1 1/8" Industrial Particleboard for front baffles. Any Experience?

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Re: 1 1/8" Industrial Particleboard for front baffles. Any Experience?

My local Menards has some 1 1/8" thick particleboard shelving, termed "industrial," that I'm considering using for the front baffles for a two-way with recessed drivers and 5/8" roundovers (fyi, the rest of the 0.5 cu ft enclosure is 3/4" mdf). The surface is very smooth and the material seems much denser with finer "particles" than I usually associate with particleboard. The close-up of this picture is NOT representative of the item in the store: http://www.menards.com/main/building...832-c-9539.htm

It looks like it would produce good clean edges with cutting and routing, as the edge corners of the shelving boards are quite sharp. Its size, as shelving material, makes it very manageable to work with, and the price is right.

Does anyone have experience with this product with which they can either encourage or discourage me to proceed?

Pondering particleboard in Indianapolis,
David

Thick front baffles are good as far as strength and resonances are concerned, but a thick baffle really needs to be relieved, beveled, routed out a whole bunch internally otherwise it will congest and I mean really congest the sound.

[dstmbgh]

Re: 1 1/8" Industrial Particleboard for front baffles. Any Experience?

i have not, but you should give it a try and report back.

Just came across this past post of mine and was reminded that some of you had asked for feedback. I was very pleased with how the 1 1/8" thick "industrial" particleboard shelving worked for front baffle material. It provided sufficient "meat" for a rather generous roundover -- 5/8" radius -- on the sides of the baffle, for a recessed woofer with an internal 45 degree chamfer that went clear to the inside sidewall, and for a 1" insertion depth for the chrome bars that I added (see pic). While likely unnecessary, I did use 3/8" solid oak hardwood dowel inserts into which I screwed the coarse-thread driver mounting screws. After shellac sealing, high build primer, paint, and spray-on clear coat the finish was indistinguishable from the mdf of the rest of the enclosure. I received numerous compliments on the finish at InDIYana 2013, where the pictures are from, with some calling them their "favorite look" of the event. Thanks to all again for your helpful input. By the way, the speakers are Paul Carmody's Hitmakers modified from a rear to a front port. My son is using them as Paul intended, as near-field studio monitors, and we're (my son and I) very pleased with the sound.

David

[timw]

Re: 1 1/8" Industrial Particleboard for front baffles. Any Experience?

Thanks guys for the leads.

I found the following product datasheet for Hardifloor. Its modulus of elasticity (stiffness) is 1.0 Mpsi, close to that of Baltic Birch plywood.

Baltic Birch Plywood.................. 1.1 Mpsi (Modulus of Elasticity)
Hardifloor...................................1.0 Mpsi
Medium Density Fiberboard...... 0.45 Mpsi

http://www.jameshardie.com/pdf/hardi...EM-8-15-08.pdf

[Whitneyville1]

Re: 1 1/8" Industrial Particleboard for front baffles. Any Experience?

Sturd-i-floor is LP's brand of (as far as I can tell) the same product. CanLumProdCorp (my cousin's husband works for them) makes the same thing. I think GP does too. You can understand why they do. All of it I've ever seen has a kind of "pebbly" finish to it. I think that pdf is as much information as the tiny brochure you get on the stuff at the store. James Hardie isn't the greatest with providing information on any of their products. Getting information on their siding is like pulling chicken's molars. (What underlay, how much does it weigh per square, etc., etc., etc.)

[jmc207]

Re: 1 1/8" Industrial Particleboard for front baffles. Any Experience?

I found this link to a PDF: http://www.jameshardie.com/pdf/broch...EM-8-15-08.pdf
Not a lot of info in it.

[timw]

Re: 1 1/8" Industrial Particleboard for front baffles. Any Experience?

Hardi-Floor is 1 3/8" plywood/PB/plywood sandwich we used for mobile home floors..... It has so much resin in it, it's "waterproof"......It's porch-and-deck grey colored epoxy(?) painted. It contains so much glue, you should cut it with a Hardi-Board siding blade and it looks like you're cutting ferrous metal from the sparks. It weighs over 200 lbs per 4X8 sheet, so if you want dense and "dead" it's your ticket....
One of many examples of why I can't ever be a landlord.

