Coolness! I mean, that's a cool color and I mean that literally, or is it figuratively? Hmm, I guess it's figuratively otherwise it would have to be cold to the touch.
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Coolness! I mean, that's a cool color and I mean that literally, or is it figuratively? Hmm, I guess it's figuratively otherwise it would have to be cold to the touch.
We had a rainy weekend, so I decided to put some scrap acrylic and spare LEDs to good use and try to make my own LED cup holder rings. I must say, they turned out pretty sweet, and I like the lower profile as opposed to the commercially available units, which are a bit thicker.
Here is a bit of a 'How Tow' for those that are interested;
Keeping in the 'low budget' feel of this project, rather than buying a router table, I made one of my own, lol. My router has a 'plunge' option that made this work awesome, basically I was able to have the bit under the base of the table, put the acrylic in place, then push the table down onto the spinning bit, cutting into the acrylic. The key in the cutting is constant motion to keep from melting the plastic;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....2&d=1334592915
I measured out radius for the inside and outside of the circles and drilled a hole in the "table" for each, and marked them with an orange highlighter so I remembered which were correct (it was a trail and error process).
So, to start I drilled a hole in what will become the center of the circle. From there, I used an allen wrench through the hole and into the hole on the table that I drilled for the outside, cutting a perfect circle;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....3&d=1334592930
Then I switched the allen wrench to the smaller hole and cut the inside circle;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....4&d=1334592946
Note - the inside circle was a little tight so I had to open it up freehand with the router, hence the rough inside edge - not a big deal since you can't see once mounted.
Once I had the rings figured out I needed to shorten the LED strips - easy enough, I just had to cut them to length and solder wires onto the ends;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....5&d=1334592970
*Not pictured: I used a coarse sanding block to give the acrylic a frosted look, and remove any rough edges from the router.
Ready to mount. the ring and LED strip;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....6&d=1334593932
This is where the cup holder rings are a little different than the speaker rings; because the thickness of the ring is less than the LED, I stuck the LED strip directly to the cup holder, rather than gluing it to the ring. Once I had the LED in place I slipped the ring over top, and gave it a test fit;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....7&d=1334593938
Once I had each cup holder setup complete I just had to go into the boat and put them in place. I secured them with 3M double sided tape;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....8&d=1334593948
And a shot in the dark;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....9&d=1334593954
Mounting in the fiberglass was a little tricky - I had to cut a bit of a slot for the wires to feed through, as the factory hole is very tight and wouldn't allow the cup holder to sit flush due to the thickness of the wire - I guess if I used smaller wire this might not have been an issue, but it was an easy enough fix, and you can't see where I had to cut because its under the lip.
Sweet work Ian! I'm ready to place my order!!!
Ian, since we have the same in boat's, I'll go ahead and take 3 pair please, in red.
:)
Nice Job Ian. Very resourceful and turned out pretty frickin sweet.
where did you get that custom Hi tech router table??? LOL
Yesterday evening I dove in to re-making the faceplate that will cover my sub box, as I didn't like how the previous attempt came out. Rather than having the faceplate go on around the subs, I'm going to mount the subs on top of it.
Here you can see the first try - the vinyl looks bad because I messed around with some different boarders, so it looks extra crappy. I used the outline of the old piece as a starting point for the new one. I made 2 flaps on the new one to make it easier to get in and out, as the old one was really cumbersome;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....5&d=1334932809
Some of the cuts made, I'm also going to put 2 blue square voltage gauges on a switch so I can monitor voltage between the 2 battery banks when the boat isn't running, which is what the square holes are for. The heater vent will come out of the top;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....6&d=1334932810
Speaker holes cut, and playing with the voltage gauges and heater vent;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....4&d=1334932808
Going to pick up some vinyl this weekend and wrap this aspect of the project up (literally, har har har.)
Man, I have been dying for speaker rings in the bow... You used 1/4" acrylic? I have some in the shop as well as (2) LED strips left over. I only have wood bits for my router, is that what you used?
Great job BTW!
Ian, did you get mine cut and sent?
