Has anyone made a plexiglass enclosure?

 

had one in my Eclipse. made it outta 1 inch plexi as I diddnt want my sub to crack or bend it. was it overkill? probably, but Id rather not find out I went to thin the hard way.


diddnt sound any different than a decently made Fiberglas or MDF box. Had to take more time with the way I sealed the edges since they were visible. Basically I did it as I was thinking about running Neons in it. but I since wised up and have a carpeted MDF box now.

 

It works just as good as fiberglass and mdf?

 

Plexi is a lot more expensive, and a lot harder to work with. If you can overcome those problems, your box can sound fine.

Plexi is a bitch to cut. You need a fine-tooth blade on a table saw, and I've found that I usually need to keep the blade all the way up so that it cuts through less material at once. This is dangerous as hell, especially considering how hard you've got to push on the plexi.

Because you're not glueing it together in the same way that you glue MDF together, you've also got to make sure that your cuts are perfectly straight and very smooth so that the two pieces will mate well and retain rigidity at the joint. You can experiment with using MEKP as an adhesive, but you'll need to practice because that stuff will make a real mess of the plexi if you're not careful. You need to pre-drill and countersink all of your holes, and be careful not to overtighten or you'll crack it.

Plan on buying extra, and experiment with a couple pieces before you start working with the main pieces.

Another idea, which will be easier but still look good, is just use the plexi on one surface so that your enclosure will have "windows". It looks a lot more professional than a box that you can completely see through, and it'll make your life easier too. For example, here are a couple pics of the stereo that I put into my fiance's Camry:

 

Thats a great idea ill have to try that with the windows.

 

Jim you are the king at car audio

 

If you saw what that enclosure looks like now you wouldn't think so. All the vinyl inside the enclosure fell.

when I get time I've got to take it apart and fix it up a little bit.

 

Cutting Plexiglas Here are a few suggestions:
1) NEVER EVER use a recripcating saw like a Jig saw or a Sabre Saw
2) Use a Fine tooth blade (as mentioned above) and make sure it is SHARP, a dull blade can melt the edge OR it can leave chips which will eventually spread into cracks.
3) A Band Saw with a fine blade (24 teeth per inch or higher)
4) Sharp blades not once used for wood are good

IF You ever need a drill bit for drilling Plexiglas make sure that they are sharpened for drilling Plexiglas.

There is a lot of information for working with Plexiglas Here: http://www.glapinc.com/instructions/...1BChapter3.pdf Its actually from the US government and working with Aircraft windows which incidently are made from Plexiglas or Acrylic.

The drill bits can easily be made or modified with a grinding wheel, all you need to do is dub off the end so there is a 0° Rake angle...

 

That's interesting. One thing that I never had a problem with was drilling the plexi. Cutting was hard, and routing was a bitch, but drilling seemed to go just fine. What is the reason for using special drill bits?

 

Ive always use normal bits when drilling into plexi, I just take a bit more time.

On a side note, Jim are those TangBand subs in that camry box? If so how do you like them?

 

Yeah, they're the Tangbands. For the $35 I paid, I can't ask for more. For the $53 that they cost now, I may or may not still feel the same way.

In the right box, they play plenty deep. They get loud enough considering that I'm using 2 channels of a 50x4 to power them. In terms of sound quality, they're decent. They aren't the cleanest sub I've owned, but they're far from the worst. They sure sound better than any other <$100 mass-market sub that I've used, but they're nowhere near my Koda, nor would you expect them to be.

My main complaint is that you need such a ridiculously large port that by the time you build that into the box, you could have stuffed a 10" into a sealed box and taken up less space.

Overall, if you're capable of building the box that it needs, and you're trying to build an uber-low budget SQ system, it's worth consideration.

 

The reason is when you a normal drill bit it wants to pull you through the plexiglas. Typically you want a drill to cut and pull its way through something, this is fine for drilling plexiglas UNTIL you exit the part. As you are exiting you can get small cracks or chips on the exit surface. IF you are not careful cracks can spread from those places as Plexiglas is notch sensitive.

For the most part working with 1/2" or 1" material it would not be a problem because there is so much material. The consideration really occurrs with material less than 5/16 or 3/8" thick in a situation where you will be tightening screws etc.

IF you use a backing plate with another piece of Plexiglas or Wood as you drill then you can actually use a normal bit, BUT its still a little risky.

In a nutshell the specially sharpened drill bits are for the perfectionist, If you have exit chips you can usually clean them up with a countersink or larger drill bit, but sometimes you cant use a countersink for one reason or another...
Cutting like stated above just takes time, If your cutting a 1" piece of plastic its going to take a while no matter what saw your using. The biggest trick is getting good sharp bits etc. We mill edges so there is a lip and it will sit flush into a part every day. Making bends and give it shape for special areas etc, its all easy IF you know how, there is definately a learning curve, I have been around plexiglas for my entire life so its almost second nature...

IF you want to use a router you HAVE to use some sort of guide, it will make life a WHOLE lot easier. routing your name out or trying to cut something by hand is next to impossible...



John

 

Ahh, that makes sense. I'd forgotten about that. When I drilled mine, I made an MDF jig so that I could par-drill into one side, then flip the piece over and drill from the other side. That way I wound up with clean holes. Using the proper bit would probably be a lot easier.