July 23rd 05, 11:09 PM
As plugged on Slashdot...
What is it ?
When Darth Vader decided to take over the universe, he decided he
needed a really big gun.... a really very big gun indeed, a gun so big
it could destroy an entire planet in a single shot. With this in mind
he built the Death Star, witnesses at the time often confused it with a
small moon, so you get some idea of it's size... and colour.
In my batchelor days I decided I needed a subwoofer for my lounge, a
subwoofer so powerful it could loosen fillings, shake out the
colesteral from my arteries and generally make a lot of noise. It
seemed to me that the Death Star, ignoring the weakness that ultimately
lead to it's complete destruction, was a pretty good design... so I
made my own (with a lot of help from my then housemate).
I'm no longer a batchelor, I no longer live in a detached house in the
middle of nowhere, so the subwoofer is offered here for sale.
Construction
My housemate and I are not known for under-engineering, or even
adequate-engineering things, and this is another example of our finest
over-engineering.
Inside is a skeleton made from 18mm MDF with curved ribs, approximately
30-40mm thick to make the basic circular shape. It was made airtight
from the inside using fibre glass matting, then the gaps between the
ribs was filled with chopped glass fibres and resin. A skin was then
made on the outside from ply wood. It resembled a large onion at this
point, not quite the plan!
The large onion was basically round but needed to be rounder.. So the
plywood was covered in fibre glass - it's worth noting this is when we
learned that power sanding fibre glass whilst wearing a T-Shirt was not
our best idea, all the tiny glass fibres stick in your arms, hair,
clothes etc. Safety first kids, goggles, breathing masks and overalls!
The whole surface was covered in car body filler, and sanded... and
sanded, then we sanded it some more. It really is properly round and
nice and smooth. The equatorial trench was then cut out using a router.
The last step was to paint it, it's two shades of grey, with a black
equatorial trench and little white dots speccled over the surface to
represent the lights. For further visual enhancement the speaker
surround is a piece of polished aluminium.
It's a Speaker...
The subwoofer installed is an Alpine 12" SWS-1242D, rated at 900W peak
power, 300W rms. The enclosure is filled with foam wadding and ported.
The ports are vented directly out the bottom of the subwoofer. The
design was modelled on WinISD to calculate the port lengths... it's
proper stuff :) There are two 4mm binding posts at the back for
connection to a power amplifier. I'll be adding the amplifier to e-bay
as soon as I type out a description, but any amplifier will work.
Specification
Diameter ~ 36 inches, on it's stand it's about 44 inches tall.
Speaker Diameter
12 inches
Weight
~ 65Kilos.... I did say it was over engineered!
Power
More powerful than you can possibly imagine, or 300W which ever is the
smaller
Weakness
No known weakness, but the Rebel Alliance may find one
Loud
Yes
Unique
Probably, I've not seen another.
Quotes
"Jesus Christ, what's that!"... Colin
"I can feel my trousers vibrating"... Steve
"Turn your bass down"... My neighbours
"That won't fit in our apartment"... My Girlfriend
It Could Be Yours
Due to the sheer size and weight of the Death Star, I'm not able to
offer any shipping on this. The buyer must collect, I'm located near
Reading. The winning bidder should arrange for payment via PayPal and
collect by 24th July 2005. Bidders with zero rating, please contact me
by email first.
What is it ?
When Darth Vader decided to take over the universe, he decided he
needed a really big gun.... a really very big gun indeed, a gun so big
it could destroy an entire planet in a single shot. With this in mind
he built the Death Star, witnesses at the time often confused it with a
small moon, so you get some idea of it's size... and colour.
In my batchelor days I decided I needed a subwoofer for my lounge, a
subwoofer so powerful it could loosen fillings, shake out the
colesteral from my arteries and generally make a lot of noise. It
seemed to me that the Death Star, ignoring the weakness that ultimately
lead to it's complete destruction, was a pretty good design... so I
made my own (with a lot of help from my then housemate).
I'm no longer a batchelor, I no longer live in a detached house in the
middle of nowhere, so the subwoofer is offered here for sale.
Construction
My housemate and I are not known for under-engineering, or even
adequate-engineering things, and this is another example of our finest
over-engineering.
Inside is a skeleton made from 18mm MDF with curved ribs, approximately
30-40mm thick to make the basic circular shape. It was made airtight
from the inside using fibre glass matting, then the gaps between the
ribs was filled with chopped glass fibres and resin. A skin was then
made on the outside from ply wood. It resembled a large onion at this
point, not quite the plan!
The large onion was basically round but needed to be rounder.. So the
plywood was covered in fibre glass - it's worth noting this is when we
learned that power sanding fibre glass whilst wearing a T-Shirt was not
our best idea, all the tiny glass fibres stick in your arms, hair,
clothes etc. Safety first kids, goggles, breathing masks and overalls!
The whole surface was covered in car body filler, and sanded... and
sanded, then we sanded it some more. It really is properly round and
nice and smooth. The equatorial trench was then cut out using a router.
The last step was to paint it, it's two shades of grey, with a black
equatorial trench and little white dots speccled over the surface to
represent the lights. For further visual enhancement the speaker
surround is a piece of polished aluminium.
It's a Speaker...
The subwoofer installed is an Alpine 12" SWS-1242D, rated at 900W peak
power, 300W rms. The enclosure is filled with foam wadding and ported.
The ports are vented directly out the bottom of the subwoofer. The
design was modelled on WinISD to calculate the port lengths... it's
proper stuff :) There are two 4mm binding posts at the back for
connection to a power amplifier. I'll be adding the amplifier to e-bay
as soon as I type out a description, but any amplifier will work.
Specification
Diameter ~ 36 inches, on it's stand it's about 44 inches tall.
Speaker Diameter
12 inches
Weight
~ 65Kilos.... I did say it was over engineered!
Power
More powerful than you can possibly imagine, or 300W which ever is the
smaller
Weakness
No known weakness, but the Rebel Alliance may find one
Loud
Yes
Unique
Probably, I've not seen another.
Quotes
"Jesus Christ, what's that!"... Colin
"I can feel my trousers vibrating"... Steve
"Turn your bass down"... My neighbours
"That won't fit in our apartment"... My Girlfriend
It Could Be Yours
Due to the sheer size and weight of the Death Star, I'm not able to
offer any shipping on this. The buyer must collect, I'm located near
Reading. The winning bidder should arrange for payment via PayPal and
collect by 24th July 2005. Bidders with zero rating, please contact me
by email first.