Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community  

Go Back   Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community > The Academy > Tilted Knowledge and How-To


 
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 09-27-2004, 05:47 PM   #1 (permalink)
Fledgling Dead Head
 
krwlz's Avatar
 
Location: Clarkson U.
How to Build a custom fiberglass subwoofer enclosure.

Well, we decided to build a custom enclosure for my car, after we did my friends.

SO I figured I would illustrate how we did it, as well as another method.

First thing, we used a piece of 12" sonotube cut at an angle and plugged in the bottom using some MDF to form the sealed part of the enclosure at the volume we wanted it. We added an MDF ring at the top to mount the subwoofer to.

I then mounted each tube to a piece of ply wood as the base. From there I used a combonation of carboard, duct tape, and spandex to form all of the curves I desired, then coated the whole thing with a coat of fiberglass resin, to give it a little stiffness, as you can see in these images.

Construction 1

Contruction 2

Contruction 3

At this point I had actually laid the first coat of glass, but you get the idea. I didn't take pictures through the entire process, but you get the idea from what I have here.

After this, is the painstaking process of adding at least 4 more layers of fiberglass, more in high stress areas. Much sanding goes on between layers, and actually laying the glass can be difficult, and take a bit of skill, as bubbles under the glass are your enemy. The cloth I used was actually scraps from my fathers boat building supplies, he purchased from System Three Epoxies. The resin (and cloth) can both be found also at Home Depot, and similar stores.

After the glass was sifficiently thick, we used bondo to finish everything out nice and smooth, and wrapped it in speakerbox cloth I purchased from www.crutchfield.com using 3M spray adhesive.

Finished Enclosure

Finished Enclosure

At this point, another route that can be taken is to have the box painted. We also considered laying one layer of glass on top of the bondo, then adding several coats of resin with pigment added to it.

I built a new wood floor into my trunk that the enclosure actually sits in. I also hinged it so that I can still access my spare tire and tools, albeit from the back.

Ultimatly, the amp(s) for the subs are going to go on the trunk lid roof (fiberglass mount built of course). With an amp sitting at an angle in front of the enclosure for the components I would like to add to my trunk. The amp will be housed in a metal frame, that hinges forward, to allow the enclosure to swing up and forward when I need the frame.

This is the method I used, and I believe we have found a better method to provide a mold to lay glass on, which is two part foam. Once hardened, it can be shaped reletivly easily to whatever shape is needed, provided a nice solid backing to lay the glass on. While we have yet to try this, my friend has some glass work to do on his car, and we are going to use this method. I will let you all know how it turns out.

Last edited by krwlz; 09-27-2004 at 06:36 PM..
krwlz is offline  
Old 09-27-2004, 05:48 PM   #2 (permalink)
Fledgling Dead Head
 
krwlz's Avatar
 
Location: Clarkson U.
And apparently my image tags failed to work... little help?
krwlz is offline  
Old 09-27-2004, 06:21 PM   #3 (permalink)
Crazy
 
Location: Htown, NJ
I pasted the links into another browser and I'm really impressed. That is some really nice work, looks completely professional. I built my own MDF box but its no comparrison to the fiberglass.

mosha is offline  
Old 09-27-2004, 06:28 PM   #4 (permalink)
Fledgling Dead Head
 
krwlz's Avatar
 
Location: Clarkson U.
Im still trying to fix the images, but i think I may just link the pictures for the moment.
krwlz is offline  
Old 09-27-2004, 06:36 PM   #5 (permalink)
Fledgling Dead Head
 
krwlz's Avatar
 
Location: Clarkson U.
By the way, if you live in my area, my friend and I keep talking about doing these as a small sideline, drop me a PM, if you are interested.
krwlz is offline  
Old 09-28-2004, 07:49 AM   #6 (permalink)
Daddy
 
Location: Right next door to Hell
that is pretty cool, I am guessing 12 in woofers? what did you end up putting in them, what sort of volume does the tube hold?
edmos1 is offline  
Old 09-28-2004, 08:18 AM   #7 (permalink)
Xepidemic
Guest
 
im thinking of doing some fiberglass work but for something else. you said you can buy cloth and resin at home depot but do you know where to buy that foam you can shave and mold?
 
