[black300zx]

Now that I'm finished school for good, I've finally got some time to work on some projects that have been left unfinshed and/or haven't been started, but have been rolling around in my head.

The first project is to finish my CSS / Dayton bookshelf speakers that I started quite some time ago. The front baffles will be redesigned and then I'll be designing and tweaking the crossovers.

Once that's finished, I'm planning on making some enclosures for my pair of e8a.44s that I originally had in my old Z. Each driver will have it's own enclosure, and I'd like the construction of the cabinets to test my woodworking skills, and allow me to give my new router table a thorough workout

I've had a few ideas floating around in my head, but I actually sat down this afternoon and came up with a pretty cool design. Here's a small sneak peak at one part of it. The pair of enclosures will stand about 40-41" tall and consume just under 3 full sheets of 3/4" MDF



I like this design alot, but if you guys have and cool suggestions, I'm all ears

[Ben Milne]

Looks pretty slick. Anything else on the design you can share?

[black300zx]

Once I get Pro/E working again on my computer (for some reason it's locking up on me), I'll have a nice 3D model of it

[black300zx]

Here's a few views of the cad model. Will it take forever to route out all 106 pieces (53 each)? Yes. Will I probably be sick of routing when I'm done? Most likely. Will it be pretty darn cool in the end? I hope so

Specs
Port Area - 9.6 in^2 (2.4 in^2 per port)
Port Length (without end correction) - 45 layers thick for a total length of 33.75 in
Volume (without accounting for end correction) - 1.27 ft^3
Dimensions (WxDxH) - 10.5" x 10.5" x 38.25" (not including floor spikes)
Tuning (approximating my ports as a single 3.496" round port, no end correction) - 23.64hz

[Inferno333]

Sweet jesus dude. Just have eD cut them with the CNC...


Very cool design though!

[Hawmps]

Sweet jesus dude. Just have eD cut them with the CNC...

No kidding. With the CNC every piece will be identical, and you don't have to clean up the mess. I love the design.

[black300zx]

Originally Posted by Inferno333

Sweet jesus dude. Just have eD cut them with the CNC...


Very cool design though!

I think that might cost a pretty penny to have them cut and ship all 104 pieces (I miscounted originally). Besides, part of the reason I wanted to design something like this was to put my new router table to the test. The first piece of each design (there's 4 different pieces used during construction) will take some time to get just right, but after that I'll rough cut them with a jigsaw and use a flush trim bit to make them all uniform.

[cptomes]

Seriously. Call eD. Build a few just to prove to yourself you can, then get a CNC router to do the work.

Also, put pin locators in the design. Otherwise you're going to go insane smoothing the outside. Pick a size you can get dowels for, and that is also a size bit used by the CNC. Or figure out a drill press jig or some such so you can drill match holes for dowels on the pieces you make yourself.

[black300zx]

Originally Posted by cptomes

Seriously. Call eD. Build a few just to prove to yourself you can, then get a CNC router to do the work.

Also, put pin locators in the design. Otherwise you're going to go insane smoothing the outside. Pick a size you can get dowels for, and that is also a size bit used by the CNC. Or figure out a drill press jig or some such so you can drill match holes for dowels on the pieces you make yourself.

Until I can land myself a full time engineering position (now that I've finally graduated), time is something I have a lot of, but money isn't. Once I get a template made for each of the four pieces, I can accurately reproduce them. It'll take a while, but I don't think it will be difficult enough to justify spending the extra money to have them cut on a CNC. If I had a bunch of disposable income however, it would be a different story.

Dowel pins are in the plans, and a drill press and jig will be used to make the pin holes uniform.

As for the outside, my plans are to cut all pieces after the first 1/8" oversize, then use a flush trim bit after each layer so minimal sanding will be required. Hopefully I can find a 1.5" tall flush trim bit for a reasonable price so that I can glue up two layers at a time, then hit them with the flush trim bit after the glue dries.

[czechm8]

Instead of dowel pins, use threaded rods. That way you can bolt each piece down as you go, and in the end you will have more structurally sound unit.

[irq21]

If you are going to use this construction method, why not make it a bit more interesting shape instead of just square/rectangle?

Make it oval with 2 ports, star shaped with 5 (or more) ports, etc

Most importantly post lots of pictures, and good luck routering (is that a word?).

[black300zx]

Originally Posted by irq21

If you are going to use this construction method, why not make it a bit more interesting shape instead of just square/rectangle?

Make it oval with 2 ports, star shaped with 5 (or more) ports, etc

Most importantly post lots of pictures, and good luck routering (is that a word?).

I will be playing around with other designs, as this is just the first version. This design was mainly just to feel out the dimensions and such. Since the pair of subs will only be splitting 100 watts, I'm thinking about reducing the port area a bit to lower the tuning without needing a ridiculously long port.

[black300zx]

Originally Posted by irq21

Make it oval with 2 ports

After thinking about this for a while, I decided a more oblong profile would look nicer since I plan on using these as stands for my main speakers. A 10.5 x 10.5 square stand under a 7 x 9.5 speaker would look kind of odd.

I present the cad sketch of version 2. Initial calculations put it at about 1.5cf tuned to about 24hz with 11.4in^2 of port area.

[black300zx]

version 2 model:



Now I'm getting anxious to start building this thing

[doxquzme]

Why not use 1.125 MDF for your sections... saves a lot of time!

[black300zx]

Originally Posted by doxquzme

Why not use 1.125 MDF for your sections... saves a lot of time!

Honestly, that's an awesome idea if I can find it.

[irq21]

Originally Posted by black300zx

After thinking about this for a while, I decided a more oblong profile would look nicer since I plan on using these as stands for my main speakers. A 10.5 x 10.5 square stand under a 7 x 9.5 speaker would look kind of odd.

I present the cad sketch of version 2. Initial calculations put it at about 1.5cf tuned to about 24hz with 11.4in^2 of port area.

[IM]http://www.icixsound.com/vb/icixnation/images/124_1125.jpg[/IMG]

That is exactly what I was thinking about... should make for a very sweet looking setup.

[DPG]

didn't chris design something similar as far as the first design a while back? i remember it was his side project.

[chaos gt]

Originally Posted by DPG

didn't chris design something similar as far as the first design a while back? i remember it was his side project.

shamelessly stolen from this same thread at icix:
http://forum.edesignaudio.com/showth...ighlight=chris

[mgithens]

Why not just build a square box around a sonotube??