Fiberglass Speaker Pod.....

[Wayne Pennell]

I am going to attempt to make a fiberglass speaker pod this off season. I have NO experience with this sort of thing but am willing to attempt. Is there anything tricks or tips I should be aware of?

My first step is to cut the MDF plywoof to fit on the step where the speakers will be located. Position the speakers where I want them and with a glue gun and strips of wood position the speaker rings in the correct location. Cut fiberglass cloth to size and stretch over box and staple to desired form. Mix fiberglass resin and apply with paint brush...let cure for roughly 1/2 hour or until tacky. Apply second layer of resin and let cure completely. Sand to desired finish and paint to desired color and add clear coat. Install speakers and wire. Is there anything I am missing or something else to be aware of?

Wayne

[Chris]

Use something like Starboard or Coosa. At a bare minimum an exterior plywood. MDF is like a sponge. No amount of encapsulation will prevent it from absorbing moisture and sweling up.

[jhenrie]

whar chris said , no mdf in the boat.

[Perlmudder]

Jassman has a super cool pair for his nor tech. maybe he will post some pics!

[insanity]

Check out www.the12volt.com, there is a lot of speaker box fabrication done over there.

There are two things I would change with your plans.
1) No MDF, not in the boat. Get a good plywood to use for your flat sections.
2) Use a soft, stretchy fabric to wrap around everything to get your shape. Fiberglass mat doesn't stretch, it tears. I've used just about everything, old bed sheets, flannel shirts, fleece. Go to the fabric store and find something, usually fleece works pretty good.

After you have it stretched and stapled, then resin the fabric and let it cure. Then build-up from the INSIDE with fiberglass mat to get your thickness. Depending on what type/size (subs or highs) of speakers your putting in will dictate the thickness. You don't want to add glass to the outside, it will be a ***** to get flat and smooth, do the build-up from the inside of the enclosure. After that you can sand the outside and do whatever body work you need to do to get it smooth.

[Wayne Pennell]

So no MDF? The pod will not be exposed to water really at all...few drops here and there or some leaking from the cover but thats about it.

As far as building from the inside....not sure it will be possible as it is only for a pair of JL Audio 7.7 component speakers. The box will be relatively small. I have attached of few pics of the idea I am going for and on the same boat. Only difference is the speakers will be in center rather than outside.

How hard will it be to get a finished surface with glass on the outside? Bondo be necessary? Gel coat be necessary?

[Knot 4 Me]

If you glass on the outside you will have to use filler to get a smooth finish for paint or gel. Any amount of water with MDF is too much.

[insanity]

So no MDF? The pod will not be exposed to water really at all...few drops here and there or some leaking from the cover but thats about it.

As far as building from the inside....not sure it will be possible as it is only for a pair of JL Audio 7.7 component speakers. The box will be relatively small. I have attached of few pics of the idea I am going for and on the same boat. Only difference is the speakers will be in center rather than outside.

How hard will it be to get a finished surface with glass on the outside? Bondo be necessary? Gel coat be necessary?

It can be done, but it will be a lot of work and fiberglass is not that easy or fun to try and sand smooth. Gel or paint, that's up to you. If your gel is still bright white, I would probably gel, wet sand and buff after you got it smooth. It will be a good winter project, that's for sure.

[Chris]

I put up MDF shelves in my basement. In a week they were swollen. And I have a dehumidifier down there.

If you use some of these new polymer boards, you can skip all the fiberglassing.

If you want something like the compound curves shown there, you're probably going to have to build a plug from foam and coat it with putty, then gel. After finishing to a mirror finish, you would pull a mold from it.

[Wayne Pennell]

Check out www.the12volt.com, there is a lot of speaker box fabrication done over there.



Thanks for posting this link, there was/is alot of reading that can be had on this site. I found the link below the most useful though and will be following it as close as possible. Most of there projects are bigger than mine but the steps remain the same. I will post pics of my progress.

http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp~TID~74519~PN~1~TPN~1

[Tony]

Call Parts Express, they sell speaker grill cloth in bulk (or at least used to). I've built a handfull of enclosures with some fairly exotic curves back in my car audio days, Ive tried it all and grill cloth works the best for the initial shell. Cut two sets of rings for each speaker, beveling the edges of the rings on a router table helps for not tearing the stretched grill cloth. After you stretch the cloth over the first ring brad nail the seccond ring on top of the bottom ring with the cloth stretched over it then streth the cloth tight and staple to the base surfance to make the curves. This way when the glasswork is done, you remove the top ring and its a little easier to sand down any excessive glass buildup to the exact mounting surface. Other than that the above posts cover it, if your doing this for a woofer, calculating airspace needs to be considered.