Where to get fabricating experience!! Please help

[snb778 5,000+ posts]

Hey guy.

Here is my deal. I have been trying to advance my skills in car audio for the last year now. It all started back last March when I went to Mobile Dynamics 9 week program. Whether or not it was worth it is besides the point, but I am very interested in persuing a career in car audio.

I started out working at 2 private shops part time that did custom fabrication, BUT my basic skills werent good enough for them to keep me around for long.

Then I went to best buy where.....ya, dont have to know much to work there.

Then I went to another private shop that did just basic car audio, and NO custom work.

It has now been a year, and I havent gotten ANY experience in Custom Fabrication. This is what I want to "specialize" in, or at least its what im the most interested in. Do any of you seniors have any idea how I can go about persuing my career, and advance in fabricating? Are there any programs that specialize in this, or MOSTLY this. Any good advice? Because I am about to give up, and my skils right now arent good enough to make a decent living, im running out of money.

Thanks

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[snb778 5,000+ posts]

anyone...any good advice would be huge

 

[Moe Lester 10+ year member]

Do a buildout on your own vehicle

 

[davidfre21 5,000+ posts]

Do a buildout on your own vehicle

what the hell would this guy know //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif

 

[Ingleside 10+ year member]

i started out with small projects here and there like fiberglass boxes and kick panels and then finally went ahead and did a complete custom build on one of my friend's cars and later on my own car. there's still alot i want to learn but it all comes with practice and time. right now car audio installation and fabrication is completley a side thing that i have going on but it's landed me some good jobs. next week i have a G35 coming over to my house for about 3 weeks where i'll be doing a complete system and trunk.

start with your friends and work your way up if you want to do your own thing.

 

[snb778 5,000+ posts]

none of my friends are into hi-end systems though....and I dont have enough money to start building on my own car, assuming id screw up and have to fix something...but my car is set the way it is now anyways...I just need someone, or somewhere to train me, or at least give me the oppertunity for experience.

And if I did builds on my own car, i dont know how to build a box anyways, as far as calculating ports....esp. slot ports.

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

basically man, read as many articles as you can on fabrication, try and find somone (relative that lives close by would be the best) who has done stuff and enjoys working on stuff, or a friend, but YOU need to invest YOUR money and time into PRACTICE and STUDYING (tutorials)

if you dont do it, then you wont learn it. if you dont have common sense and troubleshooting skills, then you cant do it.

simple as that. you just need to use your brain to engineer a solution to a given problem "how can i do this?"

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

the stickies in the box forum are pretty decent. start by making some door pods or kick panels to get the fiberglass basics

 

[AcidicDreams 10+ year member]

it's all about practice... tools are important too... every time I add a tool to my collection my installs get better looking....

also sell all of your stuff, get cheaper stuff and go hog wild with the money left over buying some fiberglass and MDF...

also in the end it's all about using carpeting/painting/vinyl to cover your ugly *** mistakes //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[Rattlebrain 10+ year member]

And if I did builds on my own car, i dont know how to build a box anyways, as far as calculating ports....esp. slot ports.

Not bashing here but,

You went to a car audio school and didn't even learn to build a box???

Doesn't sound like much of a school to me.

 

[Ingleside 10+ year member]

basically man, read as many articles as you can on fabrication, try and find somone (relative that lives close by would be the best) who has done stuff and enjoys working on stuff, or a friend, but YOU need to invest YOUR money and time into PRACTICE and STUDYING (tutorials)
if you dont do it, then you wont learn it. if you dont have common sense and troubleshooting skills, then you cant do it.

simple as that. you just need to use your brain to engineer a solution to a given problem "how can i do this?"

word

there are some basic books out there at book stores that how you the super basics on how to fabricate. the tech articles in the back of magazines also help out alot b/c they show you a step by step process on how to build up a project. once in a while i would go into Borders on my day off and go through about 2 or 3 mobile audio magazines and books just to check out how things got done.

the alpne website has about 200 to 300 photos for each of their build ups that you should check out. yeah, its advanced stuff but you can see how things go together and get an idea of how things work. read and absorb as much as you can. the JL site also has some pics in their tutorial section.

and like req said, its a problem/solution thing.

 

[snb778 5,000+ posts]

Not bashing here but,You went to a car audio school and didn't even learn to build a box???

Doesn't sound like much of a school to me.

Thanks for the help so far guys....

Oh they teach how to build a box...they teach every aspect into how to build a box....stuff that many of the seniors in here (not all) probably dont even know how to do. For a beginner, it was wayyy to much to try and absorb all at once. BUT...there just wasnt much hands on...its like ....here's how to do it...here is a few tips.....now you can do it....???? no no no,,,need to practice.

Any box building equation, for any type of box we were taught. I still have the books that I still refer back to from time to time. But i mean they give you everything you need if someone were to say...." I want an acoustically perfect box" They go from the VERY basics...to remote starts, to fiberglass, to enclosure design...all the way up to robotics. Also a lot of it is not only HOW TO...by WHY IT WORKS...

But the other part of it is if im just starting out on how to fabricate...I want to make sure im doing things the right way, and with the most time convenience. Im not saying I want someone to hold my hand, but it would be nice for someone to be there (like in a private shop) to say "HEY...thats just wasting time...try this"

Here are a few things In my Enclosure Chapter.....

** Transmission line: Principle: is that if a speaker in a given enclosure can limit enclosure resonance and absorb all rear wave energy, , a perfect low frequency system will emerge. ----Design: line length has to be 25% of the driver resonant frequ. wavelength.

Anyone know the 4th order bandpass equation... Ts^2T2^2S4+T22Ts/Qts^3+T2^2+T2s^2+Ts^2s^2+Ts/Qts+1......that right there should sum it up....then there is 5th order also want to find "S" S= Fb/FH-FL

H=Fs/QTS

V2=Qts^2 x Vas

A=((Vas/V1)+1)^.5xQts

Dv=square root FBxX

Lv=((8466.4xVr^2)/(Fb^2xV2))-(1.463xVr)

Then here is double chamber reflex: Extended low frequency response and Greater Fidelity + alllll the equations for that Ripple equation....?????

Double chamber tri-tuned design....and equations...

Transmission of waves/diffraction of waves

Horn design

Crossover design

 

[Rattlebrain 10+ year member]

LOL

Kinda reminds me of the UTI (Universal Technical Institute) automotive technology.

The main thing I learned at that POS place was how bad I hated working on cars and "Refer to the manual"

So I know what you mean now.

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*Edit* 2000 POST YEA BABY!!!!!!

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[tiger777 10+ year member]

why the hell do they teach those things? its a waste of time, they have computer programs that do it for you lol.

Best thing to do is read every thing in here. Like every tutorial on fiberglass, box building etc. you should be able to find a shop that will only do some custom work. or what you could do is offer to do some custom work for guys that come in on your own time. best thing to do would be to build kick pods, door pods, and a complete fiberglass box for your own car. truthfully if you go to a boat shop that sell glass you should be able to do this realitivly cheap.

 

[PepsiFiend69 10+ year member]

the best advice on here is to build up your own car

it'll get you the best experiance, because you don't need to worry to much about messing up, because you can rip it out and start over if you don't like it.

anything ive ever done to someonelse's car, ive tried first on my own car, it's jsut always worked good for me

BTW how is that school? i was looking at it for the fall, i'd LOVE to work in a shop.