The hardest part about building a wall getting it to look somewhat like it belongs in the vehicle. There are two basic methods of accomplishing this task.

The first and easiest would be to build either a large rectangular enclosure to house your woofers in and then finish off the open space surrounding the box with a series of "trim panels", while fastening the enclosure to the vehicle for stability.

The second method is a little more intricate, it incorporates the vehicle walls as active panel members of the enclosure, this requires a little more thought and preparation to insure that the installation is both safe and secure. Would you really want to be crushed under a wall of woofers because a cat darted out in the road in front of you.

The hardest and often the most time-consuming part is the trimming of the wall to the vehicle, for this task I use a simple jig called a Circular Tick Jig or "Tick Wheel", this simple jig allows you to basically trace the inside of any opening so that you can transfer the size and shape of the opening to a single or set of flat panels meant to fill that same space. In order to understand the operation of this jig you first must fully understand what it is you are attempting to do, you are basically trying to fill the space left behind if you were to slice the vehicle along a particular plane, kind a like slicing a loaf of bread or imagine your car being "CAT Scanned".

The jig is easy to make and is almost as easy to use.

The jig should be at least 12" in diameter but the actual size and shape are not critical, it is critical that the jig be positioned in a stable manner throughout the duration of the tracing procedure.

There are several ways to mount the jig, with a little experimentation you'll find that each has it's advantages in a particular situation.

The most versatile method is to build a pedestal with a pivoting head that holds the actual transfer surface (wheel) of the jig, the transfer surface should be removable, as it will serve as a way to mark down all of the contour information that you need to construct panels with an exact fit, as well as a way to store them for future use in a compact manner.

Construction:

If you plan to use the jig more than once I would suggest building it out of metal or hardwood, it'll be more durable and continually accurate.

In either case the construction is very similar, you have a 3-point base for ease of leveling, a vertical riser with a pivoting head, and a replaceable removable transfer surface.

Base:

The base should have a triangular shape with holes in the corners that are used in conjunction with either nuts and bolts or tapped inserts to level the base and accommodate for uneven floor surfaces in the vehicle.

The riser should be firmly attached and be made out of 2" square stock, it should have a hole drilled through one end to attach the pivoting head using a nut, bolt, and washers to provide secure movement.

Headpiece:

The headpiece should be built so that it pivots about 270 degrees, front to back, but can be tightened in place with the turn of a nut. It should have a pair of bolts that protrude throught the face, used to attach the replaceable transfer surfaces.

Transfer Surface(s):

The transfer blanks should have holes in their centers that allow for attachment to the face of the headpiece. These should be uniform in shape, since they can be reused as long as you take time to mark them with notes pertinent to the vehicle and measuring device.

I like to use a 18" circle, 3/4" thick, it's kind of overkill but it'll last forever. The individual blanks can be used to store information for two vehicles, one on each side.

Measurement device: (Stick)

There are any number of devices that can be used to serve as a measurement or marking mechanism, A hardwood dowel, or yardstick will work just fine. Things to remember, bring the device to a point this will be a benifit towards accuracy, and make sure that it is long enough to reach every surface that you intend to transfer, you can use several dowels of different lenghts to allow for more flexibility.

Use:

The basic operation of the parts when assembled is to contact a point on a surface and mark the position of the dowel in a manner that allows you to reposition the dowel at a later time and transfer the relative position of that point to a piece of stock that will become a trim panel or set of trim panels.

Step one, position the dowel across the transfer surface and contacting the point on the surface that you wish to copy. Next, hold the dowel in position while you draw a short line along the dowel, at some point near the middle of that line draw a line that crosses the first line and onto the dowel.

The markings left on the wheel are referred to as "ticks", the line on the dowel will serve as a point or reference for subsequent "ticks" to be made as you follow the contours of the interior panels you wish to fill.

The more complex the contour, the more frequent the placement of "tick marks".

