hihoslva

Yeah - I know. I have read about guys taking styrofoam peanuts and doing basically the same thing. Since you can't "compact" the peanuts very much, this can give you a pretty accurate measurment also. And less messy - at least, POTENTIALLY less - I know I'd be spilling that water.......

Basically anything that you can fill the enclosure with that you can measure out will work. Sand, water, peanuts, gumballs, M&Ms, Skittles, chocolate chips, ice cream sprinkles......

~HH

walight01

actually from what i've read, fill it with water, this way you can see if it leaks

SILVER1

HH
Nice job so far! What are you going to do? paint the outside enclosure or vinyl or the fuzzy stuff to match the trunk.
What size subs 10's? Hurry up man and finish it I am anxious to see the finished piece. Good luck

hihoslva

It'll be for dual 10's - Infinity Kappa 100.3dvc's. Should have that nice smooth, tight bass I like.

I'm going carpet. Paint is waaay too much work for me, and I want something more durable. It'd be nice to find a carpet to match the dark charcoal interior, but if not, I'll just go black or the standard flea-market gray.

Hurry up? YOU can't wait? Wattabout ME? Hehe - all in due time. I don't like to rush things.

Oh - and I've DEFINITELY got a nice slick move up my sleeve when it comes to the grilles. A plan I've been thinking about for quite a while. Looks like I'll be able to do it - but that'll be a cliffhanger. I'm not giving it away until its done....

Stay tuned!

~HH

macklum

http://www.selectproducts.com/frameindex.htm
Will this help ,color choices in carpet .

FuNwAgoN

Man as I have said on the other board your progress is freaking awesome. I am planning pretty much the same thing that you are doing with the exception of 1 12" sub instead of 2 10". My question is for the actual covering of the subrings and rest of the box. Have you started this yet because that is where I am at in my planning. (I have to plan it all out before I start or else I will never finish) I am working on some different ideas for grilles and such and the shape that I want the front of the box to take. also had a question of the mold. I was thinking of getting into doing this and would like to make others for sale to our protege5 brothern. Basically what I need to know is if that first stage of glassing was done a little larger then could you just use that as a mold to make other boxes??? I mean basically cover the whole thing in mold release or something and make a bunch of boxes from that mold. Would that work?? I know I am a glutten for punishment but I am getting really tired of my job and am trying to explore other areas of work. Fiberglassing may prove to be a part of it.

hihoslva

In order to use my project as a mold for others, a mold of my mold would need to be taken (whew! ).

Basically, if another mold was taken of the BACK of what I already made, it should (theoretically) be an exact duplicate of the car's panels. This could then be used to make enclosures over and over again.

There are lots of issues with this, though. In order to be commercially acceptable, you really need a GOOD product, IMO. This means that the first mold of the car (like what I have now) needs to be VERY accurate, and then the duplicate panel made from the back of the first mold would need to hold the same accuracy. You would want to end up with an EXACT duplicate of the car's interior, so that the pieces you sell could be made well.

Mine has nowhere near this accuracy, nor did I try to do it that way - I did the best I could. There are small craters, uneven surfaces, etc. Making such an accurate mold would require some serious techniques to accomplish, IMHO.

It's nothing I'm interested in trying. "Maxxbling" tried this several months ago - he was making finished enclosures for our cars, and they were very nice, and at about $200, quite a bargain. TONS of people showed interest, and then I think he sold only one. While the market might *seem* to be there, it's not always worth it the effort. Just ask him.

I did make my mold a little larger than I will eventually need it. I plan to trim it to the final back shape once it is further reinforced.

The front is still a bit up-in-the-air. I'm just not sure what fabric I will use to create the countours I want. It'll take a little experimentation to get the final shape to my liking. I think it's very tough to "plan" what the front will look like. As long as the final product has nice flowing lines and smooth curves, I'll be happy. It's going to shape itself, in a way.

Since I busted my hand, work on this is on hold for now - probably until at least this weekend. But I will get back at it soon - products for my new install are starting to arrive in the mail, and the wife is anxious to have my old equipment in her Jeep. And to make the mold I removed my amps, so all I have is deck-powered rear speakers right now. If that doesn't propel me to get to work on this ****, nothing will!

