Looking for ideas for bracing a lightweight enclosure

[owdi]

I hate working with fiberglass, so I've been thinking of a way to build a lightweight enclosure out of 1/4" thick MDF. I think I can pull this off by using two ten inch woofers facing away from each other, attached to each other with long screw rods. This would cancel out the mechanical forces, greatly reducing the stress on the walls of the enclosure.

That leaves pressure. I want to go ported, so this enclosure would require extensive bracing to keep the walls from vibrating. I haven't come up with a good material for bracing yet, any ideas? Fiberglass reinforced 1/4" mdf could work, but I hate hate hate the smell of resin.

Will use two Peerless CSX 10 inch woofers (6.8lbs each), and an alpine class D monoblock (about 5lbs), in a 3.5 cu. ft. vented enclosure. I'm willing to spend about $10/lb to reduce weight. As you probably guessed by now it's for my car.

Dan

 

[Volenti]

You need to source some concrete forming tube, it's like a thick cardboard tube, the diy guys use it a lot for home subs. I have also used large diameter pvc pipe for car enclosures with good success, both options are light and inherently strong.

 

[sreten]

Hi,

An idea I've been toying with is PVA reinforced cardboard matrixs.

Something like 3" cubes with 2" circular holes in each face. Each
section dipped and left to dry in dilute PVA and then normal PVA
being used to assemble and glue in place the matrix in the box.

Your box sounds like an ideal application.

/sreten.

 

[bwaslo]

I've always wanted to try aluminum extruded "angle iron", epoxied inside the panels on one edge, to break the surfaces that flex into smaller areas. Might be worth a look, they have the aluminum stuff at some hardware or building supply houses.