Indian equivalents of the following DIY items.

[ssSai]

Hello Fellow DIYers.

My name is Sanathan and I am from Bangalore.

I have got a few questions. Hope some one answers.

"Weather Stripping"
"Caulking"
"Polyester Fiberfill - for stuffing a sub up"
"Polyurethene Glue"
"Silicone Glue"

Any help will be very helpful for me in finding these things here.

Bye.

[ashok]

Hi ssSai,
I am not going to give you sources for the materials you listed. I don't have a source. However it is apparent that you want
1. A sealant
2. Glue ( for wood work I guess)
3. Acoustic absorbent

The glue we use here is PVA and Fevicol PVA is the most popular one. It is milky white when fresh and tries to a semi transparent stiff (not brittle) mass. Meant for use in woodwork. They have a quick set version which is pale yellow in colour and it dries in something like 10 to 20 minutes. Needs several hours to attain full strength. Normal fevicol takes hours to set and probably 24 hours to attain full strength.

You can also use Fevicol to seal gaps in your woodwork ( from the inside). I guess you want to use caulking for that purpose. I use a mix of fevicol and wood dust to seal all internal joints. Works very well.

For the acoustic absorbent you can use the stuffing in the new generation pillows that cost about Rs150/- each. It is filled with Racron made by Reliance and is the same as Dacron. It will work - how effective it is remains to be seen. Fiber Glass ( acoustic variety) is available in rolls. I used to buy them once . Its very hard to use and leaves your hands full of glass pieces (!) for a long time. It is also known to cause cancer. I never knew at the time. Better avoid it like the plague.
You can also use cotton , especially silk cotton ( highly inflamable) . Get it fluffed up when you buy it. I have used it . I would tend to try and make do with Racron !

Why do you want to stuff the whole box with absorbent ? For a sub you could get away with no absorbent. Better check your design again.
Cheers.

[ssSai]

Thank you for the advice.

The one on caluking was very important, cos I really did not know what it meant.

Well, regarding the last line, I am not stuffing the whole box. I will have to do it by listening after stuffing. Its pretty subjective in nature.

I would like you to give this URL a try, its very informative.

http://www.integracaraudio.com/carau...ces/fiberfill/

[ssSai]

Any thing on the "Weather Stripping", I have seen a pic or two on the net.

They use it to seal the "Driver" to the sub and to do the same for the terminal cup.

[ashok]

Material used for stuffing boxes vary in performance. The best ones are made specifically as sound absorbents. The structure and size of the fibers is crucial. This means that all fibrous filling material will not be equally effective.
Test it out by filling a known box with some material and checking the resonance before and after a fill.
But 30 % increase in volume ? I am not quite sure about that. Getting up to 10 % has been difficult. Maybe the Dacron material is better. You should also keep in mind that all fibrous material has volume and this will reduce the volume of air in the box. This will probably be more significant in small boxes and with more stuffing. Do some tests and you can be sure of the results.

Caulking material.
You get Silicone sealant in long tubes. Costs about Rs150 or so. It is smelly till it sets. Like Fevicol it is pasty ( more viscous than Fevicol ) and sets into a stiff rubbery mass. It is possible to strip it off by pulling it hard ( after setting ) . But you can't do this with flexible and soft base material ( like speaker cones!).

Sealing Driver frames.
You can use foam polyurethane sheets used by the car seat makers. It comes in various colours. The 5mm thick sheet is fine. I use this all the time. They compress fully and seal very well. You don't really need to glue it except to the box to keep it in place.
Cut a 1/2 inch wide strip and stick it all around the edge of teh cut out. Make sure the ends are glued well to avoid a leak. I normally cut the ends at 45 degrees.
Cheers.

[navin]

of the 3 ashok suggested i prefer dacron. fiberglass helps too except it is tough to work with. cotton wool does little at freq below 400hz.

GE silicones sell a lot of caulking compounds in India any building materials store will give you these. dont go to the stores that sell tiles and comodes but to one that sells white cement, fevicol, wood screws, etc...

[Vivek]

I used coir to fill up my DIY speaker boxes. Works well and cheap too. Each 12L box was filled up with coir worth Rs. 2.

[ssSai]

Hi! Navin and thank you for the info. Really this thread is getting better and better for me.

As a new DIYer would do, I went to a store selling plywood and other sorts of wood for furniture. I asked him whether I could get MDF board, and the answer was a odd stare as though I was from MARS, anyway I atleast could convince him that I am no ailen by telling him that the board is made of saw dust and infact they compress saw dust into a board. He then asked me whether I was looking for a "Vertical board". When I had a look at it, the board looked pretty much like MDF (I had seen a closeup pic on the net). I yet need to find a source to get the MDF.


Mr.Vivek, Hi to you too. I would seriously ask you to give a visit to the URL I have posted. Because from what I can infer, you think that by just displacing the air within the subwoofer using anything you fancy you get it to look a lot larger. I really do not think Coir can do anything what Dacron (or whatever FibreFill) can do. Check the URL out and help me out in case I am wrong OK -

I also was fooling around with a software called 3dMax. I tried to visualize my subwoofer. Any criticisms.

[navin]

I have my doubts about coir but I have never used it. Untill one uses it I would not guess.

MDF is common in b'bay. Nuwood is one brand but there many others. If you are using laminate you also get pre laminated MDF albeit only upto 18mm. Try askign for Nuwood. Better still ick up a mag called Society Interiors or similar and look for ads for MDF. many manufactuers advertise in these Interior mags.

[Vivek]

Sai,
Nuwood is very common in Banglore. That is the one I bought to make my speaker boxes. I bought it from a shop in Yeshwanthpur. You can also try in shops in Rajajinagar. Should not be a problem. The 4x4 feet board (18mm) cost me about Rs. 600.
And Sai, there is no Mr. in diyaudio.com.