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Thread: Bought the Civic Hatch lease out, so rebooting the install thread

  1. Back To Top    #151

    Re: Bought the Civic Hatch lease out, so rebooting the install thread

    This might help visualize things -

    I did end up with some other shaving and grinding to get here - but I have them fitting now. I have yet to fill that bottom gap, and I for sure have more rounds of bodywork to do to get the pods more, well, round - but wanted to share this pic to help understand the big-picture:



    For context, here's a pic of the last audition I did of this alignment -
    I spent a whole hour trying to find a pic and all I could find was this shot after I started tearing the faux-car rig apart but fortunately I hadn't touched the speakers, so "good enough".


    The Bohlender Graebner Neo3s are in a sort of line array like in the rig - but in the car I especially physically time aligned them to a point between the headrests. You'll have to scroll back for the pic of the pencil on the wire - I'm not spending another hour finding that

    Yes, eagle eyed observer - the lower one does have about 1/3 hidden behind the door panel - the bottom physically goes into the sail panel and behind the door panel.I didn't want to cut into my doors making more work and time, and I won't lose much - I've effectively got a physically time aligned planar driver extending from my windshield all the way to the base of the sail panel - good enough.

    The domes are as far forward as I could get them. The Focal TN52 are in between. Before worrying about slight blockage or aiming with these beautiful tweets, the crossover points will reveal why they are rather simply mounted:

    The real in-car Xover points I'll actually use are TBD, but I was blown away by them using these passive crossovers:
    - Exodus Anarchy 6.5 (in cabinets) - 500hz down
    - Volvo Dynaudio domes - 500hz - 2500hz
    - BG Neo3 array - 2500hz - 10khz
    - Focal TN52 as supertweeters - 10khz and beyond

    In the car I'm hoping to improve things further - you can do a lot in a real install with a DSP that you can't with passives in a mocked up rig.

    Can't wait - mainly just more rounds of bodywork in my way, now.

  2. Back To Top    #152

    Re: Bought the Civic Hatch lease out, so rebooting the install thread

    Rounds of bodywork.

    Filler, sanding, filler primer, more sanding...
    Filler, sanding, filler primer, more sanding...
    For this photo we're still in the rough shaping - 120 grit angled sanding sponge after a tiny piece of 60 grit on a very small random orbit detail sander.

    Although for large panels, feeling the surface with your fingertips is the best approach to find flaws, you'll get to a point with small compound curves are tough to feel out after a point.

    Also, filler primer (especially now that I'm spraying in freezing temperatures then pulling it into the garage, then the breezeway, then the basement shop for cure) can drip or pock, in both cases needing more sanding.

    So - I use an LED penlight that works best to show surface flaws but for photo shot purposes this big flashlight gives you the general same idea:

    You can see the remaining flaws marked in pencil - and with this lighting you can see the flaws if you zoom in.

    At this point, I'll be using only angled sanding sponges of 180 and 240 grit - and I'm thankful that I'll be texture spraying them, but you'd be surprised at what shows through texture.

    Even if you were considering vinyl wrapping something like this, you'd be surprised at what can show through, so it pays to go a little beyond where you think you need it.

    Filler, sanding, filler primer, more sanding...

    Oh - you probably notice the speaker holes look a little rough - that's ok. The mounting surfaces are flat, the BG panels get gaskets and cosmetic trim on top, the Volvo domes have self-contained metal sealed enclosures, similar to done tweeters. Their wires come out each side, so I had to hog out two areas in each opening - and no, I didn't use a router for that, no need to get fancy there.


    Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk

  3. Back To Top    #153

    Re: Bought the Civic Hatch lease out, so rebooting the install thread

    Got them there:

    Pretty happy with then - this is a little glossier than the OEM plastic, but I'm not thinking it's worth the risk to try to spray a matte clear over this plastic texture, for adhesion reasons.

    I'll take them into the car tomorrow to see what I think.

    Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk

  4. Back To Top    #154

    Re: Bought the Civic Hatch lease out, so rebooting the install thread

    I've been hesitant to wire these up this week - thinking through what my next step should really be... Thinking the glossy finish will be a little discordant.

    So since the spray is a polyurethane texture (bedliner, basically) I initially thought of two things:

    1) sanding solution / deglosser
    2) matte clear

    Sanding solution is a chemical typically used to degloss a surface so you can paint it, without causing sanding scratches. Crafty types use it to chemically scuff up an old piece of polyurethane-stained furniture, so they can apply that shabby-chic paint job.

    Since bedliner is also polyurethane, and "glossy" is what I'm looking to reduce - why not try it on a test piece?
    ...well, it didn't do much. I did have some luck, but the finish wasn't perfectly consistent, which of course concerns me.

    But surely clear won't stick to bedliner, right?

    Then I came across this matte clear - says it "sticks to plastics" - which polyurethane is. Did some Googling on clear coats and there are some that are polyurethane based...


    Let's give it a try.

    So after spraying some scraps of ABS with the mild-texture bedliner, and then taping across it for an easy comparison of the finishes... I gave the scrap a coat of clear.

