I plan on doing a speaker ring/cupholder interior build when I get my A22 in next week. I've already got all of the led's and the hole saws I need for cutting the plexi. I'll let you know how it turns out and document the process. Problem is I've also got to install an entire wetsounds stereo as well (3 amps, xxx sub, interior speakers, xs650's, pro 485's, etc., and then make the z5 rack fit with the 485s. Not sure how long it's all going to take.
speaker ring DIY would be cool. I thought about speaker rings, but the idea went out the door when I saw prices for speaker rings around $50. $400 on speaker rings? yeah right...
I'm going to cut them to fit the inside diameter of the speaker. I got them in and they look great. Who knows though, they may crap out on me in a week.
I then ordered a 6-31/32 hole saw and a 5-1/2 hole saw from automationdirect. I think I ended up paying around $75 for the saws. If the 5-1/2 saw is too small, I plan to just use a dremel to enlarge the inside diameter of the ring. We'll see how it works. I'll keep you guys posted. The only reason I went this route is I plan to make a few sets for some of my friends if mine work out and material cost is pretty cheap once you have the right tools.
Murphy is correct I have learned first hand hole saws are not the best for acrylic or plexi. It ends up melting its way through more than cutting. Thanks Murphy for that link ! After my hole saw failure I turned to TAP plastics to do all my cutting LOL. I already have a router I am going to buy the circle guide and give it a try =-)
I'm in the process of doin an LED install in a Centurion that'll have a 4-zone controller with RGB LED's. There's 2 pair of Pro80's on the tower with 3/4" acrylic, 6 WS SS-65's with 1/2" acrylic, and 12 cupholder LED's with 1/2" acrylic. Should have pictures and a video up soon.
Actually finished speaker rings with no machine marks and including the LED strips are $40 per speaker.
Buy a good sheet of 1/2-inch clear acrylic that won't yellow in UV, the conformally coated flexible LED strips in a roll, the template materials and other disposables plus the required tools and see what that adds up to.
And using that circle guide you'll need to hand sand out the machine marks left by the router. A little less if you double-cut each light ring so that the bit cleans out better on the final cut and leaves less machining grooves. You don't want it looking like something that a beaver chewed out.
You can do it right and will still save a bit if you don't mind doing the work for less than minimum wage.
Ditto on what David said..... LOTS of time invested in cutting all the plastic out. Most of them have them CNC'd so they're almost perfect.
I've spent a lot of time cutting acrylic, other than the 3/4" rings that I bought from them. I've also spent a lot of time soldering 4 wires to each LED strip and running the data cable to the helm for the controller.
Actually finished speaker rings with no machine marks and including the LED strips are $40 per speaker.
Buy a good sheet of 1/2-inch clear acrylic that won't yellow in UV, the conformally coated flexible LED strips in a roll, the template materials and other disposables plus the required tools and see what that adds up to.
And using that circle guide you'll need to hand sand out the machine marks left by the router. A little less if you double-cut each light ring so that the bit cleans out better on the final cut and leaves less machining grooves. You don't want it looking like something that a beaver chewed out.
You can do it right and will still save a bit if you don't mind doing the work for less than minimum wage.
David
Earmark Marine
David, I get the impression you feel as if I'm singling out Earmark specifically. I said speaker rings, not Earmark speaker rings. I indiscriminately mentioned speaker rings are "around $50" not being specific about what type of speaker rings. After reviewing your website, speaker rings range from $40 to $286, with many in the $100 price range. If I was referring to Earmark, which I wasn't, I'd venture to say $50 is a more than fair average, or "around" price.
You/Earmark have top notch everything (including speaker rings) with outstanding customer service, but I just can't afford to spend $40 on speaker rings. If I could, I assure you I'd have an order in for 8 right now. Anyway, I'm sure I'd be happy with machine marked speaker rings and saving some money, not to mention the sense of pride and ownership of DIY.
Ben,
The message wasn't directed at you but rather the masses. And, I didn't reference our site per say.
Everyone understands that some DIY guys don't do it for the savings as they like the creative release and prefer to do everything on their own.
Most will never use many of the more expensive LED adaptations and the $40 complete light rings are all that a majority will use. And when you really add up all the true costs and details you don't really save much piecing the parts, supplies and tools together. People may think they will off of the initial parts list but they find it to be a little different by the conclusion of the project as the list has grown.
