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DIY 6x10 Build Thread

#21
With MDF, you're gonna need to brace several times across the interior of the cab I'd think. Ampeg for example, even with their 6x10HLF (plywood) uses huge braces (which I assume have to do with tuning/air movement somehow too), that look like shelves going most of the way back, in between each pair of speakers.

Go buy yourself a sheet of plywood for the baffle, and add some interior bracing. You won't regret it.
 
#22
nebzero said:
I braced wherever two planes met and figured this was structurally sufficient. Where would bracing need to be added? Between the verticals?

Would the bracing simply add sufficient weight to lessen the jumping? I'm just not sure how it would effect it in any other way. Not saying you're wrong, admittedly this is my first cab, just interested in the theory.
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That's where many people put the braces but it's exactly the wrong place. Bracing should be focused on stiffening the centre of panels so they don't flex under internal pressure. So think about running braces across each panel, 2" high strips of ply at right angles will work well, dividing the panels so no more than 8" of span is unbraced. The bracing is there to add stiffness, not weight, it's the vibrating panels that are your problem - stop them wobbling and the box will stop moving AND sound louder and clearer.

If your cab really does weigh only 60-70lbs complete and is made of MDF then it will need a hell of a lot of bracing to be stiff enough to perform anywhere near its potential. I'd expect an unbraced MDF 6x10" to weigh more than double that due to the panel thickness required for sufficient rigidity.

Should be damned loud and fat once its sorted though!

Alex
 
#24
Bracing would be good!

When I was building car audio competition cabinets, some of these 15" drivers were being fed "4000" watts each. To make sure that the box could handle that, we would face glue two perfect pieces of 1" plywood and let them dry for a week to make a 2" thick baffle for the drivers. We would have to pre-cut the holes for the driver, but this worked well.

The whole point of making your baffle as strong as possible is that this board is going to take most of the stress of the design. The woofers are screwed into it and are moving back and forth. This force combined with a weak baffle actually makes the baffle move with the cabinet. Even a little wiggle room, your box could not only be walking all over the place, but flexing back and forth with the driver ruining your tone.

I would use 2x4's and a 1.5" - 2" thick baffle on a box like this. The 2x4s would be placed in-between each pair of drivers and screwed and glued between the front and back. I would do the same with the sides as well. But the thicker the baffle board, the better you can project that air movement from the speakers forward without having the box suck back some of that air.
 
#25
Rugaar said:
What's the final weight? Just curious on how close this estimate was.
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Apparently, I am a horrible judge in weight of giant sheets of MDF. The weight was actually around 100 - 115. We weighed the unloaded cab at ~60 lbs, and the speakers are about 9 lbs each.

It feels surprisingly light for its size though. I can heft it on my own much easier than my 94 lbs 4x10 Gallien Krueger cab. I ended up with a good balance as far as handle placement went. While the actual weight is higher than expected, it feels lighter than the numbers. We weighed it on an old scale we found in a rental house, maybe its inaccurate.

I'm really satisfied with the way it handles, compared to my old cab. I think I'll be able to load myself in and out more easily.
 
#26
Wow, I wish you guys were around before I buttoned this all up!

I'll get to work on some more bracing for it as soon as I have the time to get into the shop!

Like I said before, this was sort of a proof of concept for me and a way to get a better feel for my skill. I'm hoping to actually revise the design and create something better entirely eventually.

This project was super fun, and playing it was more fun yet! The feeling of accomplishment in "I built that" is great.
 
#27
joelb79 said:
I would use 2x4's and a 1.5" - 2" thick baffle on a box like this. The 2x4s would be placed in-between each pair of drivers and screwed and glued between the front and back. I would do the same with the sides as well. But the thicker the baffle board, the better you can project that air movement from the speakers forward without having the box suck back some of that air.
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That's totally ridiculous. HEAV-EEE. And it's NOT just the baffle that needs to be rigid - it's the entire box. Take a look at my girdle bracing design in my bottom sig line. That handles a driver that has more force than the 6 10s likely ever make.

In a bigger box like the 610 box or 810 I would have a girdle at each 210 separation that crosses the baffle as well as the sides and back, and maybe a lightweight airline-drilled front-to-back strut for each one running centered. And maybe add a couple of airline-drilled braces running up the sides between these girdles. Very little impact on the total weight, but very rigid.
 
