Just purchased a 12" BL

[tejcurrent 13]

OK, so my brother just had me get a 12" BL for him, and while it is being made/shipped I'm trying to deside how to build his enclosure. He has a single cab truck with bench seat, which only has about 6-7" of space behind the seat at the largest part. It is a chevy 2500, if that helps. While he could put his seat up a little and fit it, he want it to be in the center of his truck, pretty much in the middle of where you'll see it.

I was considering making something with the sub up at an angle, and the port forward at the floor. Would it be better for me to have the port and sub up-like where the wood bends at the top front of the box instead of the bottom? This is a quick sketch I made in paint, (not the best but oh well) hope this gives an idea of what I'm thinking. Any input will be helpful.

It will be somewhere near 2ft^3 tuned to 32hz with port area around 30sqin.

Thanks.

[Wanger35 0]

Looks liek a nice design, however 3/4 MDF is very hard to bend (maybe imposible) at an almost 90 degree angle. Even if it is fibreglass reinforced it would be hard to do.

Something to think about.

KO

[tejcurrent 13]

Looks liek a nice design, however 3/4 MDF is very hard to bend (maybe imposible) at an almost 90 degree angle. Even if it is fibreglass reinforced it would be hard to do.

Something to think about.

KO

It might be a little less than a 90. I've gotten it pretty close in some of the boards I've practice with, but your right it won't be a perfect 90. I'm going to play with it until I get it right, being that I'll be doing it over a decent sized bend area I think it should be ok, but other than that, any other advice?

[raderme 0]

look at some of steve meade's posts on here. the guy is an artist.

[the727kid 1]

Why not just do 90 degree angles instead of curves and fiberglass the curves.

[NDMstang65 403]

Email me your mailing address, trying to compile a list for the shirts and stuff...thanks!

[tejcurrent 13]

Why not just do 90 degree angles instead of curves and fiberglass the curves.

I know it would be much easier to do 90s, but I want this to be fancy

I dont' know if there will be a benefit from this to 45-ing the corners, but I think this would be a very nice looking finished product.

Also because I'm putting 2cubes in the center of his bench and down in front of his controls for his a/c, cdplayer, ect, this curve will allow him to reach the dash easier w/out the sharp edge getting in the way.

It'll be worth the effort if it turns out like I plan.

Steve Meade has some insane stuff, and I've looked at some of the amazing work he's done, and while I'm sure he's better at it than me, I know patience and some effort could really have this looking good.

Edited March 15, 2007 by tejcurrent

[vladd 26]

if you're stuck on that design go with mdf for the baffle, sides back and bottom, and do fiberglass everywhere else. I don't think MDF will bend the way you're wanting it to

[the727kid 1]

Why not just do 90 degree angles instead of curves and fiberglass the curves.

I know it would be much easier to do 90s, but I want this to be fancy

I dont' know if there will be a benefit from this to 45-ing the corners, but I think this would be a very nice looking finished product.

Also because I'm putting 2cubes in the center of his bench and down in front of his controls for his a/c, cdplayer, ect, this curve will allow him to reach the dash easier w/out the sharp edge getting in the way.

It'll be worth the effort if it turns out like I plan.

Steve Meade has some insane stuff, and I've looked at some of the amazing work he's done, and while I'm sure he's better at it than me, I know patience and some effort could really have this looking good.

That's what I mean, do 90 degree angles with the MDF to make it easy and then glass curves over the angles so it gives it that nicelook.

[tejcurrent 13]

Oh, Im sorry, I misunderstood. I don't really care, he doesn't care if it has rounded edges for me to fiberglass it just for that reason. I will be putting mdf on all the sides, just some glass inside to give it some strength at the bend, and resin the entire thing. He'll probably want to carpet the outside anyway, so it'll be fine. I was just trying to find out if this sub/port configuration looked ok. I'll do a build log of the bending to show how well/bad it went.

Thanks.

[vladd 26]

i still don't understand how you're going to get MDF to bend?

[tejcurrent 13]

Check out Meades post on the 12" BL build log, he bent his ports.

I'll just post them:

Pretty much making slits the length of the board , then slowly bending and gluing till it dries. It should turn out good w/ enough slits and just taking my time not to break it.

[vladd 26]

you've gotten my attention, be sure to keep us updated on how it turns out. I still must say FG would make it much easier.

[///M5 2,833]

For a more descriptive way on bending mdf, here is a blog from Zaph (as well as an interesting budget mini-monitor)

http://zaphaudio.com/audio-speaker20a.html

[Fi Car Audio 64]

Takes a little trial and error as I have run across different "qualities" of MDF. Id try a small piece first to see how close you need to kerf cut things. Steve seemed to use wood glue, and Im sure that the modern "expanding" glues out there would work great. I used to put tape on the edges of the cuts and fill with resin before I bent things. Solidified them quite well.

Box looks a little odd on the port section of things. Will there be dead space there as well? Can you MS Paint a quick side shot of how the port will look in the box?

Thanks,

Scott

[mlstrass 1]

Little trick I learned when building 1/2 pipes for my kids to skateboard on. Use 1/4" or even 1/8" wood and do several layers. MUCH easier to bend and you get the same strength.

Good luck as it looks like a VERY cool idea. Can't wait to see the finished product.

[tejcurrent 13]

That's the thing-the port, with trying to make sure I get the right length out of it.

I might have to make an L in the end anyway to keep that design. He doesn't mind tuning a bit higher, but I think he'll be happier closer to 32hz. I think we can get about 2.4ft^3, with the port around 16 inches before the bend (that's with 24sqin of port area), so hopefully it'll turn out right. He's so lazy-I'm going to wait till he starts making some cuts before I help him put it together, so as soon as I can get him to get started I'll post pics.

Does anyone see any reason not to build it as I've stated?

Thanks so much for the help.

Edited March 17, 2007 by tejcurrent

[johny24 0]

for the larger bend, i thought of a sweet method

take 2 pieces of 3/4 mdf and make a 90 degree angle, then on the interior angle, fiberglass the curve so the inside will be perfectly smooth, then once its good and stiff, angle grind away the excess wood that is above the fiberglass curve

thatd be how id do it

[tejcurrent 13]

Not a bad idea, like I said, just trying to be fancy

[tejcurrent 13]

OK, so my bros BL came in tonight. Thought I'd just stick to this thread and post some pics of it.

Thought you guys might like the hand made quilts in the background too

Overall very beefy, around 30lbs, looks nice. WOW is the suspension stiff, can't wait to break that in and see how it sounds-especially in his single cab w/ around 1800 watts.

We will be building the box soon, but until then we're just going to slap it in the box for my old type-x, 1.1ft^3 net w/ 32hz tune. Not ideal for the sub at all space wise, but atleast he'll have some thump till we get it built right. More pics to come. Thanks.

Edited March 27, 2007 by tejcurrent