Any interest in cheap head cabs for new Stout chassis?

[sean_thornton]

Man,,, one false move with the router and DOH!....there's is no such thing as putting wood back.

No kidding, I ended up making my own router table and it made a HUGE difference. I just grabbed an old coffee table, made a mounting plate out of 2mm aluminum, then made a bracket to hold the height adjustment under the table. Total cost? $0.00. I had everything already laying around so it was cheap. A router is the most versatile power tool in the shop and using one mounted in a table will cut your labor time and improve the finished product.
Well done so far though, you are what this forum is all about.

[EL34]

I have a big stand alone router table also
It's very handy

[lego4040]

Guys, for poplar that has greenish color in it you can lay it out in sun and it will turn redish. The cabinet combo I had made for my amp was greenish. John who made my cab said if I'm not in a rush he would sun it and it will be beautiful, well it turned out incredible.

[EL34]

.75 inch thick material may even be over kill for these little lunchbox sized amps

.5 inch thick material would probably be just fine

[SILVERGUN]

I had picked up a router table off of craigslist about 2 years ago.
I use it mostly for the box roundover, so once it's setup I do them all at once. I don't think I'd be able to get these results without one.

Had a lot of fun this weekend and my time paid off nicely.
Some of these will be ready to ship this week!

[SILVERGUN]

The tallest tube I could find to use for clearance was this Sovtek EL34 on the left.
With it sitting on top of the chassis there is about 3/16" clearance between the top of the tube and the top of the inside of the box.

[EL34]

Wow, they look great

[SILVERGUN]

Wow, they look great

THANKS!
It's amazing what a good sanding will do to clean things up. It turned a couple B grades back into A grades.

[EL34]

Do you use a planer to flatten them?
 
I know most boards have a cup to them

[SILVERGUN]

Do you use a planer to flatten them?
 
I know most boards have a cup to them

No... I stand in Home Depot and sort through 20 boards to find one or two good ones. 

I then put all of the bad ones back, 'cause I don't wanna be "that guy".

I'm lucky to have 4 Home Depot's within 10 miles so there is plenty of stock to look through. The last store I was in had ZERO acceptable boards out of about 12.
 

[jojokeo]

They look great and by using 3/4" makes them very "stout" cabs indeed... pun intended. 

[EL34]

How deep is that box?

I was thinking they only need to be about 8.5 inches deep
1 inch at the front and 1 inch at the rear

[SILVERGUN]

They look great and by using 3/4" makes them very "stout" cabs indeed... pun intended. 

Thanks brother jojo....

I really like the overall size and propotion of length to height....the height is very similar to a Sovtek Mig 50 head, but about 3 inches less wide.

Anyone who gets one of those chassis should have one of these....I'm trying to work a fast-food type combo deal with Doug so when you order a chassis he'll ask "would you like a cab with that?" 

[SILVERGUN]

How deep is that box?

I was thinking they only need to be about 8.5 inches deep
1 inch at the front and 1 inch at the rear

They are 9 1/4" as a result of using 1x10's and not ripping them down.
I agree that they could be less deep, but every additional step costs me more time.

DL already got me pretty good with the face panels. 
Because of my lack of precision in the head dimensions, each one of those face panels had to be trimmed "custom"

[Willabe]

The edges on 1x (3/4") stock often needs to be ripped on both edges just to get rid of the dings and/or torn/ splintered wood. (Yes sometimes the round over bit will get rid of it.) You can use 1 of those round self stick sand paper disks on the side of the saw blade that's against the part you keep to sand the boards edge as you cut it, it works well, often gets 95% + of the blade marks out. Just DO NOT use a 8" or 10" blade and put a 6" disk on it. (And you should be using 1 of those plastic or wood safety push sticks on a table saw anyway.)

Because then you have to leave the blade sticking way up out of the stock and that is very dangerous. You only want the bottom of the carbide tooth to come through the stock. That way if you do make a mistake and get your finger(s) in the way there's only a little bit of blade to cut them, not 1" or 2' of blade and then that's the end of that. My father did that and he knew better. They sowed them back on but, his hand was never the same. 

Don't know if you know this but you can put a drop or 2 or 3 of warm water on a ding and let it sit for a few minutes and like a sponge the dinged wood will absorb the water and the ding will disappear. Some times you have to do it twice. Some guys use an iron to speed up the process, I never tried the iron.

If the grain was torn then if you stain it, it will absorb more stain in the tear and you will see it.


                         Brad     

[SILVERGUN]

Thanks Willabe...for all of your help.

I should've mentioned this sooner, but when I said table saw, I meant radial arm saw. (I don't have a table saw)
I'm doing all of the cross and rip cuts on a radial arm saw, and there is a time consuming song and dance when I have to change the fence or changeover operations, and assure squareness.
It's just waaaayy easier to leave them at 9 1/4" and move right from cutting to length to dovetailing....so that's what I did.

