plexiglass worth the trouble?

[wcarson8911 10+ year member]

is putting a 12x9 plexiglass window on the top of a sub box worth the trouble? and how hard is it to put neons on the plexi?

EDIT* I want the window to look like this..

how hard would that be?

Click to read more...

 

[SEVEN_ELEVEN 10+ year member]

Check this out......

http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=198085&page=4

It might help you out some.

 

[SEVEN_ELEVEN 10+ year member]

lawl thats to frost plexiglass not if its worth it. Good job moron

my bad i guess i didnt read his original post good enough. just saw that he was asking about lighting up the plexi with neon so i thought it might help.

 

[PowerNaudio 10+ year member]

are you trying to use it as a window to see inside the enclosure or just as a top cover?

i dont have much experiance with plexy only used it on amprack covers and what not. but a router bit cuts right trugh it. just have to be carefull not to cut too much at onces because it will try to melt the plexy.

lighting up the plexy is realy not that hard all you have to do is buff the edge where the light is going to be placed and i think you sand the edge with a very fine grit paper up in the 400grirt or buff the rest of the edges as well. so it will reflect the light better instead of going trugh it.

 

[wcarson8911 10+ year member]

are you trying to use it as a window to see inside the enclosure or just as a top cover?i dont have much experiance with plexy only used it on amprack covers and what not. but a router bit cuts right trugh it. just have to be carefull not to cut too much at onces because it will try to melt the plexy.

lighting up the plexy is realy not that hard all you have to do is buff the edge where the light is going to be placed and i think you sand the edge with a very fine grit paper up in the 400grirt or buff the rest of the edges as well. so it will reflect the light better instead of going trugh it.

i want to use it as a window on the top to see into the box, what about neons and stuff how do you use those with the plexi?

 

[wcarson8911 10+ year member]

anyone else have some experience with this stuff?

 

[djman37 5,000+ posts]

use thick enough plexi.

have it cut at a glass shop(they sell it there too) for best results.

PRE-DRILL your holes, washers help spread out the stress from the screw/bolt.

pan head screws, if you use screws.

Use gasket foam, or equivilent, along the bottom of the plexi.(that's usually why it's painted in about an inch.

For god's sake, finish the inside of the box AND USE MATCHING WIRES!

I used a 200 tooth MDF blade on plexi and it worked out okay.

 

[azimuth 5,000+ posts]

i did my first plexi window this summer and it wasn't that hard. there's a few things i would do different next time, but it turned out almost acceptable. nest time i'll probable do the whole panel instead of just a window. assuming i can find 1 inch lexan or plexi.

the pic is terrible, but i only have a cheap a$$ digital. i was actually taking pics of the amp, but you can see the plexi in the box at the top of the pic

 

[DFW40 10+ year member]

is putting a 12x9 plexiglass window on the top of a sub box worth the trouble? and how hard is it to put neons on the plexi?
EDIT* I want the window to look like this..

how hard would that be?

It does look nice but to get it thick enough and cut right can be a problem. I would use real glass about 1/16 an inch, then get your face real close to it and turn it up.

 

[~Magick_Man~ 10+ year member]

It does look nice but to get it thick enough and cut right can be a problem. I would use real glass about 1/16 an inch, then get your face real close to it and turn it up.

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/nutkick.gif.acc8dcd6c1bd27fba0cbeda5b212085c.gif

~Magick_Man~

 

[coolahan 10+ year member]

ouchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

[wcarson8911 10+ year member]

It does look nice but to get it thick enough and cut right can be a problem. I would use real glass about 1/16 an inch, then get your face real close to it and turn it up.

wow that's funny, why post if you have nothing to contribute at all? I'm sure there are a lot of people who would like to be able to see more of the sub they paid good money for than just the face.

 

[Radioflyer97 10+ year member]

I'd stay away from neons. Xoxide.com and oznium.com have cold cathodes which are smaller and brighter than neons. I've been using them in my systems for years.

if you want to put the lights inside the box there's nothing to it. If you wanted to etch a design in the plexi and then try to use fiber optics to make it show up, that's when things get tricky. you have to find a way to put the light exactly on the edge of the plexi window

 

[o6blink 10+ year member]

yeah, oznium.com is good //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/highhorse.gif.6bbb570c3f53dc0dcce8a2b8ad05cf11.gif

 

[jace314 10+ year member]

Hey, I have a plexi window now, and was sort of curious about the same question above...

How exactly would you mount lets say a cathode or led along the side of the plexi so that the light travels around the window? Is it attahced light side to the plexi, or would that cause the plexi to melt over time?

The etching, or frosting thread explained well for the frosting, but I wasnt sure exactly how to attach the led?

Thanks!!