Help!

[NINfan]

Hi I'm new to this forum, and speaker design in general. Anyway, I've been researching it for the past 2 months in preperation for my frist project, which has me pretty excited. here's what i plan on building(and am budgeted for)

http://www.partsexpress.com/projectshowcase/dayton2way.html

The circuitry does'nt really worry me much, I've just finished a 2 year diploma in electronics engineering. The enclosure is the part that concerns me. The site seems kinda vague to me. I've picked up my 3/4" MDF. I have some questions, sry if they sound kinda dumb, but I'm a newb to this.

1. First, should I just use carpenters glue to put it together?

2.Next, I'm not sure how to design an "H-brace", I know what it looks like, but I have no idea what my dimensions should be for this box and where I should place it.

3.Should I stuff the box with something before I seal it, or can I just put the components inside.

4.This is a circuit question actually, what should I put the circuitry on, a perph board? maybe get a PCB made if possible, anything else?

5.Porthole!, its driving me insane, can I just use a PVC and glue that inside the box, how big of a port hole should I drill?

6.How big should the holes be for my woofer and tweeter?

thanks for reading this and assisting me in advance

 

[NINfan]

came up with some other stuff also, like what guage of wire should I use to make the internal connections?, and since these spkrs are'nt selfpowered, and I'm feeding the audio from the soundcard of my PC to them I should probably have an amplifier of sometype bettween them right?

 

[chainenoble]

carpenters glue is find,would not worry to much about an h-brace in such a small box.you can stuff the box before or after.just use mdf for the croosover and just use some speaker wire inside the box.to use pcb and costly wire in such a cheap kit is a waste-your better of spending extra money on a better kit.you can use pvc pipe and glue it to the inside of the box.
if you look up the drivers at parts express they tell you the overall and cutout diameter.
yes you will need an amp

glen

 

[NINfan]

thanks, for laying the parts down on an mdf board is there any type of special glue I should use, or maybe electrical tape?

 

[chainenoble]

use silcone.that way if you need to make changes to the crossover,it's easy to remove

 

[Stocker]

Let the silicone cure before installing drivers... the fumes can eat foam surrounds.

 

[NINfan]

thanks for all the help so far guys, before I paint my boxs I need to sand them down, I'm really un experienced witha sander and don't want my boxs to come out uneven and ugly so shoudl I just use sand paper and take my time with it?

 

[AndrewT]

Hi,
when you find sand paper report the supplier to the authorities for trying to give you cancer. But seriously you can use glasspaper or aluminium oxide paper or garnet paper. All are available in various grades although I would use garnet only for the finishing of real wood surfaces.
If you intend using power sanding try to find open coat types because they resist clogging better.
If you have butt joints at the corners you may be quicker planing or belt sanding down to a flush finish, hand sanding a slightly proud edge will take longer than your patience will last.

 

[NINfan]

thanks, well I'm having another issue, the speaker should be 7.5" wide taking into account the thickness of the wood which is 3/4" my bottom, top, and back panels are 6" wide. I Drew a diagram and gave it to the people at my hardware store, I was being dumb and for some reason I wrote 5 instead of 6(I know I know I'm sorry), so now my speaker is thinner then it should be but the front panel is still 7.5" wide, everything behind it adds up to 6.5". Anyway would it be safe to cut the front piece down from 7.5 to 6.5, or should I redo all the pieces that are'nt correct??I've checked and my woofer and tweater should still be able to fit.

 

[NINfan]

also, I was originally going to go with the DAYTON DC28F-8 1-1/8" SILK DOME TWEETER from parts express and was going to order my stuff tonight, apparently they are'nt getting them till july 1st this is the second time theres been a delay, anyone know any tweaters that would make a good alternative? or another place to purchase the dayton one from?

 

[fivaxis]

On the port, that requires some math I would download WinISD it will help you figure out the tuning frequency. There are 3 factors that will determine the frequency, 1 internal volume (not counting component and port displacement) 2 port area 3 port length If you just drill a hole and stick some PVC in it you never know what you'll get, and the tuning frequency is pretty important.

 

[NINfan]

k fixed my box issues, everything is the right size now, tmrw I'm gluing it together, should I use screws or just carpenters glue? also I read somewhere if I avoid bracing the box that it could lead to distortion

 

[AndrewT]

Hi,
are you using MDF?
If MDF then glue and screw. You need long coarse threaded screws to grip into the end grain of the MDF and you must pilot drill the end grain to help prevent the board splitting.
Glue works very well for MDF when face to face but the dust retained on the end grain reduces the strength of the corner joints.