alright, just going to show you step by step what i'm doing/did. it's actually pretty fun? lol.
this was my first attempt to fiberglassing kickpanels... they didn't turn out too bad, i just had to throw some fabric on 'em. they were wayyy too big for my liking though, so i decided i'd try something new...
so yesterday i went to the junkyard and bought 2 of these, one for each side obviously (only $5 too, it was pretty cool)
it was pretty dirty, i realized most of the dirt would come off while i was sanding it down, but i decided i'd clean it anyways...
much better... i sanded it down and everything... and then i decided to cut out a ring to screw the speaker to... i layed the ring in a position at about how i wanted to have it when it was time to glass it
then i finally mounted the ring... this is when i started liking the project. it was looking kind of good? lol.
then i glued on some fabric. i don't know what it was called, but it worked wonders. it was thin and stretchy, just the way i like it
that's how it looks right now. i couldn't do anymore work on it because i gotta go get ready from prom
i plan on glassing it tomorrow, and hopefully being able to then sand 'em down. i'll post up more pics tomorrow when i get another chance to work on these. hopefully they'll turn out!
any comments? good or bad?
looks good so far. good luck with it. keep the pics comin
-john
nice man post some more pics when u glass it
"sometimes the respect is more important..."
You know you can buy these, right?
I got a pair from Q-Logic - very nice product.
-Steve
http://www.bluecavcustoms.com
if you glass it your losing the main reason for making your own versus buying the standard q-forms, (wich are okay but not great)
with the ring you should set your speakers into it and put them in the car, then wrap some towels around the speaker and turn the system on. get in the car and listen, adjust the speakers and listen again and angle the speakers to get you the best sound possible. then fiberglass.
other then that your off to a good start
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sndsgood/ https://www.facebook.com/#!/Square1Photography
Make sure that your speaker fits into it when you are done LOL Like that the back of the speaker does not hit anything and now you have a whole kick panel you made that does not work.
only thing i see wrong is you need to use a router....other then that...good progress.
nice looks cool so far post more pics when your done
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You know you can buy these, right?
yes i do know that.. but they cost like $100... why pay $100 when i could make my own for like $5? lol.
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Make sure that your speaker fits into it when you are done LOL Like that the back of the speaker does not hit anything and now you have a whole kick panel you made that does not work.
thanks for the heads up. i know that the speaker fits already though. i made sure it did before i put the fabric over it.
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only thing i see wrong is you need to use a router....other then that...good progress.
lol i know i had to use a friggin jigsaw... you can totally tell when i would zone off and keep cutting... heh... hopefully i'll post up some pics later...
~Cole
alright so it was raining all day so it was hard to get anything done. i did fiberglass it... 2 layers... looks really sloppy though. i ran out of resin during the middle of it so i had to run to the store quick to pick up more. that's probably why. ah well, nothing a little more glass and sanding can't fix
it's kind of hard to make out... i took the pic on a bad angle... ah well...
alright well i do have some experience with fiberglassing... but i've never liked any of my projects enough to actually complete one. when i went back to the store to get more fiberglass, the guy there also told me i should get this and it'll do wonders for me during the final stages... it was one sale for $2 so i decided what the heck.
so i was just wondering what does this do? how do i use it? and when do i use it? why do i use it? pretty much the 5 w's. the store was closing when i bought it so the guy was pretty blunt on his explanation of it.
anyways i didn't get nearly as far on this today as i would've hoped... stupid nature. ah well. there's always tomorrow.
i'll post more pics tomorrow.
~Cole
hey, basicly when all your resin hardens, and whatnot, you take that and slap it into all the deep spots and sand it down to smooth everything out, i'm gonna have to do it to my dash once i'm done the whole deal i'm working on... i'll try to get some pics soon on to show the wip... i had pics before but when the project went into a lul i deleted them... arg, i'll get some pics tonight i think... anyway, hope that helped, L8rs
"I live my life a quarter mile at a time..." "for those ten seconds or less I'm free"
so after i sand down the fiberglass/resin, and i should throw the body filler on, (do i have to wait for it to dry? how long does it take?) and then sand it down and it'll take the big gaps out? that's it? so then keep sanding and then it's pretty much ready for primer?
~Cole
Yea, after you sand down the glass just slap a layer or 2 of bondo on there and smooth it out, let it dry for a while then sand it down till its smooth. you can usually feel ruff spots or dips with your finger. once it is all smooth and lookin pimp, hit it with some primer, i usually do 2 coats of primer wet sanding in between each coat. PREP work is ALL important.
When I fiberglass boxes and such I sand them down... after sanding there are usually not only dimples but it seems you can see the matt itself. So I spread VERY thin layers of body over it to smool it out really nice then I sand smooth to perfection. I HATE F/G!! sanding sucks the mess sucks the fumes suck it all sucks.... You are gonna have a TIME sanding that but I give you props for doing this. You are on your way to a project well learned...
thanks for the heads up sndsgood. your opinion makes me feel better because i know you're really good with audio stuff. lol. so thanks.
anyways how long does it take the dang body filler to dry? some parts of it are rock hard while some remain to be "squishy". it's been drying for nearly 24 hours...
thanks in advance guys... hopefully i'll post up more pics as soon as this crap hardens!
~Cole
Yah im guessing you didnt mix it well enough ....there can be no streaks in the filler..what your getting is streaks that havent hardened cause there was no hardener in them...sand it down however your going to then try to clean out the areas that are soft and reapply filler..ps..we needs pics dude!!!!phil
oh yes pics... lol. well tomorrow i'll try sanding her down, even though it's still not 100$ dry. maybe i'll go get to that now... hopefully i'll have pics up either later tonight or by tomorrow!
alright finally new pics! lol
so i threw more body filler on there... since i realized i didn't mix enough hardner with my first attempt. here's how it looks.
and here's a closer look, incase someone wants a better view... (sorry about the shadow of the tree? lol)
anyways just wanted to update because now i'm waiting for it to dry so posting new pics gave me something to do for 10 more minutes. i think i'm going to go check it out now. hopefully more pics later tonight if i get around to sanding it. other than that, i'll post pics tomorrow! see you guys soon!
~Cole
You should'nt have to build it that high. What you wanna do with that is take car of the low spots. And lay it down smooth. That right there is gonna be about 2 hours of had sanding.
sanding doesn't matter... trust me on this one when i say i definitely effed up when i glassed her. plus i kind of like sanding
dude IMO that is kinda a mess lol but this will get some experience under your belt... the structure and the stretching the cloth looked excellent, but then..... you laid glass and it kinda started goin donwhill from there. you needed to sand the fiber glass almost smooth first, then apply bondo. If you dont you are going to end up just sanding through a bunch of bondo to fix alot of the high spots in the actuall glass. Also tyr to spread the bondo nice and smooth, that store that you went to should sell some applicators they are lil rubber "straight edges",. so you can get and even and straight flow.
Good luck with your project man
here are some more pics...
finally a smooth transition from the plastic to the glass...
and here i just wanted to test-fit it... you know... just seeing how it'd look? (in other words to bring up my self esteem.) lol. the speaker is sagging just a bit because it's not screwed in, but other than that, i think they're coming along...
speaker fits perfectly...
any comments good/bad are most welcome
thanks guys!
~Cole
Am I missing something? I thought the purpose of kick panels was to get more of the sound to your ears, not to the guy in the car next to you
And you really need to mix the body filler better, there were a few pics where I could still see grey.
