Postby nervewrecker » October 22nd, 2012, 9:49 pm
Didnt take pics, was a quick thing for a pair of XXX 8". Nothing fancy, its what the owner wanted.
I did it just like how I described this one for the op. If the owner carpets the thing it will look almost stock.
I know I promised the op some tips so here goes:
Spray the area with some water (a fine mist), spread the foil and press it out with your hand to be as smooth as you can get it (a winkle here or there aint no biggy). The water holds the foil in place.
Use pieces of tape to hold the pieces of foil together and run some tape along all over lapping areas.
Mask off more than where needed and mask off the floor with some news papers (in case a few drops fall anywhere or runs).
Cut up some pieces of mat to fit the area. One big piece could do the flat area and some smaller pieces for the curved ones. One big piece can work in the curve but you will have to make some cuts in it and lap it. This step can be done before you lay your foil. It tends to lave a lot of hair's (fibers all over so have your hand brush on standby or a vacume).
I know my mixture in coke can measurements lolz. Mix about 2/3 coke can of resin with approx 8 drops of mkep, stir well. You should have a good 15 minutes to operate there if place warm, if it rainy / overcast use 12 drops. (dosent have to be that amount, you can mix more but average the ratio). To do that entire area you might need 3 times that.
Pass a little cooking oil on the foil before you lay resin, it helps to get the foil off easy (thats up to you).
In a ventilated area, start to brush on your resin. Lay your mat on top and you can try to lay a next layer of resin on top that. Now to push out that air, use the front of the brush to press them out, do it fast like you busting up ice with your ice pick to put down some beers.
The mat might not want to go down flat as the surface kinda curved so as you keep doing that with the brush it kind of 'stretches' out. Remember the mat made up of fibers locked together, they kind of loosen out.
I usually start laying on a next layer on top that one time to save time. Some may have different opinions on that but I never do more than 2 layers at a time. This way you dont have left over resin.
Leave to cure, park in sun if possible.
You can now take a marker and mark off where you will be cutting. Remove and time to cut.
I cut with a dremel but a strategy I develop is to put it under a hose at an angle so it filled with water up to the line where you want to cut. You can shift and change positions but make sure the line always have water on it. Be careful with your dremel and water btw, you dont want it splashing in your dremel.
The trick is to keep the water running slow while you cut because once you cut through the water is going to start to leak out.
By doing this you keep the dust down.
Add more layers, 8 - 10 might be enough. I add cement, sand or metal to line the insides on mine with. But that is a next story. I use a 50:50 cement : resin mixture and close to the same with sand and metal filings. It builds mass but needs approx twice the amount of mkep, very useful in filling creases and spaces.
Now you want to make the face. Cut your baffle, counter sunk etc if you want. You can mount the sub in it and offer it up at the angle you want and make sure you pleased and it can fit etc.
Remove sub and either glue some pieces of wood to it and the fiberglass wall or drill through it and put screws. I prefer the hot glue.
Your baffle should be firmly in place now. Make sure it protrudes a bit so the cloth can pull over it properly.
Now the exciting part...pulling fleece / cloth. You can get a half yard of "jersey cloth" for approx $5.00 by yuffe's. That is all you will need. I use the glue gun to pull the cloth.
Start from one end, put a drop of hot glue and press the cloth unto it (hot glue is hot ok...so be warned). On the opposite end now, pull the cloth firm, put a drop of glue on the side and rest the cloth to it, it should hold. Now tackle another point perpendicular to that so now you have 4 points. Pull the in between pieces but always try to tackle the opposite ends. You should get a firm face.
Apply some resin to the cloth, let it cure, add some mat, 1 layer might do. Dont put resin on the speaker opening ok, you can cut into it and slosh around some resin in there to seal the edges now and cut off the excess cloth on the sides. The excess hard pieces can be grind off with an angle grinder or if you did it neat, the dremel again. Same technique with the water.
Apply some more layers to the face or if you up to it, do it inside. I add a few layers around the inside around the sub baffle.
If you prefer an mdf face, simply cut it, router the edge that goes by the hump (its slat so you will have to curve it), glue the face to the enclosure and pull the cloth over that.
Last edited by
nervewrecker on October 22nd, 2012, 10:37 pm, edited 2 times in total.
will update post once i begin.. 
an so far this seems to be headed in d right direction....
