Balsa

How many of you guys have used Balsa wood on your boxes...   im currently working at a yacht company and they put the gel coat down, then a layer of glass, then the balsa (soak it in resin) then put another layer of glass on top.

if its strong enough for some 50+ foot boat breaking though the waves, its strong enough for a sub, right?

My guess....?     YES!

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Balsa soaked in resin would become very strong and handle quite alot of stress.  Im going to try this out at work 2morra now, to see just how stong it will be.  The extra layer of glass on each side is going to add even more strength. I would say that provding the balsa is of ample thickness (not the flimsy 1.5 or 3mm stuff) that it could hold quite well

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Clarion DB36MP
Infinity Kappa Perfect 10"
Respone 800w Mono
ALPINE MRP-F250
*Custom fabrications*

neighbor 'cross the street is making a kayak using the same concepts... there's barely a layer of glass over everything. forgot to ask him if he stretched cloth over it, cause its actually translucent. it won't be when he paints it, but i rapped my fist against it and it was REALLY solid, extremely thin and very well made. was surprised to find it over there. hehe. he said he used ash for all the main supports though, for the strength, but balsa was used everywhere else for the shapes.

i swear to god i posted here last night...

anyway...i would assume it would be strong enough...but getting all the crazy curves people like out of a fiberglass project would be extremely difficult out of balsa...balsa wood doesnt do complex concave and convex shapes all that well...large flat panels and gentle curved panels would be good though...

not sure about sound transmission through the balsa panels though...i am going to guess it would be no where near close to MDF...and for that reason i will stick with my MDF and fabric build ups, covered in mat...

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Fiberglass Guru.

well, the balsa they use on the boats is about an inch thing, they are 2x2 inch squars all hooked together with a mesh of some kind on one side, so they do get the gental curves.

i was more suggesting it to you guys for the bottoms of your boxes and sides that are unseen, so you can do it alil quicker.

as for the boats. they have 12" subs in them, clarion i beleive, and sounds good.   if you go in the base of the boat its hard to hear waves crash, atleast compared to other boats i have been in.

we would probably need something alil thinner then this, since its not gunna be THAT much pressure.

Soak enough resin in, then yes it can easily handle the subwoofer application. The trick will be making sure enough resin is soaked in.

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