Enclosure designing for anyone and free

[Pioneer~Saturn 5,000+ posts]

I WILL BE EDITING THIS LATER WITH PIC'S THAT WILL HELP A LOT WITH STEPS AND ALL OF THE CALCULATIONS ETC.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Hey guys,

I don't see that many threads in here about help with designing enclosures, but it is a fairly common topic for posts. I also get quite a number of PM's about designing enclosures, which I don't mind doing them...but designing your own enclosure by hand is a lot more satisfying (atleast to me).

So I'm going to start this thread to guide through how to design yourself a slot-port enclosure without using any software and for completely free (you'll only have to download 'Google Sketch-Up'...which is free)

Anyone with a highschool education and average skills with computers will be able to do this with a fair amount of ease.

You'll need these things open on your computer:

-RE's Enclosure Designer

-Google Sketch-Up

-Your computer's calculator

-Your computer's 'Notepad' feature

(This run-through is assuming a standard slot-port that is on one side of the enclosure, firing forwards but you can easily adjust these steps to accomodate a side-firing port along with pretty much any rectangular port setup)

First:

-Go to RE's enclosure designer (this will give you a rough idea of what to draw in sketch-up)

-Type in your dimensions (W, H, D) and start adjusting your port width and length to get a good balance of airspace and port area, with the tuning youre looking for

-I like to have this design be a bit larger in airspace and also tuned a bit lower than what you're looking for, because once the sub is accounted for and any 45's in the corners and supports you may want, it will help account for them

Then:

-Go to a new Google Sketch-Up page and make a rectangle of the base of your enclosure (Depth x Width) with the rectangle feature or I just use the pencil (you can simply click and hold the line, once it's locked onto an axis and then type the number of the dimension)

-Now click on the push/pull feature, highlight your rectangle, and pull it up 3/4" to make it a 3/4" piece of mdf/birch etc. tat you'll be using (most likely) for your enclosure

Back panel:

-Then go to any of the 4 corners, with the pencil feature (you'll be using this feature for every step from here on unless specified), and draw a 3/4" line along the 'depth' dimension

-Now at the end of that 3/4" line you just drew, drag a perpindicular line all the way to the other side of the enclosure so that it ends on the opposite side, 3/4" away from the back of your enclosure like the point you just dragged from..(This is the back panel of your enclosure)

Outer port wall:

-Go to one of the two corners that werent involved in that last step and draw a 3/4" line, the 'width' of the enclosure

-From the end of the 3/4" line you just drew, draw a line perpindicular to it, going towards the 'back' of the enclosure, untill it runs into the line you drew previously and click to connect it to that line (This is the outermost wall of your port)

1st Port Piece:

-Go to your RE Audio design and take note of the port's width

-From the inside corner of the port's wall you just drew, draw a line the port's width long along the width of the enclosure

-Where that line ends, draw a line perpindicular to it (depth-wise)...going all the way to the first line you drew

-At the end of this line...draw a line heading back to the front of the enclosure (depth-wise, again) that is the port's width long

-Select the 'arrow' feature

-Left-click/highlight the section of the line you just drew that is the port's width and hit 'delete' on your keyboard...the line should now be your port's-width away from the back panel (the first line you drew)

-Now, from this point...draw a 3/4" line, perpindicular to it, heading away from the port's wall that is drawn out already..

-From the end of this 3/4" line, draw a line perpindicular to it, going towards the front of the enclosure (away from the back-panel/first line you drew) so that it's parallel to the line 3/4" away from it...and connect it to the edge of youbase-rectangle 3/4" away from the beginning of your first line for this piece (This is the inner-wall of your port)

-Now look at your RE design, do you have any added length on the port (port length 2 on the designer)?..if so, you'll need this next step...if your port in the designer doesnt make an "L" and doesnt have any 2nd length involved with the port, you can skip this and go to the next step..

2nd Port Piece:

-See what your 'port length 2' is on the designer and take note of it

-From the furthest-back, innermost corner of the 1st port piece you just drew, draw a line running the width of the enclosure (parallel to the back wall) that is the length of your second port piece from the designer

-Now draw a 3/4" line from the end of that line, towards the front of the enclosure (perpindicular to, and away from the back wall)

-From this point draw a line going back to the first port piece that you drew, running parallel to the piece from the second step of this section, connecting it to the first port piece (This is your 2nd port piece)..