Can you provide a link or additional words for searching? I Googled for the "Hardi-Floor" and could not find relavent information. I'm definitely interested in the material, as MDF and Baltic Birch Plywood are not the optimum final answers to loudspeaker panel construction.

[Whitneyville1]

Re: 1 1/8" Industrial Particleboard for front baffles. Any Experience?

Hardi-Floor is 1 3/8" plywood/PB/plywood sandwich we used for mobile home floors and I've helped replace old rotten sub-flooring and wood flooring in my uncle's rent houses with. It has so much resin in it, it's "waterproof". Some HD's carry it, others don't right here in town. It's porch-and-deck grey colored epoxy(?) painted. It contains so much glue, you should cut it with a Hardi-Board siding blade and it looks like you're cutting ferrous metal from the sparks. It weighs over 200 lbs per 4X8 sheet, so if you want dense and "dead" it's your ticket. Router bits might not last long in the stuff, I haven't tried it. When I say "waterproof", my uncle had a tenant that did a "midnight move-out" and left a stopped-up toilet overflowing for three days. The hardwood floors and subfloors in the rooms adjacent to the bathroom were ruined, but the Hardi-Floor (or Sturdi-Floor is another brand) was fine. Guess what we replaced the ruined floors with? Either of these have super dense centers.
One of many examples of why I can't ever be a landlord.

[dstmbgh]

Re: 1 1/8" Industrial Particleboard for front baffles. Any Experience?

Do you remember where you purchased it?

To answer my own question, just found this item on Home Depot's website: http://www.homedepot.com/buy/1-1-8in...l#.UOxW5-TBGSo

I have HD locally. I think this item would be better for my purposes. With larger roundovers the less-dense center of particleboard could contribute to chip-out. Thanks for the suggestion.

[williamrschneider]

Re: 1 1/8" Industrial Particleboard for front baffles. Any Experience?

I get my 1-1/8" MDF stair tread at Lowe's. It's long enough for a baffle in a floor-stander.

[dstmbgh]

Re: 1 1/8" Industrial Particleboard for front baffles. Any Experience?

If thickness is what you want, I'd use 1-1/8" MDF stair tread instead of particle board.

I've done a couple of speakers with 1-1/8" thick MDF baffles, painted black. The material looks nice.

Yes, the appeal is the thickness, not that it's particleboard. I've not seen 1-1/8" stair tread made of mdf. Do you remember where you purchased it?

[williamrschneider]

Re: 1 1/8" Industrial Particleboard for front baffles. Any Experience?

If thickness is what you want, I'd use 1-1/8" MDF stair tread instead of particle board.

I've done a couple of speakers with 1-1/8" thick MDF baffles, painted black. The material looks nice.

[johnnyrichards]

Re: 1 1/8" Industrial Particleboard for front baffles. Any Experience?

I have been looking at it for awhile. I used some PB stair treads before, same thickness. It works.

[TN Allen]

Re: 1 1/8" Industrial Particleboard for front baffles. Any Experience?

I've used quite a bit of this material for baffles and a few other projects, for example, it's inexpensive material for trial runs for CNC tool paths, but rarely results in a suitable surface for finish work.

The exterior surface is dense and the particles do appear small, however, the interior is not as dense and the particles are looser, resulting in chipping out, however, the holes left are easily filled with Durham's Rock Hard. I've also turned several waveguides using stacked particle board, again, chipping out can be a small problem, but filling is easy. One serious problem is that this material expands like a sponge in water.

[Chris Roemer]

Re: 1 1/8" Industrial Particleboard for front baffles. Any Experience?

I always use P.B., but I always paint my boxes (flat white, with a brush). P.B. routers quite cleanly. I rabbet and Titebond all my joints. Never use screws except for driver mounting.

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Re: 1 1/8" Industrial Particleboard for front baffles. Any Experience?

i have not, but you should give it a try and report back.