liteweight mdf alternative

[speedracerx 10+ year member]

About a year ago I read about an alternative to mdf that had equal sound quality's but half the weight, and undoubtedly twice the price. It was just an individual person talking about it so I don't how factual the statement was. We have a huge lumber yard in my town but they have never had any idea what type of wood this could be but I'm sure they can order me up some if I had a clue what I was talking about. I'm going to have to put a roll cage in my 70 Impala cause its 2 seconds to fast in the quarter to legally race without one, so the rear seat will probably never be returned to the already spacious interior. No doubt we can all come up with good ideas on what to fill the space with, but another 500 lbs defeats the purpose of having 630 hp. I'll play with fiberglass but I'd really like to find out what kind of wood this dude was talking about. Any ideas or input would sure help.

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[bdawson72 5,000+ posts]

You could use birch..or trupan

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

Birch ftw?

 

[NeverEnuffBass 10+ year member]

Trupan

 

[bjfish11 5,000+ posts]

Trupan is probably what your looking for. If your local lumberyard doesnt have it, come on out to Garden Plain and pick some up, were only about 45 mins away. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[bjfish11 5,000+ posts]

Oh, BTW, its not half the weight, more around 80%. But still seems a ton lighter.

 

[baseballer1100 5,000+ posts]

Anything is lighter than my new box lol.

 

[sku 10+ year member]

Hmm, how big of a box are you wanting to build?

For smaller boxes (about 2.5 cu. ft. ported to 32'ish for 1 12"), I've used 1/2" mdf with bracing and it worked welll...the bracing is what really saves you...try it you might be pleasantly surprised...

 

[IonSQL 10+ year member]

I'd go with the Trupan over the Birch... they both weigh about the same, but to me personally, the Birch was harder to work with.

Splinters FTL

 

[jeepintn 10+ year member]

I'd go with the Trupan over the Birch... they both weigh about the same, but to me personally, the Birch was harder to work with.
Splinters FTL

better blades and cleaner cuts ftw

 

[IonSQL 10+ year member]

better blades and cleaner cuts ftw

Used a brand new 60-tooth carbide blade on my table saw //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

Never had splintering prob with birch, but I've ended up in the ER with an allergic reaction to the formaldehyde in the MDF. I think I would take the splinters. Tweezers FTW.

Each has their place. If you want strong, birch ply. If you want to shape edges and not have to worry about the router bit splintering the wood (the only time I've had any kind of tearout prob with ply) the MDF or Trupan is better. You can use a combination of both.

 

[bjfish11 5,000+ posts]

Never had splintering prob with birch, but I've ended up in the ER with an allergic reaction to the formaldehyde in the MDF. I think I would take the splinters. Tweezers FTW.
Each has their place. If you want strong, birch ply. If you want to shape edges and not have to worry about the router bit splintering the wood (the only time I've had any kind of tearout prob with ply) the MDF or Trupan is better. You can use a combination of both.

I believe I read, when I was searching for info on Trupan on the web, that Trupan has a very little amount of Formaldehyde. Could be wrong.

Ive never used Birch for a box, but Ive used 1/2" birch for other things before, and it does splinter pretty bad.

The thing I like about Trupan is it routes and cuts like butter. No one can honestly say Birch cuts easier than Trupan.

Birch is not a bad product at all. It looks good finished. Just wanted to throw in my .02 about Trupan.

 

[W8 a minute 10+ year member]

Some interesting discussions about Trupan:

http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/messages/315/11383.html?1139243936

http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/messages/15719/17693.html?1168982642

http://www.madisound.com/cgi-bin/audio_forum/index.pl?noframes;read=389798

 

[speedracerx 10+ year member]

THANKS GUYS, what kind of price difference is there between the these two vs. mdf? If sound quality was the only priority, would fiberglass still be a consideration for very large by huge by silly sized enclosure?