Substitute for PolyFill ? (1 Viewer)

[Scott Simonian]

Guess what? Im finally going to be starting the building of my first DIY sub in a couple of days. YAY! Ill be ordering my Tempest, AVA250, and (2)ports this weekend.
Ok, today I bought the MDF, screws, Liquid Nails, and some speaker wire for the amp to the driver. Besides the components from Adire, all I need is some dampning material. My friend insists that I just go with fiberglass but I remember hearing from some HTFers that fiberglass could come out the port and it could possibly damage the amp and driver. I dont know if thats true but Id rather play it safe. My dad said I should be able to find PolyFill at a craft store. I dont know about that. I looked at Lowes and they just had HUGE blocks of fiberglass, no PolyFill.
Is it okay to use fiberglass or is there another substitute?
Oh yeah, the cabinet Im making it the same for the Tempest Adire Alignment. With the polyfill in, should I still put some dampning material on the internal cabinet walls?
As soon as I start building the cabinet, Ill open up a thread for this project. Ill take some pictures.

 

[Brian Bunge]

Scott,

Your dad is right. You can find polyfil at a craft store, but not a hardware store. Think Michael's, Joann's Fabrics, etc. As a matter of fact, go to Wal-Mart.

I've heard that fiberglass can be bad for the driver. Something about getting into the voice coil or something. But I've mentioned this before and I think it was Greg Monfort that stated he'd used fiberglass for years with no negative effects. I still prefer polyfil as it's less messy. Although, for your needs (a ported sub) I'd think poly batting would be better. It's the same material, but it's in sheets instead of stuffing. Use it to line the walls. I don't really think you'd need to "stuff" the enclosure unless the plans called for actually stuffing X ounces of polyfil in the enclosure.

Also, what's the Liquid Nails for? You're not using this for gluing the cabinet together are you? IIRC, it's not recommended for that use. You'd be better off with regular yellow carpenter's glue. The glue joint will actually be stronger than the MDF itself. You won't get the glue joint apart without damaging the MDF.

Hope this helps!

Brian

 

[Scott Simonian]

Also, what's the Liquid Nails for? You're not using this for gluing the cabinet together are you?

Oh my goodness no! Im not totally sure what Ill be using it for. The instructions said that I needed some. I will be using wood glue to put the MDF together. Plus 1 1/2" screws.

 

[Hank Frankenberg]

You don't really need screws for cabinet assembly, believe it or not. As Brian pointed out, good old PVA carpenter's glue (Elemers, Titebond, etc) will give you a joint that's stronger than the wood itself. Screws add labor hours.
Have fun and enjoy subwoof nirvahna!

 

[Brian Bunge]

Screws add labor hours.

Especially when they split your MDF even with pilot holes.

NEVER AGAIN!

Brian

 

[Scott Simonian]

Hmmm, well the instructions I got have screws used int them. Its on the Adire website.
http://thend.org/~dannydigital/tempesthowto.html
Crap! Im supposed to start building this cabinet today! All I care about is the sub being well built.

 

[Patrick Sun]

With the right amount of clamps and glue, YOU DO NOT NEED SCREWS!!!