RL-P18 meets the "DOH! button" - Page 3

Ah... that makes perfect sense. Thanks for the tip!


Great price on that bit. I paid about $120 for mine, Amana part #49526.

http://www.toolmarts.com/ama_49526.html

Gotta clean up here. Covered from head to toe in MDF dust. I'll post another picture or two in the next hour.

Thanks for the link. I have a cross cut sled the previous owner of the saw made, so it sounds like the same principle just needs to be applied to a jig for larger panels.

I just posted the link to the bit I have (above), but it's twice the price of the one Mark got!

Here it is... the fruits of my labor, and damn near enough to build two 17 ft^3 (net internal volume) subs:





May not look like much, but damn was it a lot of work! I'm finally ready to start gluing.

On a side note, my flush trim bit isn't looking so hot! To think it was sparkly fresh and new just a week and a half ago.





Sure do have a LOT of scraps left over. Already thinking about what I can make out of these leftovers.

Thanks, Rob. Sounds like a win-win situation to me, 'cause I can use all the "moral support" I can get here!

I finally started the gluing process last night! On the left is one of the front panels and the driver support panel. On the right are internal braces and side panels that are getting an extra disc of MDF glued onto them to support the big 1.5" radius flare.

Hey... it works!

Progress is slow, but I managed to cut some more circles and glue the 4 port tube support rings to their respective panels tonight. After the glue dries, I'll stick a small section of port tube in there for the bearing to ride on and bust out the mambo 1.5" radius router bit.

Don't worry. I measured carefully pretty carefully.

In this drawing you can see the other edge of the flare in the center of the brace. There's 5/16" inch of extra space around the flare. Also, at the flare's edge it is not "deep" at all (very little material is removed).



Flare cross section:



Again, there's at least an extra 1/4" of material around the large half of the flare not shown in the above picture, so I should be OK.

Thanks, price3... I appeciate that.

Avus... if you ever find yourself in the Seattle area, you're welcome to drop by and check out the subs.

Next up on my "to do" list is building a riser for the rear row of 5 HT recliners. After that I am looking forward to having people over for movies and other "house shaking" festivities.

I was just out in the garage test fitting panels in preparation for gluing them together. It's pretty exciting to see it all starting to come together and starting to look like a real subwoofer enclosure, so I have to post a few "teaser" pics!

The flares are done! The first one was iffy but the next 3 came out great.



This the first one I did that got a little buggered up. Not too bad. You can't really see the mistakes I made in this picture.





I gotta say... the camera (a Canon EOS-20D in this case) just doesn't do justice to the flares. The look much larger and have more depth in "real life". Yeah, the big-ass router bit was expensive, but the end result is really sweet.

I picked up a big (3.75 quart) can of Duplicolor truck bed liner, plus an aerosol can of the same. Seems like a lot of guys are using it to finish off their subs. I'm not concerned with these subs being "pretty" with a veneered or piano-black gloss finish. I'm going for something rugged and black. Might even spray the top with a flat black (on top of the bed liner) or lay some black felt on it to eliminate any light reflection from the projector as the subs will sit right below my 110" diagonal screen.

No idea on the riser! I need to do some testing and figure that out.

Hiding imperfections sounds exactly like what I need!

Speaking of which, I just got done gluing the braces and rear panel together (to the bottom and front panels). I wasn't thinking clearly and then started to panic a bit as the glue started to set and I was still trying to get things lined up and get clamps in place. Of course glue is oozing out everywhere, so I'm trying to wipe that up too. *deep breath*

The situation easily could have turned into a total trainwreck. I guess I'm lucky the brace panels are only slightly misaligned, maybe a 16th of an inch too far to one side where they meet the rear panel. Now I'll have to modify the end braces to compensate.

Well... live and learn. I'll do definitely do better on the 2nd sub box. More clamps would sure help since I'm not using screws or nails.

I've been fighting a nasty cold for the past few days so progress has been slow. I think I shot myself in the foot here with using some construction adhesive (Liquid Nails "heavy duty") on the port tube. It's nasty stuff. Hard to wash off and apparently very difficult to sand smooth. I have some gaps where the port tube meets the flare that need to be filled and made smooth, so I'm not sure what to do with that. Maybe use some Bondo?

The OTHER problem I have is a misaligned side panel. Once again, I didn't realize it was misaligned so badly until it was too late and the glue had set. Not sure how I am going to deal with it yet. Too depressed, embarrassed, and frustrated to post pictures right now.

Not sure about what the proper way to do the polyfil is. My plan is to line the walls of the box and maybe glue some to the port tube also, using 3M 77 spray adhesive. I do not intend to put much polyfil near the interior end of the port tube. Don't want to obstruct airflow.

The Avalanche 18 has this almost "legendary" reputation and many people will tell you it is the superior driver, with cleaner output (less distortion) than other choices like the RL-P18. But I'm not sure about things like warranty and product support. The RL-P18, on the other hand, is OEM manufactured by TC Sounds and warrantied/supported by Sound Splinter.

Yeah. Can't disagree... the price sounds right on those Avalanche 18s, if they are indeed new in the box. I would be tempted if I didn't already have the RL-P18s. Either way, I think you'll be a happy camper.

If you intend to buy two 18 drivers, I think you can still get the RL-P18s for $325 each plus shipping until October 31st. Just e-mail Mike and ask for the "original" pricing since they have the new and not-so-improved pricing up on the web site. Mine were $705 delivered (to Tacoma, WA). Like I said, you can't really go wrong either way. The Avalanche 18, by all accounts, is a superb driver. Likewise, I've not heard of even a single RL-P18 owner that is less than completely satisfied.

I think it's a matter of burning the candle at both ends. Staying up late, working on the sub, slurping down the microbrews, then getting up and hitting the "coffee button", rushing off to work, picking the kid up from daycare, hitting the gym... later, rinse, repeat. Stress and fatigue takes a toll on the ol' immune system.

I think you're too kind... because now I have newfound respect for what goes into the subs that guys like eD and SVS crank out! At this point, I feel that the overall build quality on my project is just "OK". Not too bad for a novice, but definitely not up to professional or commerical production standards.

All that said, I appreciate the enthusiasm and support! Seriously. It helps a lot to log in to AVS and see people that are really interested in and supportive what you are doing when you are having one of those "WTF was I thinking?!" moments.


I'll easily have $2K (and a LOT of work) into this project if you count the cost of the tools. So I would never fault anyone for buying a A7-900, a PB13U, or a Conquest. On the other hand, none of these products offers a 17 cubic foot enclosure (or larger) per driver and the low end extension that affords. The A7-900 comes close but the box is still pretty "small" for a pair of high excursion 18 inch drivers.

So... due to popular demand, here are some new pictures:

All four sides glued on:


Port tube all glued in: (Just say "no" to Liquid Nails. Sticky/messy stuff and very difficult to sand.)


View of the sub's front and left panels:


The Tunnel of Infrasonic Love:


Here's the upper front right corner that I buggered up. Follow the top edge of the sub from the right to the left. On the right side of the picture, you see the top panel is raised slightly. On the left, it's almost flush. Well, it was supposed to be slightly raised the entire way across the front (to be consistent). Amazingly, the panel seems to sit nicely on all four side thanks to its own weight, so there's no visible "gap" to fill. Go figure.


A better way to illustrate the mistake... here is the upper front right corner viewed from the side:


The right side looks GREAT if you didn't realize it should actually should look like just the left side, pictured here:


Here's an pic of the whole enchilada with the top panel set (not glued) in place. In you've forgotten, the box is 26" high, 30" deep, and 49" wide: