Making
custom speaker
rings can be a quick way to save some money if you are willing to spend
a little time setting up. In this guide I will explain
the steps to making a basic ring as well as a recessed ring.
Before you start, you need to make yourself a guide tool.
You can free-hand cut your rings but for the most
professional
results you need a guide. The guide is just a piece of stock
aluminum with the Roto-zip mounted on one side with
staggered holes drilled down its length. If you do not have a
Roto-Zip you can do the same with a jig saw.
For the
first cut you
will cut out a large circle in MDF. For a basic mounting ring
for
a subwoofer or any other speaker, you need to make the circle at least
one inch larger than the largest part of your speaker. For a
12"
sub woofer you need to cut out a 13" circle. This means you
will
use the hole in the tool that is 6 1/2" from the cutting bit.
Once you have your distances checked put a small screw
through
the correct hole leaving enough of the screw out to allow the cutting
jig to freely spin.
The next
step is to make the inside cut. This cut needs to be at least the size of
the
speakers basket. For a 12" speaker this is usually about 11", meaning you set your guide at 5.5" and repeat the steps above.
If you are making basic
mounting rings for something like kick-pods or deck speakers you are
done.
However in some instances such as spare wheel well mounting, a
flush fit is needed. For that you need to cut a second ring.
The inside cut will be the size of the speaker and the
outside
cut should be ~1" larger than the outside cut on the previous ring.
So in this example the second ring has an inside dimension of
12"
and an outside dimension of 14"
Once you
are sure all
of your measurements were correct, sand down any rough spots on your
rings. If you are using T-nuts to hold your speaker now is
the
time to install them.
With your
two rings
cleaned up, now is the time to assemble them. Apply wood glue
around the entire ring before you nail them together.
Using a
very fine
finishing nailer or finish nails, nail the piece together in 6-8
places. The nails are used to keep the piece from shifting
until
the glue has a chance to dry.
Finally, check the fit of your speaker. If slight adjustments
need to
be made it is easy to do so at this time. Sandpaper will enlarge the hole
slightly if you mis-measured.