#31
rpsands said:
Heh, I dunno, but it seems like that big ass shelf would affect the way air moved in between chambers. Maybe someone who knows more could say for sure :)
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The shelf bracing used in the SVT is effective. But it's done that way not because it's the best way to brace but because it's fast, easy and cheap. There are far more effective bracing schemes that have the advantage of allowing greatly reduced cabinet weight, but they aren't used because they require higher labor skills and construction time, and that raises production cost.
 
#32
greenboy said:
That's totally ridiculous. HEAV-EEE. And it's NOT just the baffle that needs to be rigid - it's the entire box.
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It was totally ridiculous. But so was the xmax spec on the speakers we were using (4" peak to peak, and thats not xlim). They had quad 1 ohm voice coils. We would take two amplifiers and bridge them together on each 1 ohm coil. Somewhere around 1000w each coil, limited to 2 second bursts of sound at 55hz with a recovery time for the next burp of 15 seconds. The speakers were moving so much themselves, that the baffle was necessary.

I forgot to add that we would usually pour a layer of fiberglass resin onto the box after bracing it. This dried into a hard epoxy like finish inside that was completely air tight and would hold the bracing to the 1" sides beyond belief.
 
#33
joelb79 said:
It was totally ridiculous. But so was the xmax spec on the speakers we were using {...}
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Sorry, Joel,

When you said, "I would use [etc]" I thought you were suggesting to the OP that he brace to that description, and thus my "totally ridiculous".

But now it's apparent that you were saying that you would and had used that bracing methodology with your comp boxes - which actually required such bracing - bracing well above and beyond what any portable bass cab would ever benefit from.
 
#34
you should have a brace every 12-15" of board length. Since you have it sealed up already, then you could just pass a 2x4 through the baffle and wedge it between the baffle and the back panel. All panels should be braced to another panel though. 6 BP102s move a lot of air, especially down low, as long as the cab is sized correctly. It's only going to get better with driver break-in over time. MDF is pretty heavy, and doesn't have the non-bending strength that multi-ply plywood does, but bracing will take care of that. Adding weight isn't the answer. You can also put it on rubber feet to help isolate it from the floor, which might help keep it in place.
 
#36
joelb79 said:
Sure, but there would be tone reasons to choose a less rigid enclosure rather than a more reinforced. The GS112 vs the DB112 come to mind. Same drivers but totally different sounds, and 100% due to cabinet design.
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Now I'm not sure you understood the context of my statement. Because I'm not advocating "tone reasons" in particular - just bracing for sufficent rigidity so the cab doesn't exhibit excessive vibration as it currently does.

But while we are on the subject, the DB112 adds an inch on one axis which thus affects internal space and might also be tuned slightly different, as well as having a different plywood. Hard to say what's what there ; }

* * *

Someone mentioned MDF versus plywood again. Maybe the only point in favor of MDF of 3/4" and greater is its lesser resonance and good acoustic rigidity. Where weight is not a concern (ie enclosures are not made to be schlepped by musicians) it's not a bad choice because of this.
 
#38
there is only one answer for cabinet covering
ORANGE tolex
nebzero said:
Well, after debating for a few months I decided to bite the bullet and build myself a 6 - 10" ported cab.

I will be using Eminence BP102 drivers for the cab and 3 - 4" dia. ports.

I drew up the specs with a general thought of ~8 cu ft for the cab.

I ordered a used GK 1001RB (not II, FYI) for the thing; and so I can stop having to run my Backline 250 a max just to get a little cut through at practice.

I started with one sheet of 3/4" MDF and the straightest, least knotted piece of 1x4 white for bracing.

3108716186_cd125f7acb.jpg


Then, after getting my cut list meticulously planned out I drew guidelines for my pieces on the MDF to make sure I could get it all out of one piece.

The cab sits 41.5" tall, 24" wide, and 16" deep (thank you to Ampeg for the dimension idea!).

Here are the sides (post notching for the caster) and the back panel:

3108716702_1775659edf.jpg


Then, we (my father and I, he's got the shop) ripped the 1x4 down to 1x1 strips and added the inside bracing:

3108717462_1eea292b4c.jpg


3107883483_b65152650a.jpg


And, finally a pic of me next to one of the sides for scaling purposes:

3108717172_98727d6523.jpg


I had to re-notch the corner so the angles line up.

Here's my questions:

1) Will my new GK head be beefy enough for this cab?
2) Carpet or tweed for the outside?
3) Suggestions?

Hope you all enjoy.

cheers,
Ben
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