Building another new sub!

greyford1979

Well it looks like I might be selling my Dayton sub and the enclosure real soon so I started building a new sub today. It's gonna be close to the same dimensions as the old one. I tried the new driver I bought out in the enclosure and it sounds amazing, even cleaner and deeper than the Dayton:eek::eek: Couldn't pass it up after hearing it, especially being new and my friend letting it go for very cheap. Main reason I decided on a new sub was because I use this mostly for HT and the new driver has a higher xmax. I will be tuning the new sub at 15 Hz, the old one was tuned at 17 Hz after I was initially going to tune it at 16Hz. Now that my fiance let me have my own room for the HT:D:confused:, I'm gonna make it a gloss black to match the rest of the furniture. Eventually I'm going with more power for this one. I was going to post some pics already, but I dropped one of the cut pieces and smashed my shin:eek::o:( I wasn't in the mood to take any pics after that lol. Can't wait to have it finished, spending more than 3 days on it this time:p

greyford1979

I was able to take some pics of what I have done so far. I wanted to keep the enclosure at the same volume as the old one, but I also wanted to add some more bracing this time. So I ended up making it a little larger. Still have to add the outer baffle, the top, and the port. I wanna flush mount the amp and the port flare but I still don't have a new router yet, so I will see.:(

greyford1979

Well I have made a little more progress. I glued the second front baffle on. Yes I used weights to apply pressure instead of wood clamps again lol:biggrin: Also have the port finished. However you will notice I had to notch out part of the main brace because I cut out the wrong sized hole for the port tube in the brace:redface::frown: Already had it glued in so couldn't take it back out to make the proper sized hole. But you can't see it with the speaker in anyways so no worries lol. The length was too long for the box so I ran it upwards for the proper length to get the tune I wanted. Next I will Glue the top on and start working on the grill. And also sanding and prepping for paint.

zarrdoss

nice work! what are you going to do for a finish?

greyford1979

zarrdoss wrote: »

nice work! what are you going to do for a finish?

Thanks! Would be going a lot smoother if I would've bought a new router. I'm going with a high gloss black finish this time. Have my own room for the HT now and the rest of the furniture has that high gloss, black piano type finish to it so figured I would match the sub. We'll see how it turns out, gonna take a while so that I can do it right. I'm using magnets for the grill so that there will be no visible holes for the grill on the baffle. I tried them out already to see how strong they are, these tiny magnets were attracted to each other through a 3/4 inch piece of wood:eek: Hope it turns out alright, don't want to have to refinish it after:frown: Soon I will start building my friend a sub as well. His is going to be a 12 and I'm going stealth with the build and making it an end table(has to make his gf happy:rolleyes:)

greyford1979

A little more progress. The top is glued on and I have to sand the body filler so that I can start spraying the sealer and primer. In the front on the baffle you can see on the 4 corners where the filler is. Those are where I put the magnets for the grill, won't see them once it's painted:biggrin:

Topper

which sub you gonna be using?

greyford1979

Topper wrote: »

which sub you gonna be using?

I'm using a brand new RE Audio sub. My friend had one that he wasn't gonna use. I had never heard an RE sub till I tried it out in my enclosure. Didn't think it was gonna sound as good as the Dayton I had in there, but as clean as the Dayton sounds, the RE sounded even better:eek::biggrin:

Topper

Cool! Which model re sub? And what size again? And what amp?

greyford1979

Topper wrote: »

Cool! Which model re sub? And what size again? And what amp?

It's the SXX 15. For now I'm gonna drive it with my Bash 300 that I have. But I will buy a more powerful amp for it eventually. It still sounds good tho because it has a little bit of a higher efficiency.

I sprayed a coat of primer today so that I could see where I still needed some filler and any high spots that need a little more sanding. Hopefully will have it sanded and a few more coats of primer tomorrow.

greyford1979

Hmmm...I was thinking today, I might only go with gloss on the top and then go with a satin on all the sides. Would be a lot less time consuming then doing the whole thing in high gloss and I think it would look pretty cool. Any thoughts?

fatpiggy

Looking real good greyford,
Nice job.Did you cut the panels out yourself or get a shop to cut them for you.Very neat job.I would go all black satin for the top and sides and gloss for the front where the speaker mounts.I was thinking gloss black for my project , but as brought to my attention black gloss really shows up the dust and scratches Very hard to keep clean .The front isnt so much of an issue as it usauly is hidden by the speaker grill.Are you going to put stuffing in the box. and paint the inside for a better seal.

Fatpiggy

zarrdoss

go for all high gloss or go home! lol

greyford1979

fatpiggy wrote: »

Looking real good greyford,
Nice job.Did you cut the panels out yourself or get a shop to cut them for you.Very neat job.I would go all black satin for the top and sides and gloss for the front where the speaker mounts.I was thinking gloss black for my project , but as brought to my attention black gloss really shows up the dust and scratches Very hard to keep clean .The front isnt so much of an issue as it usauly is hidden by the speaker grill.Are you going to put stuffing in the box. and paint the inside for a better seal.

Fatpiggy

Thank you! Yes I cut all the panels myself. I have already sealed the inside:biggrin: And yes I will be using some stuffing inside as well.

zarrdoss wrote: »

go for all high gloss or go home! lol

The other reason I'm thinking about painting it this way is because it will match the rest of the furniture in the room it's going into better since only the tops are high gloss. I don't know yet, I'm already getting impatient just after a week and 2 days of build time lol. Not looking forward to the wet sanding if I go for the all high gloss, it's a big box lol.

