  (Since it was very large I made it
so it could be disassembled into front, back, right and left sides.
Otherwise it wouldn't have fit through the doors, etc.  I used 6 long
bolts to bolt the front to the back and the sides were clamped into
place.)

A while ago, I was thinking of getting a tap set - the project for which I
wanted it is in fact still on hold for that reason.  I browsed idly in
hardware stores without ever seeing one.  I wasn't to the point of tracking
down a salesclerk (esp. of *finding* one who wasn't already helping someone),
as I don't have even a faint idea how much they cost & what variations there
are among them.  Where would one buy a tap set?  How much do they cost?  How
much do they vary in sizes which are included, and in quality?  Are there
different types for tapping wood & for tapping metal?

'Well of course there are!  Tapping wood is called cutting threads, you
usually put in a metal insert instead.  Harbor Freight catalog sells sets of
taps, much cheaper than buying them individually.  They come in different
price ranges, will check it out and let you know.  Metric or English?

Once again, go for High Speed Steel tap sets if you ever want to tap
anything other than wood.  I have a set I got from Sears when it was
on sale.  It's OK.  The taps and dies are not as sharp as the ones I
get from a machine shop supplier like Production Tool in Jackson, but
they do just fine for the occasional user.  Use plenty of lubrication
or you'll risk snapping the tap off in the hole!  Also thread for a
rev or till it gets a little tight and then back off a couple turns.
Keep doing this till you reach the desired depth.  If you thread the
hole without backing off a few times, you risk having a very hard time
getting the tap back out.

Thanks much, both of you.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled drift.

What's a tap set?

A set of taps.  Better described as "thread cutting taps and dies", these look
like futuristic bolts (taps) and nuts (dies) which are used to cut threads
onto rod stock or into holes.  You could use a tap to create threads into a
hole on something, such that you cousd then put a regular bolt into it.  The
operation is simple, you just pretend that the threads are already on the
object, and screw a tap or die into/onto it.  The tap or die is make of much
harder metal, and has cutting edges to cut matching threads as you screw it
in/on.  Naturally, the rod or hole has to be a certain diameter for it to work
properly.

Hmm.  The tool catalogues which I have on hand don't list tap (or tap & die)
sets at all.  These catalogs are all targeted to *woodworkers*, really, but
I'm still a bit surprised.  keesan, if you do have a catalog with info, I'd
appreciate your emailing me.

check the grainger catalog.  if it ain't there, it likely just ain't.
but tap and die sets will be there.

Sears ought to carry them as well.

Threads cut in wood don't tend to be very strong (unless done on a large
size), so I'm not surprised to see a woodworking catalog not listing tap &
die sets.

Harbor Freight has an 800 number.  Call for it, call them for a catalog. 
Tools range in price from cheap (Chinese) to moderate-priced.  Grainger
carries the moderate to expensive ones (for professional use).  Also Northern
Hydraulics (medium-priced only).

Cutting threads into wood is not a good idea if you want a strong 
connection.  At least not the V shaped threads used in metal.  For wood
the more common thread is the acme thread, which is a square-cut thread
that has less tendency to split the wood when under a load.  I've never
seen one less that about 1/2" Dia. either.  

        Try Stadium Hardware, one of the few real hardwares left. They have
tap sets or individual taps and dies.

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