Alright, my mission:
1.) To build a sub enclusre entirely from scrap material i have laying around
2.) Make the enclosure as strong and lightweight as possible
3.) Maintain 100% of my trunk space
4.) Bring mission statements #1, #2, and #3, together to be a good looking, quality product.
The engineered side of it (not exactly an engineering marvel, but the things that needed to be considered):
1.) Design an enclosure that can be kept as light as possible, strong as possible, and meet the exact volume requirement as set forth by the manufacturer
2.) Design the enclosure to keep the system’s Center of gravity as low as possible within the car
3.) Use quality materials with great acoustic properties
Materials used: (All scrap laying around)
1.) Carbon fiber -great strength and formability
2.) Ballistics kevlar -great material for acoustics, strength
3.) Fiberglass - ugh, i hate fiberglass but used it to seal the base of the enclosure
4.) MDF board for the decoy speakers
5.) Ultrasuede
6.) Headliner Foam (from my seat project)
6.) Bullet Proof Glass - because i can.
I didn’t take many pictures of the process, but the main cylinder was formed around a concrete forming tube, 24" is diameter. The main body is formed with 2 layers of Carbon Fiber sandwiching 2 layers of Kevlar.
Once the cylinder was formed, I placed it in the trunk and layed more kevlar with a fiberglass top layer to make sure it forms to the bottom of my tire well. During the epoxy curing process, I place 3 double lined trash bags filled with water to keep constant pressure.
with all that said, plus some cutting, this is what you get:
The subwoofers i purchased weren’t delivered yet, so i made some decoy speakers up to the exact size so I could posistion them to fit into the enclosure and make sure I had clearance where i needed it:
the decoy speakers in place and braced with some scrap alumium to hold their posistion:
Then using my old trunk floor from my previous sub enclosure set up, i strectched some fabric across the opening and formed the top piece of the enclosure
Once this piece had fully hardened, i layered a bunch of random carbon fiber scraps i had from previous projects to the backside for reinforcement.
molded all 3 pieces together (the floor, the enclosure face, and the cylindrical bottom) and smoothd everything out.
Covered everything with a headliner foam to help with the overall look and feel once the aesthetic layer is added. It smooths out all the minor imperfections too:
Finally, covered the floor with black suede to match my seats:
Using some of bullet proof glass scrap (it’s hard to see, clear) I had from some old robot projects, i engraved my logo. The final install thread will show this piece in place. Notice the bullet hole and bullet embedded in the glass… i tested it. :shhh:
and that’s it, now i have an ICE that utilized nothing but scraps.
Cost to me was minimal at only the set of subwoofers. The enclosure and ‘display plate’ are comprised mostly of scraps from past projects.
weight of enclosure w/ trunk floor: 12lbs (speakers are 25lbs total). I also have a fold away cover which protects the speakers when i actually need to use the trunk.
I know the engraving doesn’t show up well, but once i install the lighting the letters will glow.
and for fun…
I still have some minor changes, mainly with the amp orientation and lighting,…but it’ll pretty much look the way it does now.
enjoy. :tup:
