It's no Enzo...

But here's a few pics of the beginings of my speaker box. Six Pioneer 6980's driven by 1200watss. The rest of the box will be fiberglass. Sorry for the poor picture quality.

Jan: Looking good. How did you get the board to bend like that.

It is screwed to the bench with a 2x4 underneath it I am hoping the piece will eventually hold the shape. Once I put the rest of the skelaton on I think I will be able to hold the curve if it does not do it itself.

JAn if you make a few close cuts not very deep on the back side and them glass it over it should hold that shape without much else. The cuts will allow you to bend it and the glass will give it the strength

Jan try this... from my Grandfathers day, WAY OLD SCHOOL. He built model airplanes, boats, etc. and they would use steam to bend wood to the shape they wanted. Try to rent a steamer and steam ALL sides of the wood with it screwed down. You may end up having to put another piece of 2x4 in addition to the one you have to exaggerate the bend as you will most likely lose a little of the bend after you release it (take the screws out) from the bench. Make sure the wood is completely dry before releasing!!! As a last resort do what Stewart advised, make some relief cuts on the backside, Only as a last resort!!! Even with fiberglass (which i imagine you will be using anyway), you will still lose some of the original rigidity/integrity of the wood. The last thing you want is 50+ pounds of unstable mass a few feet above your head.

Actually, wax that piece of wood up and build a fiberglass face off it. Guaranteed to match the curve. It's a 2 step process, you'll build the reverse of the face, then pull a part from the mold. You can still put wood in it afterwards if you don't want to go with an all composite face. I won't go into all the trade secrets(afterall I'm in business doing these) but there are lot's of inexpensive composite materials available that will really stiffen up the face. And you will never have to worry about the wood rotting About four hours worth of work and you could have it done.

Otherwise I like the shape, I'm a big fan of curves. And I think you'll be happy with the Pioneers and all the power your feeding them. I've found they are power hungry little guys.

(Message edited by whiteVLX on March 25, 2004)

Thanks Guys, I wasn't planning on cutting out the holes for the speakers until after the whole box was glassed but I think I may do that now. Once the holes are in the piece of mdf will become very flexible.

My bad... didn't know the wood was MDF, steam would not be a good idea. Whitevlx has the ticket with the two step wax/fiberglass.

Cut the speaker holes and mounted the frame, fabric soon to come...

Jan Thats going to look sweet. I like how its going to use the whole I.D of the FTC. The front looks like the front of that sonic box that monster tower posted photos of. With the recessed head lamps. Ill see If i can get a photo.

I am pretty happy with the way it was looking yesterday. I can't wait to get the fabric stretched over it tonight to see what the shape is going to look like.

FTC=?

FTC = FCT (Flight Control Tower)

I got the box covered last night and was happy with the shape. I used cotton cloth to cover the frame. Once I started applying the resin the cloth began to shrink and I ended up pulling it off. I need to find another cloth solution, any ideas?

This IS and Enzo

FLEECE.
Wrap it in fleece or Felt from the fabric store. either will work just make sure to use staples to hold it real tight!
look here about half way down.
http://www.wakescene.com/projects.wakescene.com/Features-Reviews/Features%20pics/2003%20TOWER%20BOX/index.htm

KG

Thanks Kevin, I just picked up some grill cloth, that is how Alpine does it. I figure they know what they are doing. If that doesnt work I will go the fleece direction. You can check there stuff out here:
http://iweb.alpine-usa.com/html/adc/adc_install_lrg5.html?par=i9p15c5

Mav: IMO that Centurion looks nothing like an ENZO so im wondering why Centurion named it that? Was it an attempt for Centurion to associate it self with a 2 million dollar car, making its product seem more valuable. Better yet what does ENZO mean is it just some ones last name? Ferrari named its super car after its founder Enzo Ferrari, I called my speaker box Enzo Box because I copied the look of the Ferrari, But WTF was Centurion thinking.

BTW Jan your box is looking awesome. I can tell its going to come out sweet. The shape is, unique and sleek, It looks like a crazy space ship. Your first attempt at a speaker box is alot better than the pro's that have been doing this full time. That a" boy. What color were you thinking and are you going to put any lights up there?

Thanks Grant, I will probably go black with silver behind it so it will be translucent. Either that or pimped out black with tons of flake in it. My boat is tan and black, so I don't think I can go crazy with some blue or red. I didn't want to get too far ahead of myself with the light thing. This is the first box I have done like this, and frenching in lights is not something I was willing to try. I was thinking last night about putting LED's in the bottom of it to put out a glow. We'll see.

Sweet looking boat Mave.

Have you guys put any cockpit lights in them boxes? When working on the boat at home, at night, outside, it's awesome to bungee a couple 12" flourescents to the tower; does a real good job of lighting the inside of the boat. Not suggesting flourescents, but a decent amount of light is a great thing when on the lake, say waiting for fireworks, etc. Done it?

Hey Jan: post a side shot of your Nautique. So I can see what your box is gonna look like in thoes colors

I am a happy man today. I used speaker grill cloth and it worked great. You can use a heat gun to shrink most of the wrinkles as you go along. It is not as stretchy as I would have liked, but I think another brand may work a bit better. I am being picky, but the only thing that i dont like is the speakers are pointing a bit upward. Here's afew shots.

one more

Looks good jan.

Did you just use resin or did you have to put glass on it too? I love this stuff. You and Grant are truely insperational. Actually, you will find that the speakers point up will be a bonus. When you are boarding, the speakers will be pointing at the rider and not up. When you are parked, it will not make much difference. Just call it a desing goal and you planned it like that if someone gives you crap.

Rod, I still have 3-4 layers of glass mat to put on it, then the bondo/bodywork, then paint. And if Grant keeps bugging me, I may have to put lights or led's in it; we'll see how the glass goes.

Hey Jan: I think a Black or White box only, IMO No silver or fancy/graphic's. If your are going to do LED's I was thinking you can french them into the bottom side of the box pointed straight down to light up the inside of the boat for loading un-loading at night that would be a great Idea, If you need to do colors LED's I would do them as interior accent lighting only pick a collor and do it up. As far as head lights they have tones of small exotic head lamp type fixturers that you can again french into the front outer edge of the box. Counter sunk headlight's will give you a even more custom one off type of look, Im thinking like a older Ferrari (photo) getting away from the wing look and making it look more like a purpous biult tower box. Im still looking for photo's of that box with the Halo headlight's They call them Angel Eye's and its a Fiber optic lightring that runs around the outeredge of the headlamp like on the high end BMW's

If you use non-thixotropic clear laminating or marble casting resin of 600 to 1000 cpsblem with shrinking. This resin is designed to not shrink when it cures. You would then want to use the other type of resin, as this stuff is not as strong, and does not have the surfacing agent in it, which allows the resin to cure fully. Polyester resin does not cure fully when exposed to air, so a "wax" is added to seal the surface allowing it to fully cure. This allows easier sanding without loading up the sandpaper with gummy balls of resin.

Use the non-thixotropic to form the shape.
Use laminating to build up the shape.
Use finishing resin to be able to sand and fine tune the shape.