    My biggest worry was adhesion - it seems to flex without issue. This is more bend than they would get during installation:


    No cracking or issues - and it does knock down that gloss to a finish that matches the dash and door plastics (the glossy stripes have no clear, that's where the tape was):


    So I may get brave on a day that climbs over freezing, clear them, and try to quickly pull them inside, into the workshop to cure.

    This is really making me want to make that workshop spray booth with a filter and outdoor exhaust that I should have made years ago...
    Last edited by geolemon; 01-14-2022 at 09:53 AM.

  5. Back To Top    #155

    Re: Bought the Civic Hatch lease out, so rebooting the install thread

    Gamble paid off.
    New pieces top, original part bottom. Pretty good match on the sheen, now.


    Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk

  6. Back To Top    #156

    Re: Bought the Civic Hatch lease out, so rebooting the install thread

    So good.

    I wish I could point you guys to a link, but it's a giant bundle of the softest closed cell foam gasket tape I bought way too much of years ago - I'm guessing I bought it at Parts Express. It's 1/2", it's 1/8" thick, and the adhesive is just awesomely perfect. Even after years and years.

    I've never had to use it for something delicate like this before where I'm cutting it really narrow for these BG panels - it's working so perfect for that.
    5 stars. Thank you, Parts Express.
    I think.

    I did the sail panels already. I tested how I need to trim the real (3D printed in ASA) trim panels using the test set (printed in standard PLA). So you can see how the trim panels will finish it off.

    For reference, the cutouts that the BG Neo3s are poking out of are flush with the top of the door panels.

    I won't need to cut the upper ones at all.

  7. Back To Top    #157

    Re: Bought the Civic Hatch lease out, so rebooting the install thread

    Mounting the drivers.

    The magnets aren't in these grilles yet - in fact I'm going to tweak and re-print the domes trim panels. Just not happy with the layer adhesion at the very bottom where it's supposed to cover the mounting flange - partly I think a 1mm thick wall is way too ambitious.

    But here's a mock up, you can scroll to the primered pic above to picture it in-car.

    It dropped to 4°F today which is subarctic to me since we usually hover around freezing - so there won't be any getting this in the car this weekend, so I'll be getting everything finalized to go in.

    Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk

  8. Back To Top    #158

    Re: Bought the Civic Hatch lease out, so rebooting the install thread

    A 3D printer is a relatively inexpensive addition to any fabricator's set of tools, but one of the first things you learn is standard 3D filament - PLA - is designed to melt at low temperatures... Too low for car interiors, stuff will melt. Boo.

    Lots of people use ABS but that does require higher print bed and nozzle temperatures and an enclosure to keep the heat in, a bit like an oven.

    I found that ASA is maybe even better for car interiors, and I didn't need an enclosure - just a layer of Magigoo on my glass bed - 95°c on the bed, 255°c nozzle - no lifting and great layer bonding and finish.


    At any rate - I've found a few uses for 3D printing in this install.

    I'm no perfect printer yet, pretty much ended up printing at least a couple extras of everything - but then those turned out to be useful for mocking up and verifying.

    I've had the Focal TN52s for a while - they came from a K2 Power set back in the day - never used. I lost the metal clip and screw used to secure the recessed tweeter cup. No biggie, a few measurements and I made a clip out of ASA, convex to give a little geometric structure.

    Worked perfectly.


    I made those 10khz passive crossovers because I'm running the BG Neo3 mid/tweeter panels and TN52s as supertweeters, on the same amp channel. Well - I made them, so they have no enclosures.
    They are just going to be hidden under the dash, but I just feel better with them having enclosures - even though they are bigger than standard Xovers.

    This was an attempt to print on a glass bed bed at 88°F - before visiting the Magigoo site. Just a bit too cool for Magigoo and ASA. Changing temp to 95°F and I had no lifting.

    I printed this with "draft" resolution because I didn't care about the finish. Still is a 15 hour print, being so large.

    Test fit of the Xover board over the mounting blocks inside, and of the XT60 connectors into the cutouts.
    Rather than a super huge box, I brought the lid height down and just added an arch for the coil that's on it's side to ensure the inductors magnetic fields don't interact.

    Soldered 'em all up to the XT connectors and snapped them in place.

    Crap - I'm all out of #6 short screws. I need those to screw the board to the chassis riser blocks (printed 2mm holes in the blocks so I don't need to drill), and the lid to the box.
    But here's what it'll look like screwed shut.
    The holes are for zip ties because both will be hidden under the dash.


    Finally the speaker trim rings...
    Square ones for the BG Neo3s, round ones for the Dynaudio Volvo domes.

    You can see as these are being printed - I have recesses (holes) inside for the mounting screws, and 2mm deep mounting recesses for the little neodymium magnets that hold these trim rings on.
    Click image for larger version. 

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    The tape marks an end that lifted - no biggie since I'll cut the end off two of them - I prototyped with this PLA one I printed earlier:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    They fit:
    Click image for larger version. 

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    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

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  9. Back To Top    #159
    Junior Member edouble's Avatar
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    Jan 2022

    Re: Bought the Civic Hatch lease out, so rebooting the install thread

    You are doing an excellent job with your install! All of your 3D printed parts are too cool

  10. Back To Top    #160

    Re: Bought the Civic Hatch lease out, so rebooting the install thread

    xt-60 panel mounts?

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