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RMAT's HAT L3 A pillar build

20K views 83 replies 33 participants last post by  derickveliz 
#1 ·
Well guys I decded to get my feet wet and start an A pillar build. I'll admit right now that this is the first time Ive ever tried to build anything like this. I'm sure I'll mess a bunch of stuff up, but that's how ya learn. I've already made a bunch of circle cutting mistakes but at least now I can make them :).

Here's what I've got so far. More pics to come.

Yay for Jasper jig


Circles cut and double side tape attached in order to cut into a ring



You can also use double sided carpet tape. It doesn't have a foam inside so the wood sits flush.


Rings done. I used 3/4 MDF






That's it for today.
 
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#4 ·
Suggestion: notch out the back of the rings on the internal side of where the speaker goes. you want the back wave to have as much room as possible. only leave alot of wood at the screw holes if that makes sense.

lookin good :)
 
#5 ·
I saw that tip in your build log and I plan on it. Thanks! I also want to find some plastic like you did so I can wrap it around the edge of the ring in order to make a compression fit grill. I got alot of ideas from your thread :)
 
#8 ·
"Day 2"

Not a good start. Had a bad omen before I even started working. This is my fortune from my chinese dinner. Might be hard to read :surprised:


I say day 2 but it's really like night 2. I'm am working on this about an hour a night after work so this will be super slow build. I'll prolly make some good time this weekend tho. Anyways on to the pics.

Marked off no cut zones.


Chamfered the edges. After inspected I need to go over these again I guess. Never done it before so maybe someone can tell me if it looks ok or not.


 
#9 ·
I also went shopping tonight for build material


Fabric Remnents :)





Found this ruler type thng in the quilting section of a fabric store. I'll use it as an outer ring so that I can make a compresion fit speaker grill. Got this idea from BigRed's hybrid build log.

 
#11 ·
cool work! Methodic and timely...
Take your time, let those L3's breathe and they will reward you! So the rabeting you have done on the back of the baffle looks good. Stick an L3 in there and see how much of the back of the cone you can see. The more, the better :D

ps, avatar, it comes from the down?
 
#13 ·
here's a closer look at the rings with the L3's in it. I always like to get pics with flash and without. Never can have too many pics :)

 
#16 ·
I've used the bondo filler in the past and it did require tons of sanding. I'll have to see if i can find some of the rage products. Thanks for the heads up.


reindeers said:
Looking good so far!!!
Thanks man!
 
#18 ·
I called around for rage gold products and found a place that sales it but it's like $30/gallon.

I'm not in a race to finish this so I think I'll stick with the bondo filler and just do a bit more sanding. I will be covering the pillars with more fabric if I can find a close match to my headliner/pillar material so it doesn't need to be perfect a few pinholes shouldn't hurt.
 
#22 ·
lovenlife said:
Looking good! Definetely go with the Rage Gold, $30 its worth every penny when you see how easy it is to use.
braves6117 said:
Great start to a nice thread. Take your time!!!

Sanding will be your friend, nice and slow
Thanks guys!

UPDATE!!!

Well I got some more stuff done.

I cut two more circles out of 1/4" birch and applied double sided carpet tape to stick them together. The carpet tape has threads of nylon I think so I made sure to leave room so that it wouldn't get tangled in the router bit.


Then after sticking the two cirles together I stuck the combined circles to my table in order to make rings.


Rings finished and tape removed.


After talking with BigRed I scrapped the Plastic ruler idea for the lip and went to a packaging store (fedex/kinkos) and bought a 4" ID cardboard mailing tube.


I ruogh cut the tube smaller. Placed the 2 quarter inch rings on top of my 3/4" ring and leveled it off with the scissors.




 
#26 ·
It's not centered. The router I'm using is an old craftsmen laminate router I "borrowed" from my dad :). It's not mentioned that it can be used with the Jasper jig, but it works off center bit and all.
 
#29 ·
Umm...heh....well I don't know if the Jasper jig is working 100% accurately and as intended, but it is working :). I haven't been checking these cuts with a caliper so I can't say that these cut are perfect. Also, this being my first time ever using it I've messed up a few rings trying to figure out the ID. It's a real piece of crap router. Jasper jigs are designed to be used with a plunge router and this one isn't. It cuts the OD(4" in this case) of the ring fine ,but to cut the ID (3" in this case)I needed to move the peg to the smallest inside cut level which is 2 1/4" and then move the peg up to the 5/8" offset. So if everything is working correctly I would say the is a half inch adjustment when trying to cut the ID with my current setup for this. Again, this might not be how it's designed to work but I'm making it work with what I have :worried: Pics might help explain it.

This is the setup I had to make a little bit larger ID for the grill ring. Peg is on the 3/4" offset.



FrankstonCarAudio said:
A suggestion if you are going to be cutting more circles (baffles etc).
When using the router and doing the usual multiple passes to cut through, set the depth stop to be just short of cutting completely through (1/32" is ok).
This way you can do both cuts (outer and inner) whilst still part of the larger sheet.
Once both cuts are done, use a hobby knife to cut the the rings out, then it's easy to sand the thin edge back to the correct size.

The project is looking good..
Keep the updates coming..

Mark
Thanks for the tip. I would try something like that if i Had a more precise Plunge router which I'll eventually buy. I'll give it a shot next time tho :).

Also I don't think you can have enuff pics in a build log. If there's anything else you guys wanna see let me know and I'll try to get more/better pics if it's possible.
 
#28 ·
A suggestion if you are going to be cutting more circles (baffles etc).
When using the router and doing the usual multiple passes to cut through, set the depth stop to be just short of cutting completely through (1/32" is ok).
This way you can do both cuts (outer and inner) whilst still part of the larger sheet.
Once both cuts are done, use a hobby knife to cut the the rings out, then it's easy to sand the thin edge back to the correct size.

The project is looking good..:)
Keep the updates coming..

Mark
 
#32 ·
Well I have a motto "Can't learn if you don't try" and it seems like I did more "trying" and "Learning" than accomplishing anything. So on to the failure pics. Today was basically a waste except for learning what not to do. Should have just stayed in and posted cat pics. Anyways here's tons of fail pics.











Ended up just ripping this all apart and going a different route.
 
#33 ·
So tommorow I'll will start working off this. I'm making a fiberglass mold of my a pillar and then I'll work off it. It will make mounting/taking in and out of my car much easier.




All I had for release agent was some dish washing detergent. Hope it works :/.
 
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