:)
The speaker rings I purchased, I think they are 1".Quote:
Originally Posted by chawk610
The cupholders are .22" (close enough to .25 for me, lol) that I got at Home Depot. I don't see why that wouldn't work for speakers though. And yes, the bit I used is just a standard wood bit, I think it was $13.
Of course, the check is in the mail!Quote:
Originally Posted by dusty2221
In all honesty, I will be happy to cut out the rings for ya, as I have some other projects that I'm working on that require the same materials. You can get the LEDs on your own :)
Deal, I've got your Paypal addy!
I meant cupholder... my mistake!
Looks sharp. I'm anxious to see final sub setup
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And the led rings Ian is sending me, right?Quote:
Originally Posted by KG's Supra24
More progress, its finally starting to look decent...
I wanted to try to make some rings for my 10" L7 subs to add a little jazz to the area, so I started with an 18" x 24" sheet from Home Depoit;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....8&d=1335187866
I cut the sheet into to squares on the table saw, then used a router to get the rounded edges.
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....9&d=1335187867
Then I used the router to cut out the inside. I also made channels for the areas where screws mount the sub to the box;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....0&d=1335187868
Yes, I need to vacuum;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....7&d=1335187864
As with the cup holder rings, I stuck the LED strips directly to the speaker, rather than to the acrylic, and it seemed to work fine. Again, I think the thin ring looks pretty neat, when they are off you don't notice that its there at all.
And in the dark;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....1&d=1335189656
That looks sharp!
Your a certified stereo DIY'er PIMP Ian
Ian, great work. When I come to Michigan this summer I will drop off the Xlv to be pimped....at your shop. LOL.
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LOL, aka my driveway!
Do you come to Michigan? If so we should hook up and do some boating!
Probably once or twice a year. In laws area SE of Kzoo closer to the INDY border. Might be a haul but I will let you know wheni come to MI. I love skiing behind DD.
Plugging away; this one isn't really a stereo upgrade, but I didn't feel like making a whole new thread for such a small project.
My 2008 OEM Blower Vents looked like crap - cheesy black plastic that have always bothered me. In ~2010 they switched to a much nicer chrome vent, and I've wanted to switch ever since. Fast forward to a few months ago, I found the vents made by Attwood on eBay for $10 a piece - score. They are the exact same as what the factory uses.
Here is what I started with; I think you can see why I hated them;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....7&d=1335443925
Removing the vents and replacing with just the round units looked bad - the new vents didn't cover the old screw holes;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....8&d=1335443926
Not wanting this project to get too out of hand with fiberglass work and such, I figured that a nice piece of SeaDek over the area would be the perfect solution, and $30 later I was right!
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....9&d=1335443927
And of course, I had to make LED rings for the new vents. These will be on the same circuit as the transom LEDs;
https://forum.moomba.com/attachment....0&d=1335443928
Looking great!
Awesome job, Ian.
You boat is going to light up the entire lake!
Yup, looking pretty slick. Time to hit the water.
Looks awesome, now I have seen it all -- pimping the vents. What's next the steering wheel? LOL
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Think JV meant to say, "pimpin' da vents"
That was a good idea with the seadek, with all the led's you have you might as well only go out at night! I'd like to see a pic of your boat at night with all the lights on.
@ Wolfeman: You're losing your mind. That's what he said.
Am not! I can see where you edited his post, jackleg!
I see we have a little pranking between mods goin on!!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bzubke1
LOL - what is funny is that we don't spend a ton of time on the boat in the dark; usually we'll ride 'till sunset then cruise in, but its not like we party all night or something. I think the LED obsession I have is because they are all really easy projects, cheap enough, and have great results.
Amen brotha, amen.
And whenever you go to sell our boat the buyer is going to freak when he sees all of them!
I don't about easy!!
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The finished product;
http://img.tapatalk.com/450eb55c-e893-df37.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/450eb55c-e89f-40c3.jpg
nice work yet again :)
Yeah at my fat finger error from my droid ... LolQuote:
Originally Posted by jpetty3023