-If your second port piece go clear to the other side of the enclosure, make sure to not have it come within (width+.75") of the end of the base-rectangle or you'll have to make another turn in the port, which you can simply follow this step again untill you have a port that's long enough to get the desired specs

Port Corner

-From the corner of the 1st port piece that is furthest from the front of the enclosure and closest to the corner of the port...click on that point, then hover the other end of the line over the corner of the port (but dont click)

-Now (with theline still hovering over the corner of the port+locked onto the point as well) type your port's width and hit 'enter'

-The line should now be at a 45 degree angle, headed towards the corner of the port and the port's width in length..(This line will be called 'A' to help with description)

-Go to the end of 'A' after selecting the 'rectangle' feature and draw a .5"x.5" square so that you can connect that point to the opposite corner of the square and make a perpindicular line to 'A' (pics later will help with this, im having a hard time explaining it)

-Draw the line perpindicular to 'A' so that it makes a nice 45 degree angle compared to the port

-Continue this line on both sides of the square, the line should be blue now...meaning it has locked-onto the angle and will follow that angle all the way to the corner

-Where the lines meet the back panel and side panel, click to connect them

-Now from the end of 'A' click and drag the other end of the line, hovering over the corner of the port (where the side panel and back panel meet)...but dont click

-Type in 3/4" and hit 'enter'...you should now have a 3/4" line heading the same direction as 'A' (45 degrees)..towards the corner...(The end of this will be called 'B')

-You'll need to (from 'B') draw lines parallel to the first 45 degree lines but these shouldnt need the square junk...they should appear blue and lock onto 45 degrees, simply draw them both directions untill they connect to the back and side panel, and connect them

You now have your port finished //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Front Wall:

-Draw a 3/4" line towards the back of the enclosure from the remaining corner on your base-rectangle

-Then draw a line width-wise from here and connect to your 1st port piece

Side Wall:

-Draw a 3/4" line running width-wise from the end of the 3/4" line you previously drew

-From there draw a line going depth-wise and connect to the back panel

-You now have your enclosure layed-out for calculations //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Next post will be for calculations etc. that you'll need, stay tuned

Click to read more...

 

[Pioneer~Saturn 5,000+ posts]

Saved for further steps and calculation descriptions....and pics will be posted wth steps that will make it a lot easier to follow //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[jbizzle 5,000+ posts]

Nice writeup.

 

[Pioneer~Saturn 5,000+ posts]

Yea, it looks like a long and drawn-out process...but it really isnt (I only included all those descriptions incase someone who is really new to comps/sketch-up wants to do this, even they'll be able to do this by following the steps), you can get a full design together with a sketch-up made for ease of 'seeing' the enclosure before hand in just a couple minutes if you get the hang of it...and the math for calcs is actually very easy once you get it down

 

[NewAgeKing 5,000+ posts]

So i bugged you so much you needed to do this huh? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[Pioneer~Saturn 5,000+ posts]

EXACTLY! haha, no jk //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif...Im just thinking that if I didnt know how to do something, I'd appreciate someone laying it out for me to do myself //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[NewAgeKing 5,000+ posts]

Dont try and beat around the bush.

 

[Pioneer~Saturn 5,000+ posts]

Eh eh eh //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[steveBeatz]

Nice saturn, hopefully the MOD's will sticky this.

 

[Pioneer~Saturn 5,000+ posts]

Yea, I almost posted at the top if this could get stickied, we'll see...I think it would just be a big help for people

 

[tez4life Premium Member]

Nice writeup Pioneer, very informative to a common subject on the forum. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/thumbsup.gif.3287b36ca96645a13a43aff531f37f02.gif

 

[thorshammer1 10+ year member]

Very nice brotha! Just what I needed to learn how to calculate my own boxes!

 

[Pioneer~Saturn 5,000+ posts]

And you have what kinda numbers out of the trunk...? and dont know this..? lol, jk //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif just bustin your chops

And thanks tez...it'll be a lot better when its done...right now its just how to draw an enclosure on sketch-up...wooh hoo, haha //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crazy.gif.c13912c32de98515d3142759a824dae7.gif

 

[DonH 5,000+ posts]

THANK YOU PIONEER! i get many pm's as well and pretty much do them for free! they are extremely easy to do! shoot you can do it with graph paper and the knowledge you provided!

Now all of those who are affraid to build a box! TRY AND TRY AGAIN! you learn from your failures!

 

[Pioneer~Saturn 5,000+ posts]

Hehe, no prob..but there's a pretty healthy bit more to do and lots of pics im going to include