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Well its about that time of year, so its time to redo. Its also time to stop hijacking Johns thread.
Here is my plan....
The blue line across will be a plexi tube (1" thick)....which I am having trouble finding....help on this would be great.
Next, although in the pic there are 2 of them, it will only be one amp, as they are pretty large. Im going to get the 150x4 alpha, to power the doors and SPODS, and the Audiobahns to bi-amp my new 800W sub.
(I know about the power, im getting my alternator redone as soon as I find a good place for it)
The plexi will glow, and the amps will look like they are literally, floating in mid air/ on a beam of light. Im probably going to vynil my trunk in black, for a neater look.
The plexi will be on 2 bearings, so that when the trunk lid moves (open--->closing) the amp will be in the same and position, and not move according to the goosenecks.
So, since you guys are my top advisors, hit me up with some potential problems, or any suggestions you might have.
Dave I can help you get all the stock you need, just LMK when your ready. I actually have to order some later this week or the end of next week so I can add it to that order if you'd like.
I get most of the stuff through Select Products. But I can buy most of the stuff cheaper than their online prices, that's why I said you can order it with my stuff. I can help you with the plexi work. There are a lot of cool tricks I've learned
No diggity...ill let you know when Im ready. If Im not by the time you order your stuff, Ill just send you a check and you can order it then. Thanks a lot John.
sure, i'm jokingly the 'king of anti-bling', but this is a daring design... i have some major concerns.... hopefully, i also have a possible solution.
i'd definitely like to see what you're planning for that plexi. in all honesty, i'm not sure a single cylinder of plexi will have tensile or shear strength to support your amps w/o cracking.
you mention you're 'engineering' it... are you actually running calcs? or just figuring out the setup.... the reason i mention it is b/c i honestly fear that you will have lots of problems. i don't think you'll have a rapid failure issue (it is possible though), but i am concerned you'll have a progressive cracking failure from fatigue. and i'm VERY concerned about crack propagation from the holes you'll have to drill in the center for mounting your amp. these holes will be located in some of the highest loading areas of the plexi rod... that's an almost sure fire way to propagate cracks.
(a 1" cyl. might have that strength in a static loading, but in a dynamic loading (driving the car) - i'm almost positive you'll experience a failure.)
it would take a bit of effort, but if you can determine the type of plexi you're getting, i could feasibly find the material properties of it and run a few simple strength calcs to look into static failure. dynamic forces and fatigue failure calcs would be much more difficult, but i could at least get a ballpark idea on them as well.
bearings could be tough as well -- the goosenecks not only rotate, but will be moving in and out (watch them swing as you close the trunk), so i'm almost positive you'll be forced to mount the bearing setup elsewhere (and not on the goosenecks).
my suggestions to dodge a lot of these problems would be this...
get some 1" schedule 80 stainless steel pipe. (OD = 1.315" / ID = .957") (OD = outside diameter, ID = inside diameter)
have this pipe cut in half down the center.
then have brackets made (or make them) that will allow a back wall mounting, and have them welded to the remaining OD of the pipe, but in such a fashion to where the pipe's open face will point in a semi-out/semi-downward direction.
make this pipe section slightly less than the length between goosenecks of the trunk hinges.
paint the pipe black or to match your vinyl.
then, polish/burnish out the center of the pipe half to a mirror type finish.
using a clear glue (like John used), glue the plexi tubing into the pipe half.
now, you just have to light the pipe ends and it will act like a reflector outward for your light behind the plexi tube (effectively hiding the pipe),
and you'll have a steel structural support to mount your amps on.
(in fact, you could probably have angle iron welded to the pipe as well for a mount for your amp's floating mount board.
do i make sense w/ my description? i'm not trying to rain on the parade, but i also don't want to hear that your Alpha fell and bounced around in your trunk either...
(sorry, but sometimes the Mechanical Engineer in me just gets out... )
I also think you'll need more than just one plexi bar. I was thinking more like 2 one on the top and one on the bottom of the amps. You could however get a clear tube and run a stainless steel pipe inside it. Then have bracket made to support it to the arms of the deck lid. That way it can move, big strong enough to support the amps but can still be lit up.