I used your suggestion of a 1/4" roundover bit on the 1/2" face panels and I really like how they turned out. 

[Ken Moon]

Those look great!

I'm looking forward to seeing if I can get a good finish on mine.

I guess I'll try the tru-oil finish, which takes a lot of sanding, but looked nice when I used it on a bubinga front panel.

If anyone else has a better suggestion, I'm all ears (might be good to start a new thread?)

Thanks again for doing this 

[DummyLoad]

looking good!!

--pete

[MakerDP]

Poplar may be nice also
It's easy to work with and looks good natural

I was looking at the poplar on the wall in home depot.
Most of it had some ugly greenish streaking throughout. They have 1x10x8' for $37 each.

I've been to 3 local stores trying to sort through the pine boards for straightness and some handsome grain.
So far I've only been able to gather 1 or 2 acceptable boards from each store. Any cupping of the wood creates major headaches when trying to get the dovetails right.

Lowe's carries poplar boards that are made up of edge-joined planks. Personally, I like the looks of the Lowe's boards better. I also find it easier to find boards that aren't cupped badly with this makeup.

They usually have a thin band at one edge that I like to make the "front" of the cabinet. It's on the left in the first picture below. This head cab is still unfinished bare wood. I was going to use it to practice tolexing but I think I am going to stain it. It turned out nice I think.

Go check them out and see what you think.

[MakerDP]

I should add that yours do look VERY nice. I wish I had a nice dovetail jig. I really like the looks of them.

[lego4040]

 

[SILVERGUN]

I should add that yours do look VERY nice. I wish I had a nice dovetail jig. I really like the looks of them.

Thanks Maker....
As the guys have mentioned, most of this is overkill for these little heads.
The dovetails are pretty simple once you get the jig setup right, and probably just as fast as any other joint I would have to try to make.
They were always some elusive magical maneuver that was beyond me....not anymore.

[SILVERGUN]

Lego, does your 21.5" length include the lips that are folded outward?

[lego4040]

Yep, that is with the lips added into measurement. Does the cab have tube vents on top? If not I can add that myself

[DummyLoad]

looking good!!

--pete

[SILVERGUN]

Yep, that is with the lips added into measurement. Does the cab have tube vents on top? If not I can add that myself

No tube vents...that would fall under "personal customization" (which I charge $70 a minute for) 
Just let me know what your ideal outside dimensions will be and you'll be in  the next batch after I finish these 8. Also, let me know the width for the face panel control cutout.

[SILVERGUN]

looking good!!

Yeah man....coming soon to Texas!
I guess we should start talking about shipping addresses and the transferal of the dinaros.

You guys can use my personal email silvergunamps@gmail.com

I'm here tonight in sub-freezing temps sorting them out to see how many qualify as "A" grade.
Please be prepared to do a little sanding before final finish work, due to some handling bumps while sorting and packing them up.

[lego4040]

Just make that head big enough so the chassis will slide in. 21.5" chassis + 1.50"(wood thickness)+ little wiggle room on each side to get amp in and out. Say 24", I think the faceplate is 16 1/2" cutout. I'll verify that tomorrow for you

[Mike_J]

Lowe's carries poplar boards that are made up of edge-joined planks. Personally, I like the looks of the Lowe's boards better. I also find it easier to find boards that aren't cupped badly with this makeup.

They usually have a thin band at one edge that I like to make the "front" of the cabinet. It's on the left in the first picture below. This head cab is still unfinished bare wood. I was going to use it to practice tolexing but I think I am going to stain it. It turned out nice I think.

Go check them out and see what you think.
[/quote]

I agree with MakerDP here.  Unless your hardwood board comes from a large tree and is cut in the right place from that tree you will get cupping.  I constructed all the cabinet doors in my house from stick lumber and learned that any board wider than four or five inches is subject to cupping if the grain showing on the end of the board is curved.  This is almost always the case especially if you bleach it in the sun as suggested earlier.  A way to avoid that is to rip boards to four inches wide, run the sides through a joiner.  Then you glue the boards together, alternating the grains, using biscuits every six to eight inches.  After that you run the board through a planer and you have a straight board.  A lot more work than I ever will do again.  Getting the Lowe's board that have already been made should reduce the irritation and waste of time that cupping provides.  Their wide boards should have the alternating grains.

It is obvious by the pictures that you are doing good work.  My experience is if the board is cupped but you can get it flat enough to make the finger joints fit properly then the cupping isn't a huge issue once it is glued.  Problem is it gets frustrating to have to deal with the cupping.  Makes doing this work less enjoyable.

