Box Building Tips

[Peteyglad 2]

Ok, today was the first time ina long while that I have built a box away from my old shop. These are a few things I learned / remembered while building a box today.

1. Measure twice, cut once (this goes for the cuts on the woodas well as the overall size of the enclosure). I made a few bad cuts and ended up building one box too large. Grrr. If you are going to cut it wrong, be sure do it larger than what is needed.

2. A pneumatic or electric brad nailer is the way to go! I was doing it the old fashioned way with a hammer and finishing nails. There was some frustration with bent / broken nails as well as the lack of speed.

3. A jigsaw may cut wood, but it is a far cry from a table saw or circular saw. My cuts seemed like I was drunk and swerving all over the place.

4. 3/4" MDF is a lot easier to work with than 1/2" MDF. The preciseness of the cuts as well as the accuracy of the nailing is a lot less critical. I was using 1/2" because of the overall size of the enclosure (.2 cubes).

5. Be careful where you place your caulk gun! It will continue to spew caulk after you lay it down.

6. Try to make all your cuts from the factory cut sides. Anything less would be uncivilized.

7. Make sure you get the kind of caulk that just comes right off the skin. I use Alex Plus and it works great. I have used other stuff that sticks for days no matter what you do short of removing skin.

I think that covers the 1st lesson. More to comelater.

[TLM 1]

heres a few more ive noticed for people such as myself who are forced to build boxes with limited tools..

-get a 99 cent box of rubber gloves and you dont need to worry abt getting liquid nails off ur hands

-the only saw i have is a jigsaw, so when making straight cuts get a looong straitedge and clamp it to the wood (making sure to clamp it exactly parallel to your line) and just run it along the straightedge. Still not perfect, but most of the time better than just "eyeing it"

-a square is your best friend. As said above, cut from the factory sides, but ALWAYS use a square, to make sure your cuts are exactly 90 degrees. Theres nothing worse than using half a sheet of mdf on one piece of the box then realizing its not square.

-I find that having a planned design is always helpful, but more importantly, when adding each side of the box, set it in the area where its going to sit in the vehicle to make sure your measurements are right and that you werent overlooking any parts that were sticking out or anything like that. This mostly only pertains to vehicles with limited space such as a small truck or whatever where every inch counts.

thats all i can think of for now, but this is a good idea for a thread, lets all throw in our $.02

Tom

[Peteyglad 2]

Good tip on the straightedge. Didn't have any clamps though:( Also. A router works a lot better than jigsaws doing the mounting cutouts also.

[mrray13 30]

well, i too built a box today...

nailing a box together??? that is "oldskool"...

the only thing i can offer, other then what petey and tim touched on is this..when caulking, after u ran ur bead, pull the plunger back outa the tube. it'll release the pressure and u won't have caulk all over the place.

and tim, plan ur box? yeah, right... i always plan ,y box and then change it and build it as i go.. though a well planned box is a whole lot easier to build..

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[TLM 1]

well, first of all, my name is TOM hhahahhahah (check the sig lol)

second, i just make a rough sketch actually and build as i go, i just didnt wanna sound stupid by saying "durrr well i just go out there and start cuttin" lol

Tom

[Nikuk 1]

ironic... i've built mosy of MY box today as well...

tip - if you're resin'ing, try to do all pieces within a small timeframe. i.e.- cut all pieces to be resined together, and resin... install all sections, then resin. saves on brushes and headaches.

-masking tape does lots for keeping caulk and resin where it should be (c'mon, its only .001 cents a foot).

-measure twice, cut once. for angled pieces: measure twice and double check the angles "fit" three times.

-a sharpie will go a loooong way towards not having to "remount" sections.

tis all for now. I'm drunk, its late, I've to install the baffle tomorrow.

[Peteyglad 2]

Here is a pic of yesterdays project for me.

.2 cubes sealed and will fit under the drivers seat of my wife's Voyager. Right now it is cut out for my Vifa PL 7 but I have a feeling it will end up a Koda in no time. But I thought I would give the Vifa achance first:)

Another box tip. While 2 people is not necessary it sure is nice.

Also, if no have no sawhorses an old sub box works just fine.

[Peteyglad 2]

Here is another one. When you are done building your box you can run a flashlight around the seams on the inside of the box to tell where there might be an air leak.

[mrray13 30]

tim..tom....whatever ....my bad tOm..

i'll try not to let it happen again...hehe

the flashlight idea is a good one petey!!

pics of my box later today...lol

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[Peteyglad 2]

Put the sub in this morning and tried it out in the Saturn. Sounded very decent and a little louder than expected. Once I get an amp for this it is going in the van along with some Treo speakers up front. Should be a nice sounded daily driver system. Hopefully it will be done before Thanksgiving when we have a 5 hour ride to Virginia.

[sandt38 448]

My old boxbuilder totorial. I have learned a few things since then, and should ammend some stuff in it, but the basics are still there. I have both simple tool enclosure builds and complext tool builds. There should be a method for any skill level, and most tools as well. Lot's of cool little tricks