[samhain]

When I make the plunge I am just going to go for the 18" and be done with it. Not much more money. Bet it will still be amazing though

[zunglam]

Originally Posted by samhain

When I make the plunge I am just going to go for the 18" and be done with it. Not much more money. Bet it will still be amazing though

The money isn't a problem, fitting a 200+ litre box might be.
You never know, if my first build is a success, building another one will be much easier and cheaper as I now have all the tools, its pretty much driver, mdf and paint.

[Moonfly]

There are 18 inch drivers out there that will work on about 80 litres if your willing to import.

[zunglam]

Originally Posted by Moonfly

There are 18 inch drivers out there that will work on about 80 litres if your willing to import.

Which ones are these? What parameter should we be looking at the determines what box size the driver performs best at. Still to get my head round the whole winisd stuff. Thanks.

[zunglam]

Ok been really busy this week but got quite a bit done, made my first ever circle with a diy jig with the router and boy was it fun, what a brill tool.
Made my double baffle, stuck some panels together and installed T_nuts.
Whats left to do is put body filler on all the edges and then the fun begins with finishing the box.

I have bought my self an air compressor/spray gun and black metallic car paint and clear and it will be my first attempt at such a thing so wish me luck.

Theres been some really professional looking subs on here recently but here are more pics of my numpty effort so far.

[scottthehat]

That's look ruddy awesome mate. Would love to build something like that.

What size is the box .

[s_inman]

Great looking build! I have a 18 FI SSD build going at the moment, it will be interesting to see how they compare.

Stuart

[Moonfly]

Originally Posted by zunglam

Which ones are these? What parameter should we be looking at the determines what box size the driver performs best at. Still to get my head round the whole winisd stuff. Thanks.

That cabs coming on nicely . That particular driver is made by Mach5 Audio on the US, but there are others, though more expensive. Its a combination of factors that determines optimal box size, but you can work it out in WinISD easily enough.

[zunglam]

Originally Posted by scottthehat

That's look ruddy awesome mate. Would love to build something like that.

What size is the box .

Cheers guys,

Size is 500mm *550mm*470mm (about 500mm with front baffle) roughly 93 litres.

[Moonfly]

Originally Posted by zunglam

Cheers guys,

Size is 500mm *550mm*470mm (about 500mm with front baffle) roughly 93 litres.

Are you putting a Q18 in this cabinet, or a 15? Looks like a 15 in the pics.

[samhain]

Great pics and great work

[zunglam]

Originally Posted by Moonfly

Are you putting a Q18 in this cabinet, or a 15? Looks like a 15 in the pics.

No my build is a fi 15" ssd.

[vinny914]

You need to change the name of this thread....
Your definitely no Numpty when it comes to build
Keep up the good work - cant wait for your spray finish too. What was the total cost for the tools and paint you'll need for the process? I used a roller as spray guns(clearly the best way to get a black gloss finish) were an unexplored territory for me.

[Moonfly]

Originally Posted by zunglam

No my build is a fi 15" ssd.

Ah gotcha. I was about to point out that the cabinet need not be so large, but for an SSD its about right You will have a bit of play with it though, and you can always reduce it a touch if you feel you want a bit more punch from the system. Be interesting to hear your thoughts.

[Ashmanuk]

Originally Posted by vinny914

You need to change the name of this thread....
Your definitely no Numpty when it comes to build
Keep up the good work - cant wait for your spray finish too. What was the total cost for the tools and paint you'll need for the process? I used a roller as spray guns(clearly the best way to get a black gloss finish) were an unexplored territory for me.

You took the words right out of my finger tips ) what a great looking build this is well done Zunglam

[Moonfly]

Originally Posted by Ashmanuk

You took the words right out of my finger tips ) what a great looking build this is well done Zunglam

You know when I stated building subs, there wasnt much of a forum. I built a couple and people were surprised at the quality of finish I was managing. Now you guys are all building subs and finishing them even better than I have managed so far, Ive been really impressed and it just pains me more to hear people in the other forum sight commercial quality finishes as a proper reason not to do DIY builds. All these subs look brilliant !!!

[zunglam]

Being my first build its definitely a learning experience and I would do certain things differently on hindsight eg get B&Q to cut the panels for free, a much better fit than cutting your own especially if your a numpty.

