building a box for a shop

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beatjunkie

Member - Posts: 33

Joined: September 26, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: May 09, 2005 at 10:20 PM / IP Logged

hey guys,

i need some tips. im going to be building and designing boxes for a local shopfor the first time. Ive touched on building boxes before and have a pretty good understanding of hat goes into it. the types of boxes ill be building are vehilca specific and will have fiberglass faces for the drivers. ( so 3/4 of the box will be MDF, the other 1/4 will be fiberglass)

does anyone have any tips? i want to be as professional as possible and need the first box to be as good as the last.

i appreciate any help and tips given. thanks

Velocity Motors

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Joined: March 08, 2002

Location: Manitoba, Canada

Posted: May 09, 2005 at 10:31 PM / IP Logged

Wow, not to flame you on this or anything, but why would you start charging a shop for your services & goods if you don't know how to fabricate properly ? Regardless, if your doing vehicle specific enclosures you need to know the speaker's optimum volume size ( use packing peanuts to obtain this volume ), if your carpeting the fiberglass protion don't waste your time with anything higher than 80 grit on the body filler portion & if yourusing paint for the final finish, I suggest using a sanding block as this is faster and smoother than using a DA sander.

Jeff

Velocity Custom Home Theater

Mobile Audio/Video Specialist

Morden, Manitoba CANADA

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auex

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Joined: December 23, 2002

Location: Arizona, United States

Posted: May 09, 2005 at 11:14 PM / IP Logged

You need to have the vehicle to make a vehicle specific box, at least for the first one to use as a basis or mold. Also if you have no fiberglass experience then you will have difficulty making money selling to a shop. Also in order to make money manufacturing boxes you will need the right tools ie; a router, table saw, DA or right angle die grinder for larger areas, custom blocks for small curves, air nail gun and stapler. This will be alot of work, but it will get easier.

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beatjunkie

Member - Posts: 33

Joined: September 26, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: May 09, 2005 at 11:31 PM / IP Logged

Velocity Motors wrote:

Maybe my post was communicated badly.I actually went to school for car audio and fabrication. i beleive my knowledge of how to build boxes is good enough that i can safly fabricate for a shop. i have not, however, produced boxes in mass quantities like what is going to be expected of me. I am not a "professional" yet, by any means. so there are many thnigs i can still learn.

but hey, you have to start somewhere.i fell i have a pretty good base of knowledge.

i appreciate the comment on sanding. that is the exact type of tips im looking for. the boxes i have built, so far, have been for single subs and ive carpeted them all.

some questions i should have asked..

is the shop responsoble for suppling all the tools?

on average,or in your opinion how many man hours would a shop expect an installer to have a dual 10" box made?(like i described abuve, 3/4" MDF, 1/4 fiberglass)

As for the final sanding stages. what grit sand paper should be used for a surface that is going to be painted?( i beleive its 80,400,1000?)

thanks

beatjunkie

Member - Posts: 33

Joined: September 26, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: May 09, 2005 at 11:38 PM / IP Logged

auex wrote:

yes.we have the vehicles. the first one will be a VW R32. i plan on fitting the box against the back seat.The box will be for two 10 inch drivers and will have a fibergalss front that will have to be prepped( by me) for paint. Its the first project i am taking on for this shop.

As far as power tools, they have alot. the only one they dont have is a table saw, and since i dont think i jgsaw isa good idea lol, im gonna go ahead and buy a table saw out of pocket.

Ren92

Copper - Posts: 56

Joined: September 26, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: May 10, 2005 at 12:20 AM / IP Logged

I would think if you are going to be a out source for that shop then you are your own company, so I would say you need to buy your tools.I installed for 10 yrs for a shop in town and if I ever wanted a tool (nail gun,staple gun,jig saw ect.) I bought it myself. I don't understand why a shop would source that out, why not just hire you part time.

audiomechanic

Silver - Posts: 388

Joined: November 09, 2002

Location: United States

Posted: May 11, 2005 at 10:39 PM / IP Logged

in a freelance situation, you are "usually " responsible for tools associated with what you are doing. but in some cases, the cost of special tools,supplies or materials can be negotiated. talk to the owner or person you are dealing with and see if they will at least pitch in on the cost of the tools you need. if not you can incorperate it into the projects.

you need to figure out the time it will take you, the material cost and any out sourcing (like paint) that you will need. then figure in the profit. that will get you in the ball park of how much you should charge.

most of the time a shop will charge a set amount for a box like that. as an example a shop i worked at would charge 150-200 for a basic sealed box. then add on for the extras like ported, different coverings, or additional subs. fiberglass was estimated on the amount of time it "should" take at 50 an hour.

it will definatly be to your advantage to make as many molds and jigs for things as possible. that wat it will over time speed things up and make you more efficient which makes you more money. when a car comes in to their shop and you already have a mold of the floor or back wall or what ever, you can have parts already made, or a mold for them so you can whip them out in a couple hours and still charge the same amount. which means more money for you. also make as many documentations as you can for each car and file them away so you will always have them. each car has a lot of diffterent features or options for them and might not work with a box you have built before. if you CAN have a box that will work with all the options of a make and model of vehicle.

well, that is enough to get ya going

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building a box for a shop

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