fibreglass Sub box in process

[Soundofav6]

After a 12 hrs on the job and countless amount of surgical gloves, the job is almost done, just gathering patiences of making a templet for the MDF and also pondering how I should stablise the MDF on fibreglass.

Hopefully it would sound as nice as any sub box

Thanks for the demal Rayray. Such a usefull tool to have.

[DubSteve]

Nice work there Louis and I quite like where your going with that I may even stea lyour idea off you mate for my car whenever I ever decide to put my sub in the car

[joshyd-mk2gti]

nice one! mdf is porous so just glass the two materials together. how are you going to attach the box to the car? [ie. so it doesn't move around.]

[ScienceVR6]

I had to do the exact same thing i a barina foir Clarion. To put the Face on the glass, i just glassed it on.

[Soundofav6]

Nice work there Louis and I quite like where your going with that I may even stea lyour idea off you mate for my car whenever I ever decide to put my sub in the car

Only after a loyalty fee mate....lol no such thing as stealing! I got the idea from some one else too.. we can DIY together.. not hard but just messy stuff.

I am pondering if I should get the MDF, cut in shape first than glassing it inward from the subwoofer or outwards.

Also cutting a 10" hole with jigsaw.. any tip? Should I start cutting from center--> radius --> and cutting the circle ?

Attaching the box to the car is another challenge, I have a few ideas, too hard to put in words atm. I am sure I can figure soemthing out, "go with the flow" ( THE SPIRIT OF DIY)

[99gti]

It looks good mate, and it should be heaps lighter than an MDF box. Nice job!

[ScienceVR6]

Only after a loyalty fee mate....lol no such thing as stealing! I got the idea from some one else too.. we can DIY together.. not hard but just messy stuff.

I am pondering if I should get the MDF, cut in shape first than glassing it inward from the subwoofer or outwards.

Also cutting a 10" hole with jigsaw.. any tip? Should I start cutting from center--> radius --> and cutting the circle ?

Attaching the box to the car is another challenge, I have a few ideas, too hard to put in words atm. I am sure I can figure soemthing out, "go with the flow" ( THE SPIRIT OF DIY)

When cutting the hole for a 10" sub, DO NOT CUT A 10" HOLE! Your sub will fall through! My expeariance says cut a 9" diameter hole, but check first! Your sub should have a template in the box, if you have that. When cutting the hole, use a jig saw, and just go slowly. Drill a hole first near the edge, and just work your way around the circle you have drawn.
Again, just take your time.

With the FG, make sure it's not too thin that it will flex with the bass. Else you will get realy bad losses in sound quality and also in db.

[rayray086]

With the FG, make sure it's not too thin that it will flex with the bass. Else you will get realy bad losses in sound quality and also in db.

How thick should the fibreglass and MDF be? I'm thinking of doing this myself one day too, this being inspiration

[BlackVr6ix]

last time i did a fibreglass box it ended up being ~4-5 layers of matting thick with a 12mm sheet of mdf.

as for attaching it, use lots of velcro.

[Soundofav6]

as for attaching it, use lots of velcro.

using velcro ?? thats new.. worked well ??

[HOLEIN1]

How thick should the fibreglass and MDF be? I'm thinking of doing this myself one day too, this being inspiration

id say make your baffle out of some 16mm MDF just to be on the safe side, 12 mm just seems too thin to me

had alot of experience with this sort of thing and have found that 16mm is the way to go or even thicker (sandwich two sheets together with liquid nails) depending on what sort of power you are dealing with... the thickness in the fibreglass section you have made is not as critical however as its curves lead to a majority of its strength...

your fibreglass section looks fine, although its a little thin in some places, however again it depends on what sort of power you are going to be running...

keep it up, will look great when its finished

[Soundofav6]

id say make your baffle out of some 16mm MDF just to be on the safe side, 12 mm just seems too thin to me

had alot of experience with this sort of thing and have found that 16mm is the way to go or even thicker (sandwich two sheets together with liquid nails) depending on what sort of power you are dealing with... the thickness in the fibreglass section you have made is not as critical however as its curves lead to a majority of its strength...

your fibreglass section looks fine, although its a little thin in some places, however again it depends on what sort of power you are going to be running...

keep it up, will look great when its finished

Thanks mate.. I did a water test. it was leaking in some places, seeping water though infact, does it matter ??. I was aiming to have 4 layers of fibre glass perhaps I will have 1 layer just to be save.

