15" of pure pleasure

[Green Machine Mowing]

Re: 15" of pure pleasure

dont worry phil, i must finish it first, by then the glue will be long set up, otherwise if i test it, it ill probably be months before get around i staining and clearing the cherry and painting the sides.

do you have any paint suggestions phil? i have gotten excelent finishes with engine paint, but they seem to scratch easy, i think they need a good amount of heat to cure.

P.S. it will be a huge improvment over my current car sub in a ported box, even if it sounds like crap :eek:

[philiparcario]

Re: 15" of pure pleasure

the box looks perfect in bracing and size. can not wait to hear your impressions. remember let the glue dry before you fire it up!

[Green Machine Mowing]

Re: 15" of pure pleasure

i am going to paint the sides soon, i will smooth, bondo, sand, seal (id like a method not involving wood glue and water, maybe just a few coats of primer) prime, and paint, at this point the color is a semi-gloss black, unless somebody has a good idea for me, or i see something cool at the store.
so what brand and type of primer, and paint should i go with?

thanks in advance for your wisdom ;)

[Green Machine Mowing]

Re: 15" of pure pleasure

heres a pic of the side, with the bracing completed. from the right angle, it sort of looks like a ray gun or something, the hold beig the "barrel" and squate bracing being the weird protector things.

[Green Machine Mowing]

Re: 15" of pure pleasure

as you can see, it is pre veneered cherry, there are 3 white stripes that run up the baffel,make ther miter, and run along the top. pretty cool, should really pop when it gets a finish on it. any suggestions to really bring out the red in the cherry?? im hoping for a deep red-brown like you would see in an expensive office.

[Green Machine Mowing]

Re: 15" of pure pleasure

allright, i have some pics to post of the box so far, i took the pics on my new fone, one came our nice, on the other ones not so much but i was at the end of the day, on friday, so i didnt have time to retake them. you can see ontop of the box are the braces to go inside, they are cut, and ready to glue, i allready have my refrence lines drawn in.

i put 1 1/2" wide 3/4" mdf strips around the amp hole, to give the screws more to bite into.

that is a little rack i made for my amp, so i could use it before i got my box completed.

the front baffel has another sheet cut, fit behind and glued, i had to cut it sepratley, and round over the back. the seam is so clean that when you run your hand over it, you cant feel it

[Texan]

Re: 15" of pure pleasure

I put the glue water mix after the bondo. You defiantly have to sand the wood glue mix. I put a few coats to make sure I didn’t go through. This or any sealer realy has to be used or the mdf will just keep soaking up the paint. There is a product called piranha putty from 3M that might work instead of bondo since you don’t have holes to fill. It’s kind of thin. You can more easily spread on a thin layer than bondo. You have to get it at an auto paint store though. Every time I do a thin layer of bondo I wind up having to spread on a thick layer and sand it off. The shaper type wood rasps with the cheese grader like blade will knock it down in a hurry and if you get the type labeled (planer) then you are less likely make a mistake. Maybe you won’t have to go to that kind of extreme.

[Green Machine Mowing]

Re: 15" of pure pleasure

I thought I would do a nice simi flat finish on mine like lunchmoney has executed so perfectly. I had a ton of screws in this thing from the outside. I thought I would use some bondo to fill them. Then I used the 50/50 glue coat. I over sanded the screw holes and they were a little low. It looked ok, but I had to go with the texture then it looked dead perfect. I was not patient enough to sand anymore. The big flat sides of a sub are the least forgiving. You are lucky you can do a step and let it dry so that will help. One weekend is not enough.

Oh ya the textured looks ok, but its hard to get dust off of it

thats what ill probly do, bondo, make a large sanding block and smooth it out. do i need to seal with wood glue in there somewhere? seems like i wouldent want to put it under the bondo, and over seems useless. i dont have any screws, glue is plenty strong, so i just need to smooth out the edges wher there are rabbits from the baffel,top,back and bottom.

[Texan]

Re: 15" of pure pleasure

I thought I would do a nice simi flat finish on mine like lunchmoney has executed so perfectly. I had a ton of screws in this thing from the outside. I thought I would use some bondo to fill them. Then I used the 50/50 glue coat. I over sanded the screw holes and they were a little low. It looked ok, but I had to go with the texture then it looked dead perfect. I was not patient enough to sand anymore. The big flat sides of a sub are the least forgiving. You are lucky you can do a step and let it dry so that will help. One weekend is not enough.

Oh ya the textured looks ok, but its hard to get dust off of it

[Green Machine Mowing]

Re: 15" of pure pleasure

i still havent made a descision on what to cover my mdf sides with.how about a semi gloss black or my sides, how hard will that be to get to look nice? it would be rather cheap, and easy, assuming i can fine a realatively dust free enviroment to spray them. my other option would be to get an aquatince to cut some steel for me in welding, grind them down to fit and then take an angle grinder and add texture, this would add extra weight and expence. what do you guys think? in still open to all sugestions.

[philiparcario]

Re: 15" of pure pleasure

dowels are ideal but squares also work

[johnastockman]

Re: 15" of pure pleasure

instead of dowels, im thinking of using two peices 1 1/2" wide peices of mdf laminated togeather, basicly to make a 1 1/2" square of mdf that i could use to brace my large shelf braces with holes cut in them. would this be a better method? i would be using scrap, so it certanly would be cheaper/free

I do that quite often to save money and use up some scrap. I glue up two pieces of MDF for 1.5" like you mentioned. My pieces are usually about 3-4" wide, but a 1.5" square piece would work too.

John A.

[Green Machine Mowing]

Re: 15" of pure pleasure

instead of dowels, im thinking of using two peices 1 1/2" wide peices of mdf laminated togeather, basicly to make a 1 1/2" square of mdf that i could use to brace my large shelf braces with holes cut in them. would this be a better method? i would be using scrap, so it certanly would be cheaper/free

[Green Machine Mowing]

Re: 15" of pure pleasure

i got my baffel, top, back and bottom all glued together, and cut the hole in the second baffel to slide behind the primary one and rounded over the back. when i test fitted it the holes in the baffels didnt align exactly,there is a slight overlap here and there, less then 1/16th will this effect anything or is it ok?? thanks for your reply.

[Green Machine Mowing]

Re: 15" of pure pleasure

For a 1.5" baffle, at least a 1/2" round-over, I'd imagine, or a 45 degree chamfer bit. That baffle in my pic is 3/4" and I still needed a 1/2" round-over because of the way the drivers' frame is designed...with the driver fitted in there without the round-over, the back wave from the little woofer looked pretty restricted.

John A.

im not sure that we have a 1/2" roundover at school. i know we have 1/4" and 3/4". ill probably go with the 3/4" to let that baby breathe