[scarce911]

Nice rings.. bout how much would u charge to do some for my 3 way set? 6.5, 5.25, 1".

[CaptainMorgan]

Right now I'd have to pass. I did these using my table engraver from work, which I've learned isn't really suited for the job. It has the precision (.001") but really isn't built with the power to go through anything that dense and deep. I had to do it in a ton of separate passes that took forever and I am a bit concerned it's too much wear and tear for a really expensive machine.

Now What I'm going to do is get the correct circle cutting jig for my router so I can do speaker rings no problem going forward. They aren't really that expensive. If you still need them by the time I get the jig I'd be glad to do it for basically just over my overhead.

[scarce911]

Understandable .. I am going to talk to someone at my job too.. pretty much just started a month ago at a cnc shop but they have a waterjet machine and laser cutter.. have a couple projects in mind if they allow personal stuff to be done.
I've been considering buying a circle jig myself.. but haven't pulled the trigger. I'll keep you in mind.

[CaptainMorgan]

Nice toys.

My job isn't primary that type of shop. It's mostly electronics integration for mobile television trailers, I just do the metal working for when we need to make our own monitor mounts (no welding though, just build out of aluminum angle or bar stock bolted in place) and also all the engraving work for the IO of the truck. The engraver is all me, my boss doesn't even know how to use it. I don't own it but it's essentially my personal toy to play with.

The real benefit to my job is the electrical experience I have. I make my own cables these days with professional grade stuff.

[VAtrepn]

Very cool project! Will be following...

[CaptainMorgan]

It's been a few days, but I haven't been idle. I spent a bunch of time on the speaker rings getting them ready to go, but tonight's pictures are of the fiberglass bases. I got my next round of supplies in the mail today, so it was time to get back on that end of the project.

I pulled the old component setup out of the front doors and did a bunch of test fitting to figure out how much I needed trimmed to get these to fit with the doors closing. I also drilled my holes ( and a few extras, accidentally did the holes that are just meant for the door's wiring harness to attach to the panel on the drivers side - doesn't really matter). Right now the bases are held on using the stock speaker screws, but will get long bolts threaded directly into the metal frame of the door in place of the factory screws under the grilles.









Anywhere that didn't have any effect on the door closing I didn't necesarily trim all the way back. I'll wait until I figure out speaker placement and am ready to glass the front half to figure out exactly how far back I want to go. I also still will sand away some excess resin at some point.

The next step is to tape up the ends of the dash that the doors close against. The stock grills have a section a couple of inches wide that goes along that edge. I'll tape it up with enough layers thick to give me the clearance I want and then with the doors closed I'll glass that surface to the rest of the base. I'll have to use trash bags and tape off everything from where I'm glassing along with fans for ventilating the fumes, but this way it'll fit perfect. That gets to happen sometime this weekend.

[Scooter-Man]

Looks fiberglass bases fit well. If you are building out from them (Which I can tell you are doing), why not seal of the opening within the door frame to create a sealed enclosure? or a port into the door frame?

[CaptainMorgan]

To seal them that would be far too small of an enclosure for that size speaker. To get the appropriate volume I would need to hack out a significant section of the door and replace it with the sealed new fiberglass piece. That would be ideal, but I wanted something I could drop into a new set of door panels when I find them.

I've debated doing a port, but for now I'll get the rest of this built and I could go back to that later pretty easily.

[CaptainMorgan]

I ran into a couple of stumbling blocks the past couple of days. The first is that I really can't install the woofers exactly how I had wanted. I'm going to have to settle for setting them back a bit and a little more off axis than I intended. It'll still work great, just a change of plans that I was forced into when I started sitting in the car and figuring out the speakers were in the way of fitting your legs in there too. I'm a skinny guy and I wouldn't have fit.

The other one is that I have had a hell of a time gluing dowels to mount the speaker rings in place. I tried super glue to get something that could cure quick while I held it in place, then I could reinforce with something better before glassing. That didn't work. Super glue didn't bond the wood to the resin at all. I also couldn't get most tapes to stick either for temporary holds. I finally found double sided mounting tape that held on well enough for all purpose Gorilla glue to do the job.

I also did use the rolled up paper trick to aim the tweeter rings. It looks really ghetto with how it's supported, but it works. It's definitely a cool trick.

For the pictures of the paper tube aiming trick don't worry about how the passenger side has a bend in the middle. Those pictures were taken the day after I actually aimed the tweeters. When the rings were mounted it was straight.

Now to the good stuff.

Here I am ready to start glassing the next step. Taped up the end of the dash really well, then 3 layers of mold release wax (just carnauba wax, but I got some mold release version in my last glass order since it was cheap). I screwed the pod base onto the door panel with a large trashbag in between, and then another bag over the door jam/carpet.



Then I glasses in the crevice between the door and the dash the best I could with the door closed. It didn't fill exactly into the corners, but is sealed up, strong, and fits great against the dash.







I'll clean those up plenty before final finishing. I'm still being liberal around the edges until I'm ready to wrap and glass to see what shape I'm really going for. Some reinforced filler in gaps, sanding where needed, and it'll work perfect closing against the dash.

Then I moved to aiming the tweeter pods. I knew I wanted them at the top to get them as close to head level as possible (and that the space was there). Here is the rolled paper tube method for aiming speakers. The point where the tubes meet is just a little in front of my face in the drivers seat. This is a single listener car, whenever other people are with me I never have the music up very loud. The paper method looks ghetto, but I just temporarily got it attached wherever I could and then when I needed a counterweight I grabbed whatever was in arms reach and found a glue bottle.











After I let that glue dry overnight I pulled the pieces carefully and added a couple more dowels and glue to reinforce. The placement in the car was tough with all the physical considerations, so I just needed it strong enough to hold it in place. Now it's good to go and I can move on to getting the woofers aimed. Ignore the white mounting tape in a few spots. I'll cut that off with a razor before I move on.





More to come soon. I want to get these totally glassed in the next few days.

[2ToneR/T]

so I have been enjoying reading and seeing your post here....looks awesome....I personally went another route....easier, sounds great, and alot less fiberglass..lol.....see whatcha think...[IMG][IMG][/IMG][/IMG]

these are Infinity Kappa's 69.3i's I got from Ronbo.....they match the Infinity Kappa 693.9i's in my rear package shelf....[IMG][/IMG]

[cdmccul]

Looking great!

[CaptainMorgan]

My old route was similar to that, but I'm pursuing a huge upgrade in SQ. My front speakers will blow that away, but they cost probably at least 5 times as much and are going to take a 350 dollar sound processor to run to their full potential.

[2ToneR/T]

HOLY CRAP! Nice!!! Well if I ever get to actually do what I want with sound in my car then I may catch up to u....but until I hit the lotto...lol....not happening....

[CaptainMorgan]

Ha, yeah I've been saving up for this for a long time. I've held on to my old car (only car I've ever owned) and just keep playing with it instead of having a car payment.

Just to give you an idea of the difference in setup those speakers you have are rated for 75W rms each. Between the woofer and tweeter that make up each door's component set in what I'm doing I'll have 300W rms each set. I don't intend to drive them anywhere close to max volume, but I want whatever power I'm at to never clip or go near distortion limits of the equipment. I'm all about SQ, but with a decent punch.

[2ToneR/T]

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!! should rock the F outta that Trep!!!!!!!!!