DIY - Acoustic Panels ($20 each) - HOW TO

Anyone ever made their own acoustic panels for the lab? Care to share pics and steps or other helpful hints? Post up


I was over at this discussion http://mpc-forums.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=16801&start=13950
While there I commented on BoomSpot's room and sound panels. He says he got them here http://www.realtraps.com/products.htm#MINITRAPS at Real Traps. I have a buddy with real traps too. They are nice with the metal casings on the outer frame. My neighbor his from here http://www.atsacoustics.com/cat--ATS-Acoustic-Panels--100.html but ultimately you could spend a bundle on these things. I'd rather spend a bundle on some sweet new gear if I had a bundle to spend.

HellFire suggested

You should build them yourself. More work, but it's A LOT cheaper and you can make them any size you want! I built my own! That site charges $51 per 24x48x2. Mine came out to roughly $20 per panel of that same size, and that's only because I used really expensive fabric. If I had went with burlap like most people do, they would have been even cheaper to make. And I used the same exact insulation material they use; Roxul AFB.

At some point hopefully soon. I'm gonna build some


I've been searching for Rockwool but not the fiber class corning 703 stuff. Rockwool AFB seems to be safer. I am looking for a local spot to cop at but so far online the only place i trust is here 6 panels $73. http://www.atsacoustics.com/recycled-cotton-batts.html So along with the other supplies I think I could make 6 of them for maybe $15 to $20 per panel.


I found these vids... pretty helpful... demystifies the process. makes it look pretty simple too.






A cat over on intructables.com made a more intricate designed frame here is what he had to say about materials

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-accoustic-panels-for-your-recording-studio-or/

I built these in 2007, so I can't remember all of the exact figures, but I believe that those numbers were pretty attainable with the quantity of materials I purchased. The most expensive component was the insulation itself, which I recall to be somewhere between $16 to 20 per sheet. I was able to get some MDF scraps, which brought the cost down a bit, but even new MDF through home depot should cost about $10 for a 2x4 sheet. This can make about 12 long boards or 24 short boards. So for 12 panels, you would need a total of about four sheets. $40/12 = about $3.33 per panel.

The assembly hardware can be purchased from Home Depot for a few dollars (total for all panels), and the mounting hooks and picture wire will be under $10 from an art supplies store.

Finally, we got discounted fabric from Michaels with a store coupon (check the newspaper), which cost about $1.75 per panel.

I hope that helps. Even paying full retail for everything, you're probably not going to spend more than $40 per panel, which is still less than a third the cost of pre-built panels.

Good luck!

here are his panels

nice topic.
just postin' so I can find this topic later, when I'm making my own panels

Saw this at Ikeahackers

http://www.ikeahackers.net/2012/04/kilby-as-bass-trap.html#more

I saw something years ago that was very very enlightening to do with bass traps.

Unfortunately its a bit scientific, but its all to do with tuned traps rather than randomly stuffing rockwool into a box and hoping for the best. So if you got some really annoying room resonances going on in your life - here it is - sorry 'bout the maths.


http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug98/a ... ustic.html

Seems like roofing felt is quite useful.

It's really simple, it's just tedious. It's helps if you have a miter saw vs a hand saw. Or you can have home depot cut the pieces to size as needed. So I'll just give you the basic steps to building a 24"x48"x2" panel.

Each 24"x48 panel requires 12.25ft of wood. I used pine. Try to pick boards that are as straight as possible so your panels are as square as possible! You want 1x3's. You can go with 1x2's to get lower profile panels (how far out they stick off the wall), but the insulation material has to be packed in really tight and it will bulge a little. I used these inside my booth because of limited space. However, if you have room enough where you don't have to worry about people bumping into the panels, I suggest 1x3's, which I used in my control room. The boards only come in a maximum of 10ft lengths (at least at home depot/lowes), so you will need 2 of them to build one panel.

Things you need:
*2 1"x3"x10' pine boards

*Box of coarse thread wood screws. I used the square headed ones that countersink into the wood slightly.

*Elmers wood glue

*Package of small L brackets (get the steel ones with two screw holes per side. Gold ones cost more).

*Bag of Roxul AFB 24x48x2 (or equivalent. OC 703 is a lot more expensive but is more rigid and not as messy. Sound deadening properties are very similar to the Roxul though)

*Fabric of your choice. Should be able to feel air coming through it if you blow through it. I used cotton, which ran me $7 per yard. You can save money with using burlap instead which is less than $3 per yard. Sounds cheap, but this cost can pile up as you build more panels. Fabric is just about always mostly sold about 44" wide, but can go up to 58" depending on what you get. You pay for length (in yards). 1 yard = 3 feet. Each panel will require roughly a 30"x54" sheet of fabric. Can be purchased at JoAnn: http://www.joann.com/

*Muslin fabric. This is to cover the back of the panels to keep the insulation fibers inside the panel and out of your air. This is also available at Joanns and is are $2 per yard or less. You won't need as much of this. You only need these in 24x48 sheets and it's slightly flexible.

