Fiberglassing sub box

[dave92cherokee]

I wanted to see what everyone thought and how hard it's going to be when I undertake this project. So ng, paul all of you guys please chime in and let me know what it's gonna take. I am looking at building a sub box in the future for the system I will be getting. The box will be about 10ft^3 net with two layers of 3/4" mdf, all screws and L brackets will be countersunk into the wood so it will be perfectly smooth all around and will use bondo to fill in all the holes and gaps to completely smooth everything out. After that what I plan on doing is I want to completely cover the entire box in fiberglass so I can paint it and clear coat it to give it one hell of a shine. The only part of the box that will not be covered in fiberglass will be the front (which will be recessed 2" to protect sub at maximum excursion) which I am going to have a mirror cut to the shape of the front to outline the slot port and sub and in the middle of the mirror I am going to have the sub emblem frosted in. I have read a few articles online about making fiberglass enclosures but they all talk about using felt and soaking it with resin as they were making enclosures and using the fiberglass for the entire thing. I am thinking it will take about 10 layers of fiberglass to get the thickness and smoothness I want and then use bondo once again to fill in any remaining imperfections and use high filler primer. The painting and bondo work are easy enough for me to do but I've never worked with fiberglass. If any of you guys have any hints, tips, or tricks to doing this project please let me know as I want to know what I will be getting into when I start. Thanks for the help.

[bjboertje]

i dont know anything about fiberglass boxs, but thats sounds like it will be freakin' heavy.

[CBFryman]

so you are building an MDF box and then glassing over it?

[PaulD]

if you covered a box in a thin layer of 'glass ...... whouldn't it chip after a while

[dave92cherokee]

When I build the box I'm going to cut a plate to the shape of the rear cargo area and put some 4"x4" squares of mdf under it to make it stand off for running the wires on as the only place you will see wires is where they come out for the amps and fuse holders. As for the box I will be building it entirely out of MDF and I've got two ideas in mind but I definately want to paint it. I've thought about and checked out of course using bondo to fill holes and create smooth lines but using a couple of coats of a good wood primer and then auto primer and paint and clear coat it, and the other route was cover it with fiberglass then primer and paint. I'm going to be using automotive paint and clear coat and will paint it the same color as the car will be when I get that done so I want that extreme gloss to the box just for added looks inside.

[bjboertje]

I think it would be much better to paint it.

[Pavlo]

Fiberglass is used for building enclosures in an unoccupied space, so that there is enough volume in it, but taking little cargo space. Or in building enclosures with organic lines. Using fiberglass to make it shiny and pretty is stupid, go buy a bandpass box with flashing lights.

[dave92cherokee]

Pavlo first off the box is going to be for a Kicker 18" Solo X dual 1 ohm voice coils, and the sub is not designed for bandpass use. Second where the f$^& do you think you can buy a prebuilt 10 cubic foot bandpass box for a 18" square subwoofer....NOWHERE i've checked. Third even if one was available it would be carpeted and would not fit the space that I need it to fit. I know about fiberglassing and what it is used for and what it can do, I wanted to get the opinions of some of the guys in here who have done it before on probably a large scale to see what they thought if it would be usefull or just a waist of time and get good wood primer and body filler and go from there. Oh and for anyone else wondering what I would paint it I am thinking about going with Hunter Green Bowling Ball effect with small chrome flake and about 6 layers of clear coat on the car so was going to have the same done to the sub box.