Hard work is starting to suck.

I got home from work and wanted to look at my sub, and I should have sprayed it instead of rolling it. Despite what I was reading online, even a tight foam roller left a good orange peel in the primer. Ugh. I did some sanding, but too big of grit left scratches, too small was taking forever (I was using a sanding block).

So I may end up with a textured sub after all. Probably not a horrible thing since it will still be more fine than the truck bed liner stuff people put on sometimes.

Either that, or I will pick up some 240 grit or similar sanding discs for my orbital sander and sand it all that way.

So anyway, I put on the first coats of primer last night, sanded today like I said, filled in some minor spots that showed up once I had a uniform color of the primer on there (used the glazing putty and not the full Bondo), let that dry, sanded, wet sanded (just to see what would happen) with 400 grit, too much work but it was getting smoother, wiped it down, tack cloth, and then rolled more primer on.

We are heading out of town tomorrow afternoon (July 3) for an airshow and fireworks, but I *might* be able to get some more sanding done before I go. I have Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off, so I hopefully will get this stinking thing done soon.

Here are some pictures.

Here it is with the first coat of primer on it. It isn't wavy like the picture makes it seem. The primer was drying making some spots more glossy or dull depending on how much was drying in that exact spot and it gives the illusion of waves.


And some minor touch-ups with the glazing putty:


Here is the back where the amp will mount. This is after the sanding of the glazing putty and the application of the primer again.


And here is the front after the same as above:


And lastly, the legs that are going to hold this bottom firing subwoofer off of the ground. These will be cut shorter before they get paint, but I had the primer out and they got a coat of it.


Oh, I also caulked the inside seams tonight. Should have been done a long time ago.

Lessons learned or things I would do different next time:

1) Caulk the inside before and just after adding the last side panel. This would have been a lot easier

2) Don't Bondo the entire surface, just the grooved seams and nail holes.

3) Use more clamps.

4) Use screws instead of nails (to pull the pieces tight, could possibly be solved with #3 more clamps).

5) Don't use a roller even for primer. Just suck up the cleaning process and use the HVLP sprayer or even possibly spray cans. The best roller still leaves a texture.

6) Do all cutting of MDF outside. I still have a LOT of MDF dust all over everything in the last 1/3 of the garage.

I am sure that there is more, but those are what I can think of right now.


Farewell - June 4, 2020