What to do when your hole is a bit big?

[tommytube]

I've recently finished a small project whereby I've taken a pair of empty Infinity Sterling cabinets and redid them from scratch. The sound of these speakers as they break in is exciting. I'm quite happy. I used the Dayton reference series tweeter RS-28 and the reference series RS225 8" woofer.

My problem is that I had to widen the tweeter hole to fit the 1 1/8" driver and in my zeal with a gasp.....jigsaw and no template.....I cut the hole a bit too big. Two screws on one side get pretty good purchase, but the other two on the other side don't get much if any wood. What to do??? Do any options exist with some sort material that can fill back the piece I cut too deeply on and have a screw still work?

I'd hate to use something as crude as epoxy and glue it in place, but I need some creative ideas on making a hole smaller......cutting it out was the easy part.

[doorman]

Probably any filler your likely to find will be a waste of time. Why not make a new baffle to accept the driver, and mount that over the existing (too large) hole?

[googler]

If you have any scrap wood sitting around you could make a filler piece the shape that you over cut and glue it to an oversized backer piece that would connect it to the baffle. Probably not as good as making a new baffle, but better than nothing.

~Brad

[moray james]

An old German car manufacturer buy trade. Build up your cut out with some "auto bondo" (body filler). These are polyester resin based (fiberglass) and when set can be filed or drilled etc. Regards Moray James.

[synergy]

moray has already posted my first thought - can't beat the stuff i reckon use it all the time for filling in screw holes but only really suitable if you are going to be spraying or veneering over the top


second thought and preferable if they are wood veneered already is to make it detailing ie get some different wood (solid might be nice) cut a triangle or something in both cabinets (use a template this time!) redo the hole in the new bits of wood and glue them in

[wes-ninja250]

Heh, that was my thought as well. It should work pretty good. Make sure you realize that Bondo is a brand-name, and when people use it as a noun, they often mean "Bondo-brand plastic filler". That's NOT what you want. You want the fibreglass filler, which is long haired fibreglass pre-mixed with a polyester resin. It's green.

If in doubt as to your application ability, put it on a bit thick (in thin layers), make sure you don't leave any air pockets, and sand it shape when done. It sands really easily with, say, 150 grit emery cloth. You can also cut it down quickly with a body file blade (looks like a cheese grater).

Wes

[Rodeodave]

Some people are using a brass ring to mount their chassis (by the way, is chassis the same as driver?) onto/into their enclosure.
This should get you some more space.
may be pricy, as far as I know.