For the finishing I bought:

Air compressor £130
Spray gun/s kit incl 2 spray guns, cleaning kit and incl misc gifts and metal briefcase £60
Primer £10
3 litres of Gloss metalic Car paint £32
5 litres of thinner £10
Clear lacquer enough for half a car £15

A bit pricey really but now I have the kit any future builds means paint is actually fairly cheap esp from an automotive paint store.

[zunglam]

Quick question, how thick should my grill be? I think my driver has an excursion max of 20mm so should my grill be at least 20mm?

[zunglam]

Ok, built my own mini spray booth with some cloths rails and got my air compressor and gun out for the first time to spray the primer on.

Being my first time using this tool I kind of bodged it up a bit, severe over spray and possibly moved the gun a bit too slow over the edges has caused a nasty mess as you can see from the pics. Its nothing major though as I will just sand this out tommorrow and start again. At least I know what to do when it comes to spraying on the more expensive paint next.

Apart from that I'm quite happy with how its turned out so far as You cant really see the joining edges of the mdf so I'm pretty happy with that so far.

Once I'm happy with the primer coat, I will do 3-4 coats of black gloss spray and once that is touch dry I will spray 3-4 coats of clear coat on and wait a few days till that drys. Then sand out orange peel with p1500 and p2000 sand paper and then compound and polish the cabinet to hopefully a black very glossy finish. Thats taken from instructions that ive read over the internet car painting youtube tutorials.

[Johnny.G]

Power to your elbow matey as they say... practice makes perfect. Once you have done bit of sanding and some more undercoat layers etc they will look mighty fine . Don't do vans by any chance do you ?

[Moonfly]

One thing to bare in mind is that paint clogs up sandpaper for fun. If you need to sand a bit back, have plenty to hand

[zunglam]

Originally Posted by Johnny.G

Power to your elbow matey as they say... practice makes perfect. Once you have done bit of sanding and some more undercoat layers etc they will look mighty fine . Don't do vans by any chance do you ?

You wouldn't want to let me loose on your van just yet. Although two months ago I wouldn't have considered sanding out scratches in my own car but now it doesn't seem as difficult having watched the motor vehicle paint videos. Can't wait to unleash my polishing machine on my sub and all those lovely compounding/polishing chemicals.

[zunglam]

Ok managed to spend some time with my spray guns and a little adjustment paid dividends. Sanded down the excess which was really easy and resprayed two coats, wet sanded with 400 and 600 grit paper and the primer is almost glass like.

Now its time to unleash the basecoat paint and then the clear.

[vinny914]

Great stuff!! Can't wait for the sexy black finish. I think it's time I upgraded to a spray setup too. Much much easier and better quality than painting
Keep it up Zu

[zunglam]

Well worth the outlay of a compressor system vinny, had a go on the aerosol and you definately need a lot of practice to get a good finish, I was surprised how quick and easy the hvlp system is once a little adjustment was made you can do a whole coat in minutes.

[vinny914]

I'm sold
I'll PM you asking for details on where to buy all the kit I need. Like the fact you have a case to keep it all organised

[Ashmanuk]

WOW Zunglam this is looking fantastic bit of a dark horse aren't you keep up the great work

[zunglam]

Ok Sprayed on the colour today.

Was lots of fun using the hvlp gun and the paint went on quickly and very smoothly.

The paint I got was a pearl black car paint and was thinned down to about 2:1 with car paint thinner. I bought 3 litres of the black however for my box I only needed about 1.5 litres.

The clear coat was mixed 2:1 with activator and 5-10% thinner
Clear coat was probably the harder to spray as I think the needle might have been a bit too small (0.8). It was really misty.

I did three coats paint, waiting about 30 to 40 mins per coat and then did 3 coats of clear coat with similar waiting times.
Now its a matter of waiting for the whole lot to cure, they recommend about two weeks cure time so lets see how patient I am.

Handy tip I got off the internet was that thinner is re-useable when used for cleaning and kept in a separate container can be used again and again for cleaning buckets and gun parts.

Couple of quibbles, spraying in the garage means dust and little bits settling on the top is inevitable also I have a few blobs of paints and a couple of think lines where the paint is too thick. Hopefully I’ll be able to sand some on that off when I come to polish.

[samhain]

the finish is fantastic, really shiny and professional

[zunglam]

Ok Finally there.

Will give an update later after some listening.

This is not its final resting place as you can see that theres not much space at the front of the lounge, its now time to start on my renovation as a projector screen will replace the tv.