Exodus Maelstrom X 18" 8.5 cu ft sealed

[GranteedEV]

here's what I'm about to go pick up from home depot

8 x 10-24 T-nuts 5/16" depth
3 x 36" x 24" cuts
3 x 36" x 21" cuts
3 x 21 x 24" cuts
PVA Wood Glue
Silicon Acrylic Caulk
10 Clamps

That should suffice for just the woodworking part I'm thinking but there's gotta be something I'm forgetting.

 

[dkane360]

Are you having them cut it? Their cuts arent too precise lol.

 

[GranteedEV]

Are you having them cut it? Their cuts arent too precise lol.

I'm thinking of having them cut it bigger than necessary. I'm really hitting a mental block on how to most efficiently use MDF. Do you think I could get 10 or 11 cu ft sealed off of two 48 x 96 sheets? with different dimensions, but i still need some bracing too.

Keep in mind it's also an 18" driver so at least the baffle should probably be 20" wide or so

 

[dkane360]

I'm no good with math so I can't help you there. If you are getting them to cut it bigger then necessary, make sure you have an easy and accurate way of trimming the pieces down to size. I have learned from my mistakes

 

[GranteedEV]

I'm no good with math so I can't help you there. If you are getting them to cut it bigger then necessary, make sure you have an easy and accurate way of trimming the pieces down to size. I have learned from my mistakes

heh.... the list seems fine right?

 

[Swerd]

10 or 11 cu ft

18" driver

I think you forgot the audiophile-grade forklift.

 

[dkane360]

heh.... the list seems fine right?

It looks right, but I would wait for a more experienced DIY'er to chime in. I never completed my project lol.

I know, i'm totally useless

 

[darien87]

Polyfill for the inside, but I don't know if you can get that at Home Depot.

 

[GranteedEV]

Polyfill for the inside, but I don't know if you can get that at Home Depot.

That, and various other stuff i will get later. the main thing is the woodworking right now. I went and picked this stuff up... squeezed the cutouts onto two sheets of MDF as planned! The home depot guy made suffiecient seeming cuts, although we'll see later on if there's any issues. I'm kind of anxious to cut the driver hole in the baffle... this beast of a driver has been begging me for it!

So anyways if i use these 21 x 24 x .75, 24 x 36 x .75, and 21 x 36 x .75 cuts, i should have internal volume of something like 19.5 in x 22.5 in x 34.5 in = 8.75 cu ft for a Q of .66 or so. I also plan on adding some a layer of ply to the baffle.. i think that should help the t-nut teeth really sink in. I need to go into the furnace room and see how thick that ply is. Either way it should be fine, I think i've got enough leeway... a .707 Q for reference would be 7 cu ft

The polyfill should help as well, i'm thinking 50% fill or so.

My first step before I start is to design the internal bracing so that it interlocks and functions properly.

 

[gregz]

I did a few early projects with cuts made at Home Depot, and I had a LOT of coarse filing to do to make it all fit together! Their cuts were straight, but they weren't true - there was a very slight random angle to each one. Nothing that can't be fixed with blood, sweat and tears.

I still have a speaker box in my house that I made in college from 1/2 MDF. That's all that was available in the small town I lived in at the time, so I used a tonnage of glue and everything heavy in my apartment and glued them together to make 1" composite sheets. It actually worked too. Heh.

Good luck, and with the size of that beast you're definitely not going to want to neglect cross bracing and possibly reinforcing ribs.

 

[highfigh]

That, and various other stuff i will get later. the main thing is the woodworking right now. I went and picked this stuff up... squeezed the cutouts onto two sheets of MDF as planned! The home depot guy made suffiecient seeming cuts, although we'll see later on if there's any issues. I'm kind of anxious to cut the driver hole in the baffle... this beast of a driver has been begging me for it!

So anyways if i use these 21 x 24 x .75, 24 x 36 x .75, and 21 x 36 x .75 cuts, i should have internal volume of something like 19.5 in x 22.5 in x 34.5 in = 8.75 cu ft for a Q of .66 or so. I also plan on adding some a layer of ply to the baffle.. i think that should help the t-nut teeth really sink in. I need to go into the furnace room and see how thick that ply is. Either way it should be fine, I think i've got enough leeway... a .707 Q for reference would be 7 cu ft

The polyfill should help as well, i'm thinking 50% fill or so.

My first step before I start is to design the internal bracing so that it interlocks and functions properly.

If 7ft³ will give you a Q of .707, why do you want to make it larger? Q of .66 won't sound good for much.

With panels that large, it will need a lot of bracing and you should be able to brace it effectively without adding much to the total internal volume needed.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

 

[GranteedEV]

If 7ft³ will give you a Q of .707, why do you want to make it larger? Q of .66 won't sound good for much.

With panels that large, it will need a lot of bracing and you should be able to brace it effectively without adding much to the total internal volume needed.

I don`t like wimpy subs that aren`t taller than the couch? In fact I would have made it 48" tall instead of 36 but that would have probably required one more horizontal cross brace and i couldn't squeeze that onto 2 MDF sheets. 36" was too small... my goal was a Q of .55-.59 or so but it wasn't a big deal. Anything between .55 and .7 will be perfectly fine by me.

Re: bracing - there will be four cross-braces at the very least. Two x, one y, one z. i just need to sketch it up so it works out properly.
Re: pictures - patience, mon ami. No point just posting pictures of MDF panels.... once i really get to work i'll give you the goods.

