Fibreglass loudspeaker construction

[ShinOBIWAN]

Anyone have any links to fibreglass construction techniques, fibreglass orientated projects(doesn't have to loudspeakers) and such like. Really anything to do with fibreglass would be good.

I'm cooking something up but its really just a bunch of ideas in my head at the moment. Don't have a clue how to go about transferring them into reality.

I've got this idea of creating a skeleton frame covering it in cloth and slapping the fibreglass over that then sanding to the shape I want but that's just something I've pulled out the air and vaguely remember seeing years and years ago on the car audio side of things.

Thanks

[MJL21193]

Should be a whole ship load of boat building info out there.

Fiberglass hulls are build in molds though. You might want to think about doing it the same way. The biggest advantage is a uniform, thick "gel coat". This is sprayed inside the mold before the fiberglass goes in and provides the ultrasmooth ouside layer.

No more worries with the MDF movement.

[ShinOBIWAN]

How would you go about joining the two pieces? What would you use for the mold?

[el`Ol]

I remember a documentation about a low cost Frank Gehry project in Germany where he said this was only possible because of a new production method for molds (I think it was styrofoam, but not sure). Maybe with gypsum instead of concrete...

[ShinOBIWAN]

Originally posted by el`Ol
I remember a documentation about a low cost Frank Gehry project in Germany where he said this was only possible because of a new production method for molds (I think it was styrofoam, but not sure). Maybe with gypsum instead of concrete...

Wouldn't you need a mold to create the styrofoam mold? Modelling clay or similar might be better since you could shape this by hand, templates and basic tools.

This is what I'm looking at building, its a rough and incomplete sketch so you'll have to use your imagination a little

[el`Ol]

Originally posted by ShinOBIWAN

Wouldn't you need a mold to create the styrofoam mold?

Exactly that was the clou that they didn´t need a mold for the styrofoam, but made the molds from styrofoam blocks. I don´t remember how they did this, but I think it would make it much easier for you if you were able to produce the enclosure directly from the CAD data.

[MJL21193]

Originally posted by ShinOBIWAN
How would you go about joining the two pieces? What would you use for the mold?

This article seems to be a wealth of knowledge on the subject. Very detailed.

[cuibono]

Plaster is a pretty workable material - both for carving/shaping a rough piece, and for use on molds. Its messy, and takes some learning, but is a great medium. If you embed cloth or wire in it, it can have quite a bit of structural strength. I once built a large bed in the shape of a shell out of plaster..

[soongsc]

Originally posted by ShinOBIWAN


Wouldn't you need a mold to create the styrofoam mold? Modelling clay or similar might be better since you could shape this by hand, templates and basic tools.

This is what I'm looking at building, its a rough and incomplete sketch so you'll have to use your imagination a little

Looks very much like the "Ultimate Monitor"

[56oval]

Hello Shin,

You could make a mould out of expanda foam .Make a rough skeleton out of chicken wire spray expanda foam over and use
a rasp file to shape it ,use car body filler to smooth it out .
Then use a fibreglass chopper gun to make a female mould .
Either hand lay it or use a chopper gun to make the positive shape .
Boat builders and surf board makers would be able to help .

Cheers .