Any structural engineers out there
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Road Warrior
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,693
Likes: 17
From: Ontario Canada
Any structural engineers out there
On the 2014 Ultra Limiteds the speakers are encased in large white plastic enclosures that I think also provide some structural integrity to the fairing itself. Three of the fasteners are very difficult to get at and are a real pain. You need to remove them if you want to install new speakers. I was thinking about drilling three holes in the enclosure to make removing these bolts easier. I will post this in the audio section as well as perhaps someone has already found an easy solution.
HDF Community Team
Joined: Nov 2012
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From: USA
Mechanical engineer myself. Very generically, drilling a smallish hole nearish the center of a flat surface will do virtually nothing to the strength and rigidity. Drilling holes in a flange will make it weaker, and likely lead to fracturing. Drilling holes near a flange can make it weaker and can lead to fracturing, but the smaller the hole and the further away from the flange, the less the issue.
If you can use a soldering iron or such to melt the holes instead of drilling. The thickened rim of melted plastic will reinforce the hole.
If you can use a soldering iron or such to melt the holes instead of drilling. The thickened rim of melted plastic will reinforce the hole.
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Road Warrior
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,693
Likes: 17
From: Ontario Canada
I read some but couldn't find anything relating to my question. Did I miss something
On the 2014 Ultra Limiteds the speakers are encased in large white plastic enclosures that I think also provide some structural integrity to the fairing itself. Three of the fasteners are very difficult to get at and are a real pain. You need to remove them if you want to install new speakers. I was thinking about drilling three holes in the enclosure to make removing these bolts easier. I will post this in the audio section as well as perhaps someone has already found an easy solution.
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Road Warrior
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 1,693
Likes: 17
From: Ontario Canada
This makes no sense JC. Where are you planning on drilling holes??? The bolts in question (3 of them) are behind a metal plate and thread into brass bushings that are pressed into the plastic pods. To "drill a few holes" as you put it, you'd only be able to come at them towards the threaded side and the bushing. How do you surmise you could remove them this way? Also, structurally, this is the thinnest part of the whole pod and drilling a few holes like that could easily cause a failure. Not to mention who knows what it will do to the sound.
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Joined: Dec 2007
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drilling holes can cause the sound to change,the enclosures make a lot of difference in sound quality,if u drill u need to plug the hole with something as rigid as the rest of the housing.
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Someone assembled your fairing and speakers on thr production line: what man has assembled, man can usually un-assemble, with a bit of ingenuity and the right info! Are you using a factory service manual by any chance? Frankly drilling holes through anything plastic is not a good idea, as others have mentioned.
Road Master
Joined: Jun 2011
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From: Chesapeake Virginia
Someone assembled your fairing and speakers on thr production line: what man has assembled, man can usually un-assemble, with a bit of ingenuity and the right info! Are you using a factory service manual by any chance? Frankly drilling holes through anything plastic is not a good idea, as others have mentioned.
Making holes in plastic should not be a problem as long as some rules are followed as mentioned above even if it just removing the sharp edge on the hole on both sides. Not to sure how much structural integrity is needed in the speaker POD. Sound change could definitely occur but I think these 14's have Bass Boosters into the TP.
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