now that ive messed up on my box...

[silverlude56 10+ year member]

first of all i went to home depot. i told the guy to cut 3/4mdf with exact measurements. the measurements were based upon a box design RE gave me after a phone conservation and we built designs specifically to fit in my car. it was a 2.5cuft box after displacement and tuned at 33hz for a single 12"SE. i get home and put it together and notice the boards are off 1/8" over and under what i needed and mdf is harder to sand then u think. so i decided to screw it together and try to salvage it and then sand the outside to make it look nice and glue it all up to make it airtight. then the screws i bought i assume were too big since it was cracking the box when i tryed to screw in the corner. call me a newb but thats what happened. I was always thinking about a plexiglass window and when talking to my dad he mentioned making a plexiglass box. all of it plexiglass. this would look really cool and add more options when it came to lighting, etc. now i got my dad involved and he should be able to help me out. I might still try to save that box if possible but How would a plexiglass and mdf box differ in sound quality or spl?

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[2wheeler 10+ year member]

Getting accurate cuts from a Home Depot employee is not gonna happen unless you are buds with the guy on the saw. get a skil saw and use a guide board to make your cuts straight and clean. predrill all screw holes or the mdf will split. you might be able to take your current box apart and trim the edges to salvage what you already have. Plexiglass boxes probably would not be stiff enough to work well, but it sure would look good. Good luck.

 

[NeverEnuffBass 10+ year member]

You can usually get away with putting a box together if its an 1/8" off. Just have to make sure its completly sealed by using wood glue on all joints and silicone on the inside edges. The wood cracked because you didn't predrill. Its always a good idea to use a countersink before screwing a box together.

It you are going to use plexiglass, do a window. Use lexan because it is stronger than plexi. the lexan would need to be thick and its going to be really expensive. I never made a lexan or plexi box but I have heard horror stories about them. They are expensive to build and if you mess it up, thats a lot of money down the drain. Search this forum, there are a lot of threads on good ways to build plexi/ leaxan windows.

-B.J.