I'll let you guys know how mine turn out. If the rings I make look like they were gnawed on by my dog, melted upon reentry into the earth's atmosphere, or cut with a dull hatchet, you can laugh at me while I laugh at myself. I'll throw the two hole saws I bought on ebay to try to recoup some of my investment! I could afford to buy the pre-made ones, but I just wanted a fun project. This may be one of those, "how hard can it really be?" things that turns into, "Oh, that hard." Hahaha
David,
How do you guys make them? CNC? Are yours clear or sandblasted? What's the difference between the premium and economy styles? I'm going to build some (6-8 cup holders & 6 Speakers) and I have a few ideas that sound easy enough and work perfectly in my head LOL... I'm interested to know how the pros do it. I'm sure your prices are fair but I'm cheap and can justify spending $420 on accent lights when I have a shop full of tools and the materials them self are not all that expensive.
Aaron,
We've gone mostly to laser cut or CNC although some of the rare models are still done with polycarbonate templates by hand.
The 'Premium' version is hand polished to a perfect clear both inside and out so that there is far more light shining through. This really makes a difference on the inverted rings where the LEDs are on the outside facing in and illuminate both the interior and exterior as with a WetSounds ring for example. Most rings get the outer or exposed edge frosted. The 'Standard' rings have 3 LEDs per every 2-inches while the 'Premium" rings have 3 LEDs per every 1.5-inch.
Thanks. I used a bead of silicone to hold the LED to the inside of the ring. The tower is wired separate from the cabin lights. It all depends on were you go boating, the police do not like the lights on the tower. That's why for the separate switches. On my boat, we have a thing call a Moomba Cruise. Piss of crap. Does not work. I modified the switches to operate the LED lights.
i just completed a similar project. Inside , and tower speakers as well as cup holders. I will post pics soon. I did some research on making my own rings, and opted to buy instead. Mikeski recommended Ben at Acme Tops and Tunes. http://www.acmetopsandtunes.com/ . Ben was great, and made a superb product. I will give a full write up as soon as I can get my pics. I just wanted to throw Ben a plug while the opportunity was here.
Here's the boat I did recently. Not the caliber of some of the other guys on here, but it's affordable for a consumer....
Oznium 4-channel controller, 300 led per 16' RGB LED strips, acrylic under the speaker rings and cupholders.
The Pro80's are channel 1, channel 2, 3, 4, and so on, from the Oznium controller. In the gunwhales the cupholders and single speaker are 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on. Same with the lower rear speakers/cupholders, and the bow speakers/cupholders. That way each channel will do something different.
As I was filming, I was using the remote to change functions, colors, flash patterns, and flash speeds. Sorry for the crappy video, I'll have a better one soon.
I bought a dozen lazer cut cupholder rings from Tap Plastics for $150 then spent about 20 minutes each sanding them to obtain the finish I like. It's very very time consuming to get them looking decent. The laser cut stuff looks clear and shows the copper colored circuit board between the LEDs so you need to sand it. I have heard of some guys sandblasting the rings but I don't have a sandblaster. Since 6 of the 10 cupholders on my Nautique are side by side with the rims nearly touching each other it was critical to get them cut to exactly the correct diameter. My tower speaker rings were CNC cut so they exactly fit the wetsounds housing, these with the chromed billet faces were $100 each from the machine shop not even including the LED materials. It's a good DIY project if you have the time, I had the time then, if I started today I would pay somebody because I no longer have the required free time.
John, well done! Do you know if there's a big difference between the 300 led per 16' and the 150 led per 16'? Obviously it's twice the LED, but I wonder if it's worth the extra $$$.
Also, which controller from Oznium did you use? I was thinking about using this one. Do you have any experience with that controller?
Murphy, I've seen somewhere that some people heat the edges to give it a frosted look. I've tried the sandblasting route, and the finish was way too course.
benjamin, I personally like the 300 LED per roll vs. 150. This is because of the small diameters we are working with most of the time, cupholds, 6.5" speakers. They are much brighter as well, 2x to be exact. I find the 150/roll lack that extra brightness when you want it. Plus the ring lights up a bit more uniform because of density of the light.
my 2 cents, a couple pics of RGB with 300/roll density.
I bought a dozen lazer cut cupholder rings from Tap Plastics for $150 then spent about 20 minutes each sanding them to obtain the finish I like. It's very very time consuming to get them looking decent. The laser cut stuff looks clear and shows the copper
Was that a special order? Not seeing anything like that on their site...
300/roll isn't overkill at all. Anything less and you'd have a large dim space between each light, and it would be real noticeable. The only downside is that if you wrap the strip around something before cutting to the correct length, you may have to cut it a little short and have a dead spot. The strips are cuttable in 3 led segments. On the cupholders I did in that boat, there was about a 2" dead spot, but I placed them in the back and it's not noticeable. The one on the Pro80's was a little short as well, so I situated it in the top and it's not noticeable either.