~HH

MIA protege

i wanna see the pics fo the finished project, its looking good !

Danny

macklum

For the fromt why not go to a fabric store and get remenants of polar fleece ,this is strechy and is thich enough to give you a solid foundation . However you will need lots of resin for this .

hihoslva

I have some fleece sitting around here that I will be trying first.

The thing is, different materials will form different curvatures. Some are easier to stretch and mold than others.

I've even read about guys using nylon stocking material - that's right, pantyhose-type stuff - for the ultimate in stretching and curving.

I'll use whatever works best - might be what I have on hand (fleece), might require a trip to the fabric store . I'll see what happens when I get to that stage.

~HH

DaleK

Have fun shopping at the fabric store. I am looking forward to your unboring grills. Maybe I'll get some ideas for my kitchen reno

Looks good so far. Altough the rings needed to be angled a little differently than what you had anticipated, me thinks that will make the end prduct look really cool with the subs pointed slightly away from each other like that. Good work man!!!

Hope your hand heals up OK. I read the other thread. Sounds really painful.

Dale.

hihoslva

Oohhhh - don't give it away now, man! Hehe - actually, because of the angles the subs will be at, the whole "drawer-pull" idea is not going to work. But...I have some interesting ideas on what WILL be done. We'll just have to see now, won't we......

I agree - the sub angles do make for a cool-looking setup. Wasn't my plan originally, but I'm satisfied. If only you could know how hard it was to hold TWO reasonably heavy subs & rings, one in each hand, up to that mold and figure out how the hell to fit 'em both - then have to figure out a way to MARK locations! It took a little trial and error, but the end result is going nicely.

The hand is getting better. Popular consensus among co-workers and friends is that I hit bone with that nasty drill bit. My hand aches like I have a sprained finger, and the fore-and middle-fingers are rather stiff. The range of motion is coming back slowly - yesterday, I couldn't extend my fingers all the way open, today I can. I'm headed back to work tomorrow, and I think it's gonna hurt, but I'll be okay.

I'm considering taking a little extra fiberglass resin, filling a shot glass, and dropping the bit inside, then popping the cured sculpture out of the glass - encasing the bit as a souveneir.

The wife is shaking her head - It's a guy thing, baby - you wouldn't understand!

~HH

hihoslva

Allright - now we're getting somewhere!

I've made some great progress this weekend:



^ Here I cut a square hole in the enclosure for a small piece of MDF which holds the terminal connections. The MDF has since been well glassed into the rest of the enclosure.


^ Here's an "inside" pic of the glassed-in MDF square. The red circle shows the hole through which the enclosure will be bolted to the jack mount. There's a nice chunk of MDF glassed in there too for added depth and strength to the mounting point.


After some test fitting and trimming back of the original mold, I covered the enclosure with a nice stretchy t-shirt-type fabric (not cotton though - a polyester/cotton blend - I read that all cotton doesn't always come out so good):


I've decided to use the same material to cover the box when it's done. The color is great, and it's easy to work with. and I bought enough to do several layers if I so choose. So this pic is pretty representative of what the finished product will look like.





^ And here's where I'm at now. All resined up and nice and curvy. I'm thrilled with how this is coming out!

That'll be it for this weekend. I might work some more during this week if I get some more time. Patience is a virtue!

Next step will be to reinforce the front with more fiberglass on the inside. I expect this to be a bit of a pain in the *** to do, but it'll be done regardless.

Stay tuned!

~HH

funkdaddysmack

Dude, you are my personal hero, that looks freaking phenominal!!!!! It's REALLY REALLY coming together now! Would it be easier to cut the holes for the speakers now and staple the fabic along the speaker right or something so then you don't have to cut a circle in your fiberglass later? But then again, I know nothing about it, so awesome job!!!!!

macklum

Great job ,I like the connector on back . The front nice and smooth ,I sure you have done enclosures like this before ,but any I have made I found that if you embed strips of sound deadner between the laters of glass you will stiffing the enclosure as well as cut down on resonance in the enclosure.