Once you've got all of the points that you feel necessary you can remove the transfer surface, or "wheel", and temporarily attach it to the stock that will be receiving the transfered information.

This is done by placing the dowel on top of the attached wheel and aligning the reference point on the dowel with the tick marks made during the tracing procedure.

As the dowel is positioned have a helper mark the end position of the dowel on the panel stock, repeat this until all of the tick marks have been used then simply connect the marks to form the edge of the trim panel you need.

As you might have figured out by now, for the most accurate panels you will want to have as many points transferred as is possible, it can get a little confusing with a large amount of marks on the wheel but you can help ease the confusion by using several different colored markers to help distinguish one mark from the next. The same goes for multiple reference marks on the dowel, which will give you more flexibility in wheel use.

I know that I've forgot something so fire away with any questions you might have.

As always, I hope this helps.

Later,

Mike

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Josh Schmillen

Team Donchyano, Its a Midwes' Thang, ya'll!

Posts: 2875 | From: Moberly, MO | Registered: Dec 1999  |  IP: Logged | 

For practice, tape a piece of paper to the center of any irregularly shaped trunk or cargo area floor. Lay a dowel, yardstick, or scrap piece of wood across the paper pointing to any corner or wall, while making sure to make contact with the surface you want to copy.

Remember that you define what is to be your point or reference, you place the tick marks and reference line.

The reference line can be thought of like this, it is the guideline by which you position the dowel for the transfering of the copied point, the tick mark gives you the relative distance from the copied point, to a point on that particular guideline.

It does not matter where you placed the reference line or the tick mark, they are there to guide you in placing the dowel for proper transfer of information.

Think for a minute of Graumman's Chineese Theatre, in Hollywood CA. and the collection of hand and foot prints cast in cement. Now imagine over the years all of the thousands of people that have visited the same site, each placing their feet in the footprints of John Wayne or Cary Grant. Every one of those people have stood in the exact same place, all at different times but all of them in the exact same place with the exact same directional orientation.

By tracing a reference line and placing a tick mark along side of your dowel, you have defined where the dowel should be placed and at what distance from the boundaries of the "wheel" or transfer surface the end of the dowel is to be at when it is in contact with the contour to be copied. : confused:

Not to worry, if you start small and practice you'll get the procedure down and be able to make panels that are exact fits in no time at all.

Keep the questions coming.

Later,
Mike

I wanna build a wall just to use one now

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http://members.sounddomain.com/musicman1

http://www.delphi.com/metro_off_topic/start

Trim panels for trunk floors, side panels, cargo areas, almost anything can be copied and stored using this method.

quote:

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Originally posted by Raydee:
I think I am starting to understand now. lets say I want to just copy the patern of my trunk floor. Can't I just make a 18inch circle out of wood and use a dowel to do it?

Yes you can.

Does it matter where I place the wheel?

No it does not, but in order to make things a little easier on yourself, place the transfer surface in as central a location as possible.

How about when i transfer does it matter then where I put it to start?

Nope, the measurements are relative to the transfer surface.

Is the middle of the piece of wood the best spot to start when I transfer?

Yes, but only if the piece of wood has been trimmed to a size just larger than the contour copied. You wouldn't want to waste an entire sheet of MDF to make a panel 2' by 3'.

Is the middle of the trunk the best place to set the wheel when I start to make the ticks.

Yes.

Should I label the ticks with numbers to make it easier to keep track????

Yes, alternate labeling methods will help limit confusion and assure that you have transfered all of the points you've copied.

If I am way off please tell me now before I screw everything up!!

Not to worry, you're on the right track.

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The more complex the contour, the more diverse your markings should be, as you can see from the pics it is possible to segregate areas of the contour into smaller bunches or tick groups. This can be especially helpful when you have decided to use multiple dowels of different lengths, longer dowels that reach farther from the center of the wheel and into corners, and shorter dowels that can be used to duplicate edges or walls that lie closer to the wheel.

I'll post a pic of my stand and a wheel on Monday.

Later,
Mike