For the record, I bought the acrylic and grills for the Pro80's from Odin at Earmark, with the help of David, of course
The music interface sucked because the lights are flashing and it doesn't seem to go with the beat. The controller has a 3.5mm headphone style input that goes out to a stereo RCA jack. I ran that to the back of the Alpine head unit to the rear RCA output. The front goes to the WS-420.
There are way too many adjustments on this thing. I played with it for about an hour one night and never really got it down. There's a sensitivity setting for the music interface that's something like 1-64. I changed it in 10 digit increments and it seemed to help.
Here's part of the instruction manual for operating the controller.
Quote:
POWER
Remote display will display "P" at power OFF (stand-by). In power ON, kit will remember the last pattern used and display will show the current mode.
NORMAL
Selects normal display mode. There are 5 normal modes. Display will show "A0-A4"
GROUND
Selects 7 ground color changing. Display will show "d0-d-"
R.G.B
In color edit modes, press this key to adjust the red/blue/green color levels.
+ and -
In music modes, these buttons control the music sensitivity. Display will show "1-64".
In C7 mode, these buttons can select 7 colors. Display will show "C0-C7"
In Normal mode, these buttons adjust the flash speed. Display will show "F0-F9"
In Ground mode, these buttons choose the flash color. Display will show "C0-C6"
In Multi Flash mode, these buttons adjust the flash speed. Display will show "F0-F9"
CA
Press this key to select the 10 DIY color-changing. Display will show "b0-b9"
T/E
Tone and Edit dual-function key. If pressed quickly, it can select the 6 audio tone levels. If pressed and held for a few seconds, it will go to DIY color edit mode.
C7/CL
Selects the 7 color mode of C7 or the million color loop mode CL.
MULTI
Selects the Multi color mode. Display will show "E0-E9"
MULTI F
Selects the Multi Flash mode. Display will show "L0-L1"
MUSIC
If pressed quickly, this button will choose between the 5 music modes. Display will show "U0-U4". If held for a few seconds, this button will select between Microphone and Line-In audio music sources. Display will show "L- or P-"
PAUSE
Freezes the current pattern and colors. Press again to unfreeze. Press and hold for a few seconds to turn on the Demo mode.
The Led's are stuck to the grill in the Exile pics. There is really no way to do a plexi ring on the exiles because the way the grill sits into the speaker housing.
Ok, you guys are light years ahead of me. However, here's what I did for my boat: I bought a 6 31/32 hole saw from some website (automationproducts or something), a 5 3/4 hole saw, and an arbor. Total cost was around $85 for the tools. I couldn't find any 1/2 inch clear acrylic, so I bought two sheets of 1/4 inch acrylic from Lowes for $16 each. I then purchased these led's off of ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWNX%3AIT - for a total cost of $35.
Total investment = $152
I used my father in law's full sized drillpress and tried to take my time with the hole saws. First, I'd make a shallow cut wtih the large 7'' saw, and then would swap to the smaller saw and cut out a center hole. Then, I'd switch back tot he 7'' saw and cut out the ring itself. You have to be careful and go really slow, because the saw will melt the acrylic really quick. You basically have to make about a hundred small quick cuts by easing the saw in and out of the acrylic and blowing or vacuming out the shards of acrylic that accumulate in the saw.
After I cut out 12 total rings (I doubled up the rings because I couldn't find 1/2 inch acrylic locally), I used a speaker template to mark and drill all of the screw holes. Next, I used a sanding bit (which is just like a big cylinder the diameter of a raquet ball that has sandpaper on the outside of it) in the drill press to smooth the outside and inside of the rings. Then, I cut the led strips down to the desired length (basically, I just cut off 3 led's) and glued the strips to the inside of the rings (which I had glued together in pairs). After that, I just tapped into the existing interior lighting and screwed the speakers in using longer stainless/treated screws.
After doing the install, I noticed that the rear speakers, which were recessed pretty deep, didn't give off the light I wanted them to. I just took the rings off those speakers and attached led strips to the outside of the speaker grills themselves. Here are the strips that I used (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWNX%3AIT) Because the rear most speakers are recessed so far, you can't even see the strips that I stuck on the grills (which attached with double sided 3m tape that came on the strips. I also made sure to seal the ends of all of the strips to avoid any shorts due to moisture.
Again, I know I'm light years behind everyone else on here, but I didn't spend much money and I think it turned out pretty good for a DIY job from raw materials.
I could afford to buy the pre-made ones, but I just wanted a fun project. This may be one of those, "how hard can it really be?" things that turns into, "Oh, that hard." Hahaha
Linear Mode
