The Choprical Fish: a Human Powered Party Bike

Step 15 Stiffen flat fiberglass panels with ribs

After finishing the fiberglass layup of the main cabinet, I wasn't satisfied by the stiffness of the rear panels. If the panels aren't stiff, you are losing power from your amplifer into heat and vibration of the material. You want every watt to go into producing clean, crisp bass hits. So I stiffened the panel by creating ribs. Using ribs was better than simply adding more fiberglass layers, because it triangulates the surface, similar to the corrugations in cardboard.