 

[Swerd]

36" tall … 2 sheets of MDF!! Any larger and you'll need a building permit.

If it doesn't work well as a subwoofer, remove that 18" driver, enlarge the hole a bit, add some paint and roofing shingles… and you'll have a fine doghouse. If you have small dogs, you could probably make it a two-story doghouse .

 

[GranteedEV]

36" tall … 2 sheets of MDF!! Any larger and you'll need a building permit.

If it doesn't work well as a subwoofer, remove that 18" driver, enlarge the hole a bit, add some paint and roofing shingles… and you'll have a fine doghouse. If you have small dogs, you could probably make it a two-story doghouse .

Or flip it over, put some wheels in, and use it as a go-kart! A very aerody-not go-kart.

 

[GranteedEV]

EDIT: Yikes hueg pictures, i didn't bother to check the resolution! I'll just link to them and let your browsers shrink it
Got the baffle hole cut out. It fits!
http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/9236/dscn0554t.jpg
Downstairs kitchen is in for some hell!
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/2210/dscn0556w.jpg
used mom's sewing machine table as a cutting table. I hope she doesn't notice the nick
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/68/dscn0557ff.jpg
gotta clean up some sawdust... but damn that driver is pretty.
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/310/dscn0560i.jpg
The interior part of the baffle is some oak (?) ply that was lying around, and the outside is MDF. Why I cut the corners is beyond me... it'll be invisible on the inside.
http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/3253/dscn0563x.jpg

-not having a table saw or router sucks. The jig saw ain't the same thing! The only other thing I'm going to do for today is later glue the baffle together and throw some weight on it.

On a side note, as a total "doh!" moment, I just realized my model for this was totally wrong the .707 Q at 7 cu ft was for the first generation of this driver. For this generation, I could get a .707 total Q with just ~4.5 cu ft or so.

Not a big deal mind you... Even with a roughly ~.58 Q, over-excursion won't be a problem. I'm not going to bother with polyfill anymore though. Line the sides maybe, but not polyfill. I don't mind the lower Q at all!

 

[GranteedEV]

last picture before i call it a night... know how pro amps are heavy right? Well a 55lb pro amp on top of an old crt stand on top of 3 conrete slabs on top of a panel of MDF should do the trick of pressing the baffle together, right?

 

[lsiberian]

EDIT: Yikes hueg pictures, i didn't bother to check the resolution! I'll just link to them and let your browsers shrink it
Got the baffle hole cut out. It fits!
http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/9236/dscn0554t.jpg
Downstairs kitchen is in for some hell!
http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/2210/dscn0556w.jpg
used mom's sewing machine table as a cutting table. I hope she doesn't notice the nick
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/68/dscn0557ff.jpg
gotta clean up some sawdust... but damn that driver is pretty.
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/310/dscn0560i.jpg
The interior part of the baffle is some oak (?) ply that was lying around, and the outside is MDF. Why I cut the corners is beyond me... it'll be invisible on the inside.
http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/3253/dscn0563x.jpg

-not having a table saw or router sucks. The jig saw ain't the same thing! The only other thing I'm going to do for today is later glue the baffle together and throw some weight on it.

On a side note, as a total "doh!" moment, I just realized my model for this was totally wrong the .707 Q at 7 cu ft was for the first generation of this driver. For this generation, I could get a .707 total Q with just ~4.5 cu ft or so.

Not a big deal mind you... Even with a roughly ~.58 Q, over-excursion won't be a problem. I'm not going to bother with polyfill anymore though. Line the sides maybe, but not polyfill. I don't mind the lower Q at all!

Get irfanview and use it to compress the pictures for you. It's the free and does the job very well.

A table saw is probably not the best thing for a one man crew on a panel. I suggest a straight edge jig and a circular saw.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=25134&filter=self clamping straight edge

Saves me a ton of time and is very easy to use. make sure you get good blades(Forrest thanks highfigh!) and bits(holbren.com)

Don't forget a good first aid kit and speed dial for 911.

 

[lsiberian]

That, and various other stuff i will get later. the main thing is the woodworking right now. I went and picked this stuff up... squeezed the cutouts onto two sheets of MDF as planned! The home depot guy made suffiecient seeming cuts, although we'll see later on if there's any issues. I'm kind of anxious to cut the driver hole in the baffle... this beast of a driver has been begging me for it!

So anyways if i use these 21 x 24 x .75, 24 x 36 x .75, and 21 x 36 x .75 cuts, i should have internal volume of something like 19.5 in x 22.5 in x 34.5 in = 8.75 cu ft for a Q of .66 or so. I also plan on adding some a layer of ply to the baffle.. i think that should help the t-nut teeth really sink in. I need to go into the furnace room and see how thick that ply is. Either way it should be fine, I think i've got enough leeway... a .707 Q for reference would be 7 cu ft

The polyfill should help as well, i'm thinking 50% fill or so.

My first step before I start is to design the internal bracing so that it interlocks and functions properly.

Use rockwool if you want to really get the best performance. http://www.atsacoustics.com/item--Roxul-AFB--1003.html is what I use and I love the stuff.

 

[GranteedEV]

Get irfanview and use it to compress the pictures for you. It's the free and does the job very well.

I did, it`s just i had a mental lapse with the first batch!