Well, the other day I ended up picking up some MDF - and put some of my skills to work.. didnt do any during pics - when I work with wood I sort of hate stopping to take pictures..

Cost of 3/4" 4'x8' = $27

Had it cut in half at the store, took about a quarter of it to make this enclosure - hell of alot cheaper then buying some icky box off the shelf..!


But this is what I ended up with!














Sitting at .82 cubic inches, for a sealed 10" subwoofer (Did about 10% over to account for baffling and stuffing). This will be downfiring, the base is still hanging free until the sub comes in, then I will router it out to fit onto a base.. then I'll be adding a base/shelf into the truck behind the drivers seat to secure and lock everything down.

For carpeting - I've never done it before, and havent ever looked for where to buy it, so when I get home from work I'll start searching around to see what I can find. I was half tempted to rubberize this thing too -laughs-


Also had ordered up some Acousta-Stuf Polyfill
Parts-Express.com:Acousta-Stuf Polyfill 1 lb. Bag | sound dampening sound polyfill fiber enclosures enclosure dampening cabinet_damping
a 1 lb bag of it - only takes about half a pound to fill this enclosure - this is the best polyfill you can get for audio speakers... talked with dozens of people in the past and always wanted to use it for something - but never had a reason until now!




Keep hanging around! I'll be building this over the next week give or take.. not much time to myself thanks to work, but Progress will be made! Using it as a learnign idea - as I have never done this before, and figured theres a first time for everything :-D





Footnote:
I remember now why I always hated Effing industrial strength wood glue *Mutters as he attempts to clean off his fingers before work*

 

WOW!! I completely forgot you've got woodworking skills! lol. Looks GREAT!!!

 

NICE BOX! When i finished mine i used roll on herculiner and it came out great. Kinda crappy pics but you get the idea.

 

dang your wood working skills are very good like shane says

 

Thank ya'.. its been so long I almost felt like I didn't have it in me still until I laid out the piece and started drawing it out like a map - felt good.. I forgot how much I love working with wood like this.. going to be a fun project for once!



Anyways.. I have 3 days off net week.. 2 in a row, then a split day - will hopefully have more time to work on the inside cab area a bit - not too sure what my plans are, but once I pull the drivers seat out and start measureing and tinkering.. Ill figure out somethin nice and neat :-)

 

Just so you know I am Mike's younger brother (I was at the ranger rally near portland.. tall goofy kid with no shoes), and you guys don't know the story behind the wonders of the wood glue and his wood working ability... Lets just say, 90+ degree days you don't wear a shirt when you are outside for 12+ hours.... and putting down flooring, you need glue, and the best way to make sure it is a tight fit is using a rubber mallet and a board to slide flooring together (the base flooring under what you attach carpeting or hardwood floors to)....

Now most of you may not know but Mike does have chest hair, however when using the rubber mallet and striking towards you, the excess glue can shoot up and will ALWAYS land in hair, regardless of where it is, and there seems to always be more then just the amount you put down.

All I can remember is laughing as mike is screaming his normal unknown swear words as he pulls dried wood glue from his chest and leaving nice bald spots as well!


P.S. Sorry mike, they just had to know :)

 

LOL Hot dang bro! Yeah, very vivid memories at that!! Very.. very vivid memories! I vowed I will never touch subflooring again.. Will leave it to the new guys next time :-D


Update: Going to be pulling my truck into the indoor garage to get out of the weather tonight, will be taking measurements and drawing out some plans on how to build a stand and make sure everythign is secure properly - shoudl be fun!! Probably wont be doing any cutting tonight as I am just a tad too exhausted to be operating a skil saw, but expect some updates tomorrow since I have the day off :-D

 

Can't wait to see it finished. Make sure you put those measurements up here. I want to make a shelf too but I am just too lazy to go out and measure.

 

Update:



Ordered up my JBL GTO7001 Amplifier...
JBL Car & Marine Audio


Hopefulyl will get here by the end of next week.. but due to the Monday holiday - chances are it wont be in until monday the following week :-(

 

Looks great Mike, nice work. Feels a lot better to build it yourself then buy one already done doesn't it?......even if it costs more. lol keep us updated!

 

Did a whole lot more then expected tonight//this mornign actually, its 7:46 AM - crap, didnt realize I had been outside doing stuff for so long!


My goal for tonight: Build a deck frame I can set the main shelf board onto and secure - without drilling holes in the body, and using all existing mounts.


Took a bit of a while, frustrating trying to measure out crap and get it all working.. but here is a few pictures of the progress - this is fulyl removeable without damaging anything interior.. and very secure too


















My clean slate to work with!






A few pictures of roughly where I plan to have it sit - enough room under it for the Amp - and the compression of the sub will help move the air around the amp to keep it cool.











Couple wooden brackets to start building onto:





And where I am sitting at right now - Will pull it apart and countersink all the screws and brush it up to make it all look good. Long day at work followed by alot more hours in teh shop then I had planne don.




The back main base for the shelf is prepped - then I get to start working on the box area itself... Will probably go ahead and bolt it through the floor once its all in and done. Will make it look all pretty once its roughed up and functional =) Stay tuned! Will probably go ahead and get some sleep.. then will start it up once again.