Thanks for the tip, I may put 2 layers of MDF, just had an epiphany, everythign is making sense !!!

What i liquad nail ? would that be glue

[HOLEIN1]

Thanks mate.. I did a water test. it was leaking in some places, seeping water though infact, does it matter ??. I was aiming to have 4 layers of fibre glass perhaps I will have 1 layer just to be save.

Thanks for the tip, I may put 2 layers of MDF, just had an epiphany, everythign is making sense !!!

What i liquad nail ? would that be glue

quick answer, yes. water leaking out of the mould is definitely what you dont want. if you leave it like that your sub will sound terreble and you will b3e hating yourself for wasting the time, effort and money in the project. i had a look at your pics again and there seems to be some large air pockets underneath the fibreglass which diminishes its overall strength considerably and further affects the sound.

not all is lost though as you have made a good start, if i were you i would put some more layers on it to both seal up the holes and to fix any possible strength issues wich will ultimately ruin the end result.

when you add some more layers try not to overkill the catalyst as this will give you some more 'work time' and allow you to get rid of any air bubbles. i also noticed that you havent been using enough resin as you can still see the matting fibres clearly. good way to avoid this is to slap on a layer of resin, throw down your matting and then another coating of resin, and so on. to remove any air bubbles i usually wait a few minutes untill the matt/resin combination goes soggy (you will see that the matting fibres go transparent) and then 'dab' at the air pockets to get the air out. with fibreglass the strength comes from the resin, with the matting acting as a reinfocement (to a certain extent)

id also watch catalyst levels to minimise the chance of the mould warping. my general rule is if its still stinks badly you run the risk of the fresh resin reacting with the old surface and causing it to lose its shape slightly. same can happen if you dont have enough resin and have to wait hours or even days for it to cure. its all trial and error, but perhaps put the mould back in the car to minimise the chance of this happening

yes liquid nails is a form of glue, looks like a brown mess and you can get it in either a handy tube or a caulking gun size (works out much cheaper this way). its great stuff, and sticks to MDF like ****e to blanket!

be proud of your efforts so far as fibreglassing takes some getting used to, and with a little more work im sure you will be impressed with the reults

what sort of sub/power combo are you planning to install, that may help others to steer you in the right direction...

keep up the good work

[Soundofav6]

HOLEIN1
Thanks heaps of your input. I kinda jumped into the project with out much facts only knowing it is enough volume running the sub and "how hard can fibre glassing be? " also only relied on a simple DIY on the web. I was so wrong.

2 ultimate questions

1. I understand what you mean about not enough resin, I only got the hang of resin : catalyst at the end. Do you think I should slap 2 more layers of fibre glass to cover up the flaws ?

2. So essentically the strength of the base and water leaks are most critical ? In this case, should I redo the base as to my flawed handywork? If I was to redo the base should I use MDF or stay with fibreglass if time & material is not a constraint?

For the power I am running is not much from what I was told, honestly I am not sure the specs actually works. I only know it is more than enough for my personal pleasure.

MY current set up.
Front speakers from Amp
Rear spreakers from head unit.
The Sub is bridged, running off the Amp.

The specs from what I know..

Amp 200W
10" Subwoofer 150W

[ScienceVR6]

I wouldn't bother using two layers of MDF, i'd just get some 18mm sheet. It's the minimum i'll make a box out of.