*Electric staple gun and staples. This is to staple your fabric. Available at home depot. I believe I used the T50 10mm staples.



Steps:
*The inside square of your panel is what needs to be 24x48, so obviously some of the wood needs to be cut a bit larger. Now wood dimensions are typically advertised as 3/4" bigger than it really is. So a 1x3 is physically only 3/4"x2-3/4".

1. Cut 5 pieces of board. 3 pieces need to be 24". These will be the top, bottom, and middle brace of the frame and are the same length as the width of the insulation sheets. The other 2 pieces need to be cut at 49.5". These will be the sides of the frame. Pictured below is similar to what you should have, although I don't 3 24" pieces pictured, you should.


2. Grab a small drill bit and line up the the end of 1 24" piece to the side edge of 1 49.5" piece and pre-drill a hole for the screw. *Do not use a drill bit that is a bigger diameter than the screw.

3. Now put some wood glue between the two adjoining pieces of wood and screw them together. Follow the same for all 4 pieces and install the L brackets in each corner of the inside frame. Your frame should look like the pic below at this point:


4. Install the middle 24" braces in the frame. This will keep your frame from bowing in when you staple your fabric tightly. Position the piece so that 3" face of the board is long ways in the frame, and position it towards the back of the frame like I have pictured. These pics are of my bigger bass traps, but they are just to show how your braces should be mounted:


5. Staple your muslin to the back of your panel so it looks something like this:


6. Put your insulation in. These pics are of my low profile panels, which is why you see the brace and why the insulation had to be cut in half. For your panels, the whole sheet will just lay in the frame. So ignore my visible brace:


7. Take your fabric and iron it if you need. Lay you fabric out flat and lay the insulated frame face down on the fabric and position it for stapling. Start by stapling the 48" sides first, starting from the middle and working you way out towards the 24" ends with. Do both 48" first and get them nice and tight. Then staple the 24" sides last.








Done!!!

Now as far as hanging them, I used the 50lb Ooks hooks and string. Now obviously when I build these I wasn't planning on a panel DIY, so some of my pics may be missing some info. However, all the info for any steps can be found on youtube, which is where I learned how to make these myself. Good luck!

Also, Lamp pointed out something people maybe wondering, which is how to mount them flat against the ceiling. I did that inside my booth. Used L brackets and screwed them into the ceiling beams with 2" wood screws. I have dual drywal ceiling though. For a standard 1/2" drywall ceiling, a 1-1/4" screw should be fine.

Just an FYI, the best way by far to hang these panels is by making french cleats. This will allow you to securely mount the panels, they'll all be even and they'll be flat against the wall.

poundaproblem wrote:Just an FYI, the best way by far to hang these panels is by making french cleats. This will allow you to securely mount the panels, they'll all be even and they'll be flat against the wall.

Hell yeah! I started to build some of these because my 'lower-profile' panels in the booth were twisted a little bit, but after making almost 20 panels, i said **** that! Got lazy!

Pound has a good point. You could even do that on your top mounted ones too..... You just do them on both sides and slide them into place I love the look of non exposed bolts and mounting pieces.
If I ever decide to make some I'll post pics.


( we should sticky this and put it in the studio section )

Dan L wrote:Pound has a good point. You could even do that on your top mounted ones too..... You just do them on both sides and slide them into place I love the look of non exposed bolts and mounting pieces.
If I ever decide to make some I'll post pics.


( we should sticky this and put it in the studio section )

I'd be nervous using cleats on the ceiling. Last thing I need is one of them shits rattling out of place and dropping on a vocalists head!

Look on the bright side hellfire..... If it falls on him and he cries like a little ****, then you know he's a **** azz mark & remove him from the studio session ASAP

Dan L wrote:Look on the bright side hellfire..... If it falls on him and he cries like a little ****, then you know he's a **** azz mark & remove him from the studio session ASAP

Lol!

Dan L wrote:Look on the bright side hellfire..... If it falls on him and he cries like a little ****, then you know he's a **** azz mark & remove him from the studio session ASAP

.....not gonna work

If you want yours looking like the realtraps ones

http://www.readyacoustics.com/products/ ... rself.html

here's another topic i had saved about traps

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/bass-tra ... cloud.html