I have lots of tiem on my hands, most of the stuff I have ordered wont be here till later this week, so any little Idea I have extra I can go ahead and take the time to do.

 

Looks real good man can't wait to see it finished. Might want to rethink those legs though.....for some reason I can just see something rolling into one and snapping it. Maybe either something stronger than MDF or a solid piece across there.

 

LOl, those were just cut to a size length so I had somethign to stand it on to take measurements LOL.. good gosh that would be stupid unsteady.. its going to be almost a full box all around there wrapped in 3/4" MDF with corner bracing and the base of it bolted to the truck..

I promise I wont use those composite decking scraps for legs

 

lol yea guess I should have figured that....

 

Woke up a little later then planned today - but began working on the actual lower box that will house the amplifier, and be the opening for the sub woofer downport.
















The plate closest to the outside door is actually oriented so it can be screwed and unscrewed by hand.. will be the main access for plugging things in - I will be routing out two round//square holes and tacking some small chicken wire style grid behind the opening so it can vent.. I will be doing the same for this on the front and the other side as well. Will allow proper airflow, and be protected from any debris or crap I have tossed into the back of the truck.



Tuesday is when my deliveries come in - ws waiting for them all day today - will be able to get stuff installed at that point =- Im jsut takign my sweet time triple measuring for every cut to make sure I do it right the first time.

I believe I will go ahead and rubberize the exterior of this too - I wouldnt mind carpeting it - but I have never done that, and dont want to muss it up and make it look like crap. If I dont like the rubberized part, I can always attempt to carpet over it eitehr way :-D SHoudl onyl run about 25 bucks in spray cans for rubber coating anyway =)

 

Coming along nicely...that new base looks a lot better than those sticks you had before lmao As far as the coating it took me about 2.5 cans to get a good 4 coats on mine but I cheated and only did the seams on the parts that were unexposed.

 

Just got everything front back and side all sanded out and smoothed up, test fit it all and it fits great - had to sink some screws down a little further.. but all in all its coming along nicely!


On a random note - the only war wound from this little project relates to almsot nothing dealing with the project! I was loosening the nut on my router.. there was a broken bit in it already.. and gave it a big oomph to loosen.. wrench came flying off and smacked me in the forehead - got a dandy split there that bled a bit.. doh! Oh well, 5 minutes later, with a bandaid on my forehead.. Im all set and ready or the next step :-D

 

 

wow. I think I need to make you make me my new box...

 

wow, this is realy nice. what kind of sub are you putting in there?

 

Just ordered up a quick Sony XS-L104P5B 10" 4-ohm Component Subwoofer for $49, since it was half off - has darn good stats in terms of wattage vs. decibal range. Just something to get me by for now - The amp though, is a JBL GTO7001 - getting something nice to drive the sub at least - and then down the road swap out to something a little higher quality on the subwoofer.

Sony Xplod XS-L104P5B 10" 4-ohm subwoofer at Crutchfield.com


JBL Car & Marine Audio

 

Looks good mike! Can't wait to hear it once everything gets delivered!

 

Mail Delivery!!!













Got the ports routed out - glued down for the main enclosure, waiting for it to dry before I sand it down and get it smoothed out - looks funky with a square base like that unprimed and such. Got the bigger diameter hoel cut into the lower box - plenty of space in between both for the sub to sit in, and having all the wire sorted out and such.


Next Step:

Dremel out ports on the lower box for air ventilation, and line them with fine mesh grill.. will keep the amp nice and cool under there due to the woofer pushing air around. Will be makign ports on all sides, probably two main oval//squarish ports on each main support.


Its coming along quite nicely - I have a bracket set in the back of the truck that this slides into, and then three screws are tightened down to secure it :-)

 

Update:


Waiting on paychecks sucks!!


I did, however, get my RCA cables, and 4 Gauge Kit in for running power and everything else to the amplifier - I will be running it under the vehicle and then up through the body mount location right to the amp - sheathing it in some split loom to help protect from weather and the like. Figured I might as well keep it out of the cab.. prevents any electrical noise distortions :-)


As far as where I have this planned:

I will be going ahead to get it carpeted, preferably in a matching gray/charcoal color - Watched a few videos and am fairly confident I know how to do it properly. Just waiting on the next weeks paycheck to scoot in and pick up some solvents and carpeting, and a batch of maybe 10-15 feet of 12gauge audio cable.. crutchfield has been out of stock on it for a bit, and I wouldnt mind having this all put together and working by next week.



My amplifier will be here on the 15th, everything is all ready for it - minus one last vent I will be cutting into the side of the mounting box... already have one slot cut, and a series of large drilled holes in the larger backing facing the drivers seat. Looks good so far!


Can't wait to get this done, wish I had another $100 lying around - but thanks to this check being a bills check, Im pretty strapped for cash as it is, lol.

 

I know the feeling...I am seriously wanting to replace my sub before it flys from the basket lol but just not in the budget. Hoping my nerfs will sell this week and I can get something. As far as the material for covering might want to check your local fabric/craft store soemtimes they have materials that work well for boxes and are much more reasonable.