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FOAM subwoofer box, Fiberglass, Carbon Fiber, FTW


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thats still only 180 maybey with the subs?

jvc deck

stinger 1800 front

hc 2000 kinetic rear

2 runs of 1/0g

big 3/4

ct 60.4

2 ct 1400.1

ct EXO 15 d1

lots of deadner

type r comps front stage

6 kicker tweets rear stage

lots of great stuff

coming soon

ho alt

more bats

ct comps for front stage

more deadner

sweet amp rack

lots of L.E.D lights

new deck (thinking 80 prs, or flip out)

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My box with both 12s in it is like 200 or so.

I weighed the box empty on our shipping scale and it was 80 even. 13.75 x 35 x 27 something real close to that. Double front thats it.

Is a full sheet in it. Plus a little extra

98 Mustang GT
Singer 320
2 12" Incriminator Death Penalties
1 SAZ-2500dv2
2 D3100,1 D3400
2 Crescendo CZ-65
SAX-100.2

Door panels by Diablo Kustomz

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I'm hoping my box is gonna be 1 sheet. i really don't feel like buying 2. my box isn't that big but need a double front

jvc deck

stinger 1800 front

hc 2000 kinetic rear

2 runs of 1/0g

big 3/4

ct 60.4

2 ct 1400.1

ct EXO 15 d1

lots of deadner

type r comps front stage

6 kicker tweets rear stage

lots of great stuff

coming soon

ho alt

more bats

ct comps for front stage

more deadner

sweet amp rack

lots of L.E.D lights

new deck (thinking 80 prs, or flip out)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thats right, i am building my subwoofer box out of Fiberglass + Foam composite.

I got designs for a box for 2x SQ HDC3 12"s, and it was supposed to be built from 3/4" mdf, and would have weighted over 250 pounds.

HELL NOPE...

Too damn heavy for my lil 2.2 i4 engine...

so....

i am building a boat.

3/4" Pink insulation foam (3 sheets 4'x8') (Yep, from menards, for house insulation)

7.5oz fiberglass cloth (20yards)

2 gallons of Epoxy resin (because vinal and polyester resin eat foam)

5.7oz carbon fiber (2yards)

Now, before the flood of people hating on foam+ fiberglass chime in... if you have not worked with compostie materials then please go try it first, you will be pleasantly surprised :P

Ok, here we go:

I cut my pieces of foam down to the proper sizes for my box, the same as if it was MDF.

Once i had all my pieces cut, i layed up TWO layers of 7.5oz glass (15oz total) and as little epoxy resin as i could.

When that cured, i did the same to the backside.

Holy buckets you have no idea how freaking strong this stuff is!

I am able to support a Diamond d9 12d4 (roughly 30 or so lbs) on a 15.5"x28"x3.75" piece of foam with 30oz of fiberglass, with ~1/16" deflection.

(the 30lb sub was aproximatly 1ft from the table, so 30lb/ft of force caused less than 1/16" deflection)

Assembling the fiberglass pannels is easy as well, i simply epoxyed the joints, and reinforced with 2" fiberglass tape.

Thusfar my box is under 40lbs, and is freaking strong.

The only wood in my box is the front baffle, 3/4" pine, due to me f*** my holes the first time (i needed 11" diameter, i cut 11.25" so none of my screw holes would work), the top and bottom of the inner box (due to my need to have separate assembly pieces, i used 1/4" plywood to hold the inner ports together), and the mounting flanges on the edges of the box (because i cant screw every angle when it is in my trunk)

Videos of this project are posted to my youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/user/stertheder

So far, in all my two months of searching.. it appears that i am the only person IN THE WORLD to be using a foam subwoofer box....

Plenty of all fiberglass builds, plenty of fiberglassed mdf/plywood, very few carbon fiber/mdf boxes.. but absolutly nobody but me is using foam for my composite! :D one in a million? PSHH... one in a billion? hell no, JUST ME! (unless you know somone else with a foam box?)

Fiberglass foam composite is used heavily in the boat industry, they construct boat hulls with it!

It is also in the aerospace industry, for aircraft wings!

Surfboards are foam/fiberglass!

Very very few pro audio monitor cabs have been made with this technique, and it is quite successfull.

Common "You shouldnt do that because XXXX":

resonance: "the low mass means it will resonate!" Well.. yes... but no... the fs of the box is several hundred htz, due to the low mass pannels, and it doesnt flex due to the stiffness of the composite.

I dont understand why nobody else is doing this.... does anyone hear have any exp? :)

Rough conclusion: Fiberglass/foam composite box is 3x the price, 3x the work, and 1/5th the weight.

i was really intriged until i read the very last sentence...the whole time i was reading i was thinking man that seems like a lot of work and then you confirmed not only was it a lot of work, it was 3x the work AND 3x as expensive. is it really that hard to believe youre the only person doing this if thats the case? lol

I don't claim to know how to solve anything, I just practice the basics. There is nothing worse than wasting hours over a problem that should have taken 5 mins. Anything I post and claim to know, I know simply because of a lesson learned from a mistake on my part.

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