Topper

build looks great bud. Whats the size you decided to go with? \

only worry i got is the port size - you sure you won't run into port noise? looks a little small for a 15

greyford1979

Topper wrote: »

build looks great bud. Whats the size you decided to go with? \

only worry i got is the port size - you sure you won't run into port noise? looks a little small for a 15

It's 5 cubic ft. It's right around the same size as my other sub that I built. I have had no port noise issues with it and this one has the same size port. For the tune I went for I couldn't go any bigger because the length would have to be 3 times as long as the box lol.

fatpiggy

Keep it going greyford.You will have yourself a very nice sub.I wish I had your hand skills you are very talented.Looks like you have done your home work, well done.So when you going to build the massive towers for me.

Fat piggy

greyford1979

fatpiggy wrote: »

Keep it going greyford.You will have yourself a very nice sub.I wish I had your hand skills you are very talented.Looks like you have done your home work, well done.So when you going to build the massive towers for me.

Fat piggy

I'll get right on that lol

ecod123

Very nice work on the enclosure. I only wish I have the skills or courage to try out a DIY sub project. BTW, just curious for future references, what glue did you use for the enclosure and what type of paint would be suitable for your sub? I too would opt for high gloss.

Keep up the great work. Remember to update by way of pics.

greyford1979

ecod123 wrote: »

Very nice work on the enclosure. I only wish I have the skills or courage to try out a DIY sub project. BTW, just curious for future references, what glue did you use for the enclosure and what type of paint would be suitable for your sub? I too would opt for high gloss.

Keep up the great work. Remember to update by way of pics.

Thank you! I just use regular old normal wood glue. And as for the paint, from what I read for a high gloss paint job it's best to use a lacquer?? I'm definitely not a paint guru and could be wrong here lol. I'm sure there are people on here who could answer that question much better for you lol. But other than that you can really go for any kind of paint job on the sub that you want or think would look good. I have seen all types of finishes.

ecod123

greyford1979 wrote: »

Thank you! I just use regular old normal wood glue. And as for the paint, from what I read for a high gloss paint job it's best to use a lacquer??

Thanks, that's good to know. . . should I decide to start a DIY speaker project in the future.

greyford1979

Started spraying the black satin today:biggrin: I don't know why but on the corner you can see it looks like it's grey, but it is completely black. There isn't even any filler in that area. Shows up like that for some reason with the flash Did the same thing in the cutout for the speaker, which is also now black. Few more coats with some sanding in between to get a nice smooth finish:biggrin: I know, I know zardoss, I didn't go for the all high gloss lol. You can kind of see where the high gloss will be from the newspaper on the top. More pics to come.

Face

Did you seal the ends first?

Use either a 50/50 solution of wood glue and water or straight white glue.

greyford1979

Face wrote: »

Did you seal the ends first?

Use either a 50/50 solution of wood glue and water or straight white glue.

Yes all the ends are sealed, it looks perfect...just showed up like that with the flash lol.

ecod123

Ah, the enclosure is looking good. Interesting bit about the grey corners, probably from the different flash reflection angles. Await more progress pics. And thanks for letting us sharing in the progress of your DIY project.

greyford1979

I finished up with the satin today. It turned out real nice, much nicer than what you can tell by in the pic. The finish is as smooth as a baby's behind:biggrin: You can see on the top where it's still primer grey, that's the part that is going to be high gloss black. I also still just have to make the grill cover and add the spikes to the bottom. Then it will be ready for the amp and driver:biggrin:

greyford1979

Made some more progress this weekend. Sprayed the top with many coats. Don't ask me how many because I can't remember lol, a lot is all I know Also made the grill cover in between coats. Now I just have to do some more wet sanding and the polishing process for the top. Almost there:biggrin:

fatpiggy

You should have your sub up and running in no time.looking good Greyford.I hope the missus dosnt give you hell about the paint on the garage floor,Mine hates it when I strip down bike parts in the kitchen.:cool:

Fatpiggy

greyford1979

fatpiggy wrote: »

You should have your sub up and running in no time.looking good Greyford.I hope the missus dosnt give you hell about the paint on the garage floor,Mine hates it when I strip down bike parts in the kitchen.:cool:

Fatpiggy

Thanks! As long as no paint makes it into the main part of the house, she doesn't care where I paint lol. And yeah I can't wait to have it finished, hopefully dcmartinpc will be buying the old sub from me soon so I can make room for the new one:biggrin: I would love to just buy another amp and keep both, but that's not gonna fly with my fiance:frown: I saw you are rebuilding some polks so I hope your build is going well also. I'm sure you're feeling the same way as I am about finishing them

fatpiggy

Hi Greyford,Yes Im doing a restoration.Got some crossover parts today in the mail.I havnt started on the crossovers yet.I have just discovered it might be a good idea to replace one of the high filter capacitors that I dont have, so I will hold off till ia pair arrive.Im still in two minds as to what to do with the cabinets.Im going to see a local farmer that sells rare Australian hardwood timbers that we grow around here.He said he could do a really great deal for me.So Im going to look at some Tasmainia myrtle slabs that have seasoned later on in the week.Maybe I will do a two tone look lower half timber and the top half 2 pak panio black gloss similar to the Lsi series.I dont know yet Im not in any hurry.

Fatpiggy

greyford1979

Wow! I think that would be really cool if you go for the Australian hard wood. Definitely would be very unique and look awsome.