While strolling through the Lowes one day...

[mashaffer]

looking for less expensive materials for making speaker enclosures I came across a couple of items that look like they might be good for a set of open baffles.

One was 3/4" particle board underlayment. It has much bigger chunks (slivers) of wood than MDF but is half the cost. Seems like it would be OK at least for open enclosures (is that an oxymoron? ).

The other was some sort of dense foam insulation board with a mylar like coating on the outside (polycyano...somethinorother). It came in 1/2" and 3/4". It is not as rigid as the underlayment but is light and seems strong enough for OB but might not be good enough for a regular box enclosure.

I tried to search for some discussion of this because I figure it must have been discussed before but I really didn't find much of anything. My apologies if I missed it.

Any thoughts on using either of these less expensive options?

mike

[Andersonix]

Another reason to make open baffle speakers: less material.
Concrete's cheap. PVC's cheap. Have you seen the narrow MDF in the trim section? Seems pretty easy to work with.

[dnsey]

One was 3/4" particle board underlayment.

Sounds like what we call OSB (oriented strand board). Good stuff for cheap structures of any sort, but watch out for the splinters It looks interesting stained, too, and is available in a waterproof grade.

[mashaffer]

Sounds like what we call OSB (oriented strand board). Good stuff for cheap structures of any sort, but watch out for the splinters It looks interesting stained, too, and is available in a waterproof grade.

This stuff was a little bit sturdier than OSB with smaller slivers. Sort of intermediate between OSB and MDF.


mike

[Ron E]

Particle board works fine, makes less dust when machined than MDF, but swells and disintegrates even worse than MDF when it gets wet. It needs to be sealed for both sealed and vented enclosures, as it is really porous, but many manufacturers use it......

[Cal Weldon]

Particle board aka K3. Much different from OSB.

Used it for many years before MDF came along. Used to be 1/3 the price of plywood. Not so good at holding screws, sucked up the glue on end cuts big time. Broke if you looked at it the wrong way.

[dnsey]

Ah! Chipboard

[polkymon]

I use 1 1/8" MDF from Lowes. It comes as a stair piece in a 4 ft length and 12" wide with a rounded edge and costs about $7.50.

Its very dense and I use it for baffles and bottoms.

[Andersonix]

Originally posted by polkymon
I use 1 1/8" MDF from Lowes. It comes as a stair piece in a 4 ft length and 12" wide with a rounded edge and costs about $7.50.

Its very dense and I use it for baffles and bottoms.

Maybe someone should start a thread about what kind of cabinet to make from it. Or have they already?