MDF vs. Particle Board

[radel2dope 10+ year member]

Whats up guys, I have a quick question. It is hard as hell to get my hands on MDF where I live, but everyone keeps tellin me to get particle board. It would be 3/4 inch either way. I have a feeling if I looked around more, I could get some MDF but would be much more expensive than particle board, Is there that much of a difference to make me pay the extra money? I will be putting a 12" SX powered by an Orion 1200D. The box would be built to the specifications on reaudio.com.

Any input would be great, thanks guys.

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[Damaso87 10+ year member]

MDF is shredded paper, particle board is shredded wood. Thats all i know. http://www.google.com could help too.

 

[Nikuk 5,000+ posts]

MDF is shredded paper, particle board is shredded wood. Thats all i know. http://www.google.com could help too.

hhhhmmm, you've got that backwards.

MDF = Sawdust & glue (hence the ginormous mess).

Particle board = coarsely recycled & pressed scrap wood.

For what it's worth, I have actually seen plywood & particle board enclosures blow apart. Was fun.

Get MDF. Unless you are doing something small.

 

[dezyrme 10+ year member]

Never use particle board. Its the worst wood on earth to use for a box. There's gotta be a Home Depot or a Lowes around. They both sell MDF and if not, look in the yellow pages for a custom cabinet shop. They will gladly sell you a sheet. Don't even waste time building a box for that caliber of equipment with particle board. That will be an insult to that sub.

 

[Damaso87 10+ year member]

You could use 3-4 layers of Particle Board...that would give it some strength.

 

[jtomsic 5,000+ posts]

its like 25 bucks for a huge piece of mdf...u'll be building a new box if u use particle board anyhow..why not save urself some time.

 

[Nikuk 5,000+ posts]

You could use 3-4 layers of Particle Board...that would give it some strength.

Will still flex due to the nature of the board. Not too mention that this way;ll is much more expensive then 1 sheet of MDF.

 

[Raven 10+ year member]

I had a chipboard enclosure, I blew it apart with my 15s.

Or, should I say this.

My cheap 15s with a solid 1" p2p excursion(under double there RMS power and playing test tones) blew apart the pre-fab chipboard box that I bought them with at the seams.

After building an MDF box, I have never had that problem again.

 

[Nikuk 5,000+ posts]

Wilma flies?

 

[Raven 10+ year member]

I'm quoting Happy Noodle Boy. It seemed more appropriate than my last signature.

"Using the circular razor blades of a deli saw as a makeshift yoyo and severing legs and feet as you 'walk the dog' is appealing, but impractical."

I make up a lot of hideous things that I could do to hurt people, I use them to scare off those idiots on Yahoo who hit me up asking for cyber sex.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

If you ever question the rigidity of particle board, just take a look at some of those videos where 2x4's get shot at over 100mph at 4x8 sheets of it //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[radel2dope 10+ year member]

Thanks for the input guys, but the problem is just that: There ISNT a Home Depot or Lowe's around, the closest one is an hour and a half away, and I dont think I will be fitting a sheet of MDF in my 98 Grand Am. Any MDF I ordered would have to be special ordered, and be hella expensive, but I guess if thats what it takes, I will just have to do it.

 

[thismightbepat 10+ year member]

Couldn't you just drive over to Lowes or Home Depot, buy the MDF which would be 20 bucks at the most, and then just tie it to the roof of your car and take it back home? The guys at the store would probably be glad to help out. C'mon be resourceful, guy.

 

[packerfan 10+ year member]

Never use particle board. Its the worst wood on earth to use for a box. There's gotta be a Home Depot or a Lowes around. They both sell MDF and if not, look in the yellow pages for a custom cabinet shop. They will gladly sell you a sheet. Don't even waste time building a box for that caliber of equipment with particle board. That will be an insult to that sub.

Wow, where do i start..."worst sounding wood on earth" Haha, ok, ive used partical board on 95% of my boxes and i have yet to notice a difference between PA and MDF...second of all, the closest cabinet shop charges $45 a sheet of MDF, and the closest HD is 30 miles...you will not hear a difference between a properly build PA box and MDF box.

 

[radel2dope 10+ year member]

Ah, perfect, two very conflicting viewpoints, any other suggestions?