Anybody attempted this? Im wondering what material at what infill density would actually work. I can always add sound deadener to the inside of it too. Just not sure if it would work without wood or fiberglass. Its going to be in a hot car, In the hatch area (350z) so maybe only asa-cf would even be worth trying?
I haven’t done it myself but there are a lot of videos out there for it, not sure if any are for auto speakers (I did see one article/video (?) somewhere about tested filaments for making dash board objects and heat related observations, who knows where it is now).
Possibly one of the sites like this
may give you some ideas on how others have gone.
Sounds (no pun intended) like a great project, especially if you plan on contouring it for a custom fit.
Edit: This person did a grill (not the box) and used ABS. Didn’t really look at it close enough to see if he stated his logic for that.
And I have no idea about any sound impact ABS might have if thebox was made from it. I guess that’s where testing comes in.
You’re going to need very high wall count. All walls, no infill (or 100% if there is any). Any flexing of the enclosure will reduce the performance of the speaker.
You don’t see a lot of high-fidelity speakers in plastic enclosures. So I don’t think it will work as well as wood. Even “stiff” plastic is still pretty flexible. Kind of the definition of “plastic”. ![]()
If you deaden the sound inside the enclosure, you’re deadening half the energy the diaphragm produces. You want to let that goodness out. The enclosure should be vented/ported for that reason, and also so the air inside doesn’t act like a big shock absorber and dampen the speaker diaphragm motion, which will also reduce performance.
Especially for a sub, which is low frequency, it’s more than just a box the speaker is screwed in to. Plenty of on-line guides to building your own speaker enclosures. Most of them are going to be wood. But still, poke around for ideas. Find a design in wood that works for you and duplicate it as a 3D print…
Thats my favorite audio guy on youtube.
@RocketSled The sound inside the box cancels out the sound outside the box, unless you bounce it using something like a bandpass or tubed port, its what kills sound. Part of the reason they put insulation in boxes.
I was thinking 1 inch thick abs-gf possibly. I was only thinking about 3d printing them so I can scan the area and make fitted boxes. Vs all the work of wood and fiberglass.
Yeah, with his subject matter and your user name I figured the odds were pretty good it was someone you might already be familar with.
Rocketsled i have a question about this as well. i have a sub box that uses 2 4" Dayton audio TCP115-4 subs and at higher volume i am getting a popping noise and at first i thought it was the voice coil bottoming out but they are only using half of their excursion. could it be the walls of the box flexing that i printed? should i all some supports in the box or do you think some egg carton damping would help?
A soft enclosure will muddy the sound, it won’t make a mechanical interference noise. I suspect your bass is rattling something else that’s loose. Or maybe your amp has an electrical issue. I doubt it’s the enclosure.