Old 09-28-2004, 06:10 PM   #8 (permalink)
Fledgling Dead Head
 
krwlz's Avatar
 
Location: Clarkson U.
Well, for the first part, they are 10 inch woofers, Infinity Perfect VQ's. The volume I used for each woofer was .75 cu ft, which was one of many recomended volumes in the manuals for them. In the long run, they will be run by (probably) 2 infinity amps at 460 watts a piece.

For the second, I'm not entirly sure, except that I have seen it here: http://www.cardomain.com/item/FSHFIFOAM2Q

I have a feeling however, that a similar product can be found elsewhere, at a lower cost.

Last edited by krwlz; 09-28-2004 at 06:12 PM..
krwlz is offline  
Old 09-28-2004, 06:17 PM   #9 (permalink)
Fledgling Dead Head
 
krwlz's Avatar
 
Location: Clarkson U.
Also found here by the way:
http://www.shopmaninc.com/foam.html
krwlz is offline  
Old 09-30-2004, 11:13 AM   #10 (permalink)
Tilted
 
Nice work for a first timer
A warning about trying to use foam/fiberglass resin - most resins will simply eat the foam away. You'll need a polyester resin to seal the foam before fiberglass work.

Suggestions:
Create a framework/skeleton for the basic structure and leave the back side open - then stretch/staple fleece (found at any fabric store) over the skeleton. Once stretched/stapled apply several layers of fiberglass resin to the fleece and let harden. Once the fleece is hard you can apply the fiberglass matt to the INSIDE (hence leave the back of the piece open) and be left with a much smoother surface to finish prep. For finish work you can start with SMALL ammounts of bondo over the fleece to fix the larger flaws. For the final finish you can use a sprayable high-build primer/filler. This is basically a thin/sprayable bondo that sprays very smooth and is MUCH easier to sand than bondo/fiberglass matt.

This site provides excellent tutorials and basic project examples:
http://web.njit.edu/~cas1383/proj/main/

Heres a couple of advanced tutorials:
http://www.jlaudio.com/tutorials/mera/MERA_2002.pdf
http://www.jlaudio.com/tutorials/mera/MERA_2003.pdf

Good luck with your project(s)!!
__________________
Nelson
Nelson is offline  
Old 10-03-2004, 02:25 PM   #11 (permalink)
Fledgling Dead Head
 
krwlz's Avatar
 
Location: Clarkson U.
Cool man, thanks. There are several foams out there they are selling that say they will not melt when using for fiberglass, but thanks again for all the websites.
krwlz is offline  
Old 10-06-2004, 01:48 AM   #12 (permalink)
Crazy
 
where did you get the sonotube and how much? my google search results suck lol
animal909 is offline  
Old 10-06-2004, 05:47 AM   #13 (permalink)
Fledgling Dead Head
 
krwlz's Avatar
 
Location: Clarkson U.
I got the sonotube at home depot, and I think a 5 or 6 foot section, 12 inch diameter cost me like... Oh 12 bucks or something.
krwlz is offline  
Old 10-07-2004, 01:01 PM   #14 (permalink)
Crazy
 
Oh yeah, how much was the total for ur project?
animal909 is offline  
Old 10-08-2004, 06:13 AM   #15 (permalink)
Upright
 
Not to jack your thread but here are some other great installs for anyone wanting to learn more about fibergalssing.

Alpine RSX Showcar install

Alpine Civic Showcar install

Alpine Mini Showcar install
5rc5tc is offline  
Old 10-08-2004, 02:33 PM   #16 (permalink)
Fledgling Dead Head
 
krwlz's Avatar
 
Location: Clarkson U.
My whole project probably cost me around 300 dollars, plus the subs. I also had to purchase a few tools (nothing big, but it adds up when you figure in sandpaper, the stapler I bought, sanding block... etc.) Plus I'm terrible at bondo, which is how we finished everything out smooth, so I probably could have gotton away with a can less, were I good at it.

What kind of fleece are we talking about? Like polyester, polar fleece?
krwlz is offline  
 

Tags
build, custom, enclosure, fiberglass, subwoofer

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 02:42 AM.

Tilted Forum Project

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
© 2002-2012 Tilted Forum Project

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360