Table Tuba build by a car stereo guy

[Charles Warwick]

I like the finish, what did you use/do?

[shawn_g]

Looks good! I really like the detail on the edges. Have any more pictures of the finished mouth bracing?

[Jason]

I wrapped it in 3 different kinds of black vinyl material for the finish. The front/top/back/bottom is a single piece of a regular low sheen black vinyl that we use pretty frequently. The grain & sheen looks very similar to mercedes leather, but this material is much easier to stretch and it's quite a bit cheaper. After the enclosure was built I cut some 3/8" strips of mdf 3/4" wide & wood glue'd & nailed those to the sides of the enclosure kinda like a picture frame. This gives each side a 3/4" lip 3/8" deep. Then I made inserts that fit into the recessed sides out of 1/4" mdf. The edges were done with a hand held laminate trimmer/router with a 1/2" chamfer bit, the corners merge the way they do automatically as you chamfer them. All the screw holes were filled with bondo & most of the screws were left in & filled over except where they were on an edge that was going to be chamfered-those were removed before they were filled so the chamfer bit wouldn't hit the screw heads. (router bits don't like that very much) the sides were covered in a black "hammered" vinyl typically used in boat upholstery, the texture is very interesting. Inside where the woofer is was wrapped in a black "woodgrain" looking vinly that's kinda like a black vinyl that is overlaid with a suede-ish feeling woodgrain. Its pretty neat stuff. Each panel that comprises the woofer chamber was covered individually before the final enclosure assembly. The 4 bars at the horn mouth are just 1/2" steel roundbar that was scuffed over with a red scotchbrite pad & cleared with a low luster clear so they wouldn't rust. 1/2" holes were drilled in the sides & the bars were pushed through & CA glue'd on the ends before the enclosure's side inserts were glued on using weldwood contact adhesive-which is the same glue used to hold the upholstery on. The border around the woofer cutout was made using alternating layers of 1/2" and 1/4" black plexiglass and .002 (iirc) aluminum sheets-I have detailed pix to explain this process that i'll be posting. I made the bars for the horn mouth to discourage my cats from climbing into the enclosure lol. I didn't want to use a traditional "grill" approach, I thought this would be different yet functional without obstructing the horn mouth.

[SeisTres]

I wrapped it in 3 different kinds of black vinyl material for the finish. The front/top/back/bottom is a single piece of a regular low sheen black vinyl that we use pretty frequently. The grain & sheen looks very similar to mercedes leather, but this material is much easier to stretch and it's quite a bit cheaper. After the enclosure was built I cut some 3/8" strips of mdf 3/4" wide & wood glue'd & nailed those to the sides of the enclosure kinda like a picture frame. This gives each side a 3/4" lip 3/8" deep. Then I made inserts that fit into the recessed sides out of 1/4" mdf. The edges were done with a hand held laminate trimmer/router with a 1/2" chamfer bit, the corners merge the way they do automatically as you chamfer them. All the screw holes were filled with bondo & most of the screws were left in & filled over except where they were on an edge that was going to be chamfered-those were removed before they were filled so the chamfer bit wouldn't hit the screw heads. (router bits don't like that very much) the sides were covered in a black "hammered" vinyl typically used in boat upholstery, the texture is very interesting. Inside where the woofer is was wrapped in a black "woodgrain" looking vinly that's kinda like a black vinyl that is overlaid with a suede-ish feeling woodgrain. Its pretty neat stuff. Each panel that comprises the woofer chamber was covered individually before the final enclosure assembly. The 4 bars at the horn mouth are just 1/2" steel roundbar that was scuffed over with a red scotchbrite pad & cleared with a low luster clear so they wouldn't rust. 1/2" holes were drilled in the sides & the bars were pushed through & CA glue'd on the ends before the enclosure's side inserts were glued on using weldwood contact adhesive-which is the same glue used to hold the upholstery on. The border around the woofer cutout was made using alternating layers of 1/2" and 1/4" black plexiglass and .002 (iirc) aluminum sheets-I have detailed pix to explain this process that i'll be posting. I made the bars for the horn mouth to discourage my cats from climbing into the enclosure lol. I didn't want to use a traditional "grill" approach, I thought this would be different yet functional without obstructing the horn mouth.

Wall of text? TL;DR

[Radian]

I made the bars for the horn mouth to discourage my cats from climbing into the enclosure lol. I didn't want to use a traditional "grill" approach, I thought this would be different yet functional without obstructing the horn mouth.

I suspected that. Looks like a good idea. Let us know how it holds up. For whatever reason, cats love rooting around inside the horn mouths.

[88h88]

I made the bars for the horn mouth to discourage my cats from climbing into the enclosure lol. I didn't want to use a traditional "grill" approach, I thought this would be different yet functional without obstructing the horn mouth.

I suspected that. Looks like a good idea. Let us know how it holds up. For whatever reason, cats love rooting around inside the horn mouths.

We had to rescue the house cat as he'd managed to get himself half-fallen inside one of the T39s which was stood on end with the mouth towards the top. The panic in his eyes when he realised he couldn't climb out was actually pretty funny. Contemplated switching on the sub and firing him out across the room but was told that would be 'cruel'.

[subharmonic]

First off welcome and love the build

I've noticed that in general, we car audio folk tend to get a bad rap in home audio circles.

I would assume this is from the balls to the walls approach that many car audio guys have for sound, honestly I rolled my eyes a bit reading the title of this thread. Loud one note wonders are the going thing for most of the CA guys. Although this next statement is true of all audio industries, fierce brand loyalty and marketing department cool aid drinking seems a bit stronger there too.

Here in this forum it seems to be looked at of who wants to learn/help and who "thinks" they know what to teach. There have been many that come and go batshit crazy about the superbass spouting db numbers, you guys don't understand I want extreme bass, blah blah blah, but actually open their minds to learn some. Of course like any community there are all types and of course we are on a BFD branded forums so most of conversation is directed back at BFD, but anyone with a open mind can get a great education here.