This project nearly broke me... Building a 1kW Subwoofer from Hempcrete!

Inspired by the design of the SpaceX Dragon capsule, I set out to mold its shape into a highly functional subwoofer, made with eco-friendly materials!

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[rodanvsandrew]

The mold development is what I find most interesting. I'd be fascinated to see your process for determining and creating the mold pieces.

[therick]

really loving the direction to "use 3d printing for projects" and not just 3d printing!

[thedabblingwarlock]

There's a technique that I remember hearing about for molding stuff like this. You first put on a relatively coat of just plaster on the mold surface, then you let that cure for a bit before adding in the reinforced stuff. it results in a better surface and allows you to make sure you got material everywhere you need it.

Looks cool, though. Definitely one of a kind!

[SianaGearz]

Every German's hobby: building speakers.

I think Germany is the only country in the world with SEVERAL DIFFERENT periodical magazines available at every train station newspaper stand dedicated to DIY building loudspeakers, testing drivers and components etc. I can't imagine otherwise.

[adambakercollege]

You can mix up some plaster as a slurry coat to fill in the any of the surface gaps and imperfections. Plaster is very sand-able and forgiving.

[VincentGroenewold]

Very cool! I personally would've made it easier to fix though, seems more engineering minded that way. :) But unique nonetheless and I like the variety this brings to the channel.

[TheRealCrzychicken]

Just want you to know you saved 3D printing for me.  I have had an ender 3 for a few years and have never gotten great prints from it. Things have broken and been fixed and I've done a couple upgrades, so it seemed like I was working on the printer every time I used it. Add to that the fact that I don't like running my printer when I'm not home so I'm limited to small parts and the whole experience was pretty frustrating and I ended up rarely ever using my printer. Your video "0.4mm nozzles just became obsolete" convinced me to switch to a 0.6. Suddenly I can print small parts in half an hour or 2 hours. And the print quality looks good!? And I am able to print large parts overnight!? And my direct drive upgrade doesn't jam anymore when printing TPU!? So now I'm selling prints (with the correct licenses I promise) to save up for a bambu with an AMS. 

Thank you. Seriously THANK YOU for what you do.

[smellyfis]

Arm chairing engineering here but plaster you have to be really cautious on the clean up because already cured plaster acts as a catalyst to speed up plaster curing. so make sure all surfaces that touch the new plaster is super clean.

[JBernhard]

Shout out to @HexiBase ! Thomas you could have 3d printed the enclosure for a subwoofer!

[klave]

Looks like a good candidate for aircrete/ cellular concrete. Well done for completing this project, very interesting.

[raonipr]

since you have 2 semi-identical subs with a minidsp on the loop i think it would be a great project to use them both to cancel room modes, and btw for normal listening levels plugging the port with dense foam (turning them into sealed subwoofers) and compensating for the low end loss on the minidsp just sounds way better IMO.

[mjcride]

Cool project for sure, but for a better overall appearance, you could have just 3d printed an outer layer and filled using your plaster mix on the inside for the desired density needed.

[Xailow]

Gorgeous design! Really opens up options for speaker designs

[PeterScream]

To anyone interested in building their own speakers:

1. Do not glue your drivers; instead, use screws to mount them. This is essential for easy removal, which allows you to replace and service anything necessary. Moreover, it enables you to further tune the acoustics inside the enclosure.

2. If you decide on an active system (with amplification), use an amp that has twice the RMS power of the driver. This is a rule of thumb, but it definitely applies to subwoofers. You'll want to be able to handle the peak impulse power.

3. There are fantastic enclosures already calculated and optimized for small size and great response. Some may have complex internal structures.

In general, it's fairly easy (if you don’t do something terribly wrong) to build a decent subwoofer. The difficulty lies in building something that performs great, has a small footprint, and is fairly cost-effective in terms of transducer and application.

GL HF

😊

[ZacharyDPrints]

Very very cool video, I love it to see the old recording set from the old days

[GnuMovies]

I would probably have a external amp for this subwoofer since you cannot open it as you said hopefully the amp keeps working for a long time

[nhand]

That's an epic build. I think the plaster with all its imperfections looks fantastic.

[ats]

I'd love a video more about CAD, your work is gorgeous!

[toolsaddiction]

Thats the kind of project i do and im super proud when done and then the GF says no way in hell its going in the living room

[rklauco]

This video is worth watching even just for the dovetail cut! Thanks!