I use Baltic birch now because it is very stable, has no voids that can rattle and make noise plus the guy in town that sells it to me will cut it to dimension from a cut list I give him so I don't need a table saw any more.  He keeps his blades nice and sharp which is important to quality work.  If you used Baltic birch you could go to 1/2 inch thick cabinets which would save you some money in materials and frustration in joining.  Once you got your jig set up properly you could make them pretty quickly.  You could then use 3/8" Baltic birch for the front panel.  That will save you even more money.  Only negative is you will see the plys in the finger joints but it makes a quality cabinet at a reasonable material cost and less frustration for you.

Just passing on some of my experience.  Your work looks good so it is obvious you are compensating for the short-comings of the hardwood you are using.  I just know how frustrating it is to deal with the cupping issue and don't want to see you quit building the cabinets because of it.  Best wishes for you and your father.  I lost mine about ten years ago and sure do miss him. 

Thanks
Mike

[DummyLoad]

looking good!!

Yeah man....coming soon to Texas!
I guess we should start talking about shipping addresses and the transferal of the dinaros.

You guys can use my personal email silvergunamps@gmail.com

I'm here tonight in sub-freezing temps sorting them out to see how many qualify as "A" grade.
Please be prepared to do a little sanding before final finish work, due to some handling bumps while sorting and packing them up.

el dineros, aka; moolah sent.

what of the shipping charges? and the pay-pal fees, which are currently running @ 2.9%: $4.35

--pete

[EL34]

I was thinking that 3/4 inch thick boards are probably over kill
Not sure if 1/2 inch thick is available

MakerDP, the poplar looks nice

[lego4040]

Tungoil finish on pine cabinet

it's the nicest but time consuming, it will let wood breath. Shellac is nice option.

[tubenit]

Silvergun,

The cabs really look fantastic!   What a great & generous thing you have done here!

With respect, Tubenit

[MakerDP]

Silvergun,

The cabs really look fantastic!   What a great & generous thing you have done here!

With respect, Tubenit

I agree!

That's a great price for a really nice looking enclosure. Not everyone has the skills and tools to do a nice cabinet for their amp builds and the stuff you find on eBay is a lot more pricey than this.

As far as 3/4 vs 1/2 --- I prefer 3/4 for the shell because I am a gigging musician and my amps get loaded in the backs of pickups, SUVs and trunks several times a month. Gotta have that durability for my precious babies! 

[Ken Moon]

e-mail sent 

[SILVERGUN]

what of the shipping charges? and the pay-pal fees, which are currently running @ 2.9%: $4.35

I was planning to do - no combined shipping savings, and I'll eat the Paypal charge. I guess that works itself out.
Just a flat $75 for each unit shipped.
That way I won't have to do any math.   

THANKS guys!
 

[Ken Moon]

$$$ sent 

[pickinpop]

i had an idea about the front panel, also vented as Doug mentioned  but use small magnets to hold it in place rather than screws

[SILVERGUN]

i had an idea about the front panel, also vented as Doug mentioned  but use small magnets to hold it in place rather than screws

It's funny that you mention that..
I wound up using steel angle brackets that are 3 1/2" long, and I thought I was going to use magnetic tape to temporarily hold the face panels on. The tape was adhesive on one side, so I stuck a strip of it to the inside of the face panel on each side.
It failed miserably, with no strength at all. (the adhesive held but there was almost no magnetic pull)

I wound up just using some short screws that didn't poke through, but you could definitely use magnets if you get some that are strong enough....the angle brackets are moveable so if you wind up with some thicker magnets you can move them back to keep the face panel back set from the front of the cab.

[sluckey]

Velcro?

[EL34]

The front panel is part of the cabinet rigidity
It keeps the chassis from racking side to side


I know your joints are strong, just saying

[SILVERGUN]

Velcro?

Definitely do-able...that was one of my thoughts but I was afraid of the cheesy-ness factor.
I did velcro on the Plexiglas Rhinol TDR panel.

It was really easy to just screw em on to get them out the door.
I'm sure guys will customize as needed.

[EL34]

Rare earth magnets will do the trick


I have stacks of them
it's very difficult to pull them apart


they come in bunches of different shapes and thickneses

I get mine here with free shipping
http://www.dx.com/s/rare+earth+magnet

[Ed_Chambley]

I always make faceplates taller than the chassis.  Say I have a 2" chassis, I will center everything on 2 inches, but cut the faceplate 3" tall.  The top 1 inch is higher than the chassis.  The corners are sharp so roundover is nice.

That way I can make the opening whatever size I want.  If I want to make the opening 4.672598" and adding the tolex makes it 4.59234" I just make the faceplate 5.5 inches tall.  I hope this makes sense.

[shortfuse]

what of the shipping charges? and the pay-pal fees, which are currently running @ 2.9%: $4.35

I was planning to do - no combined shipping savings, and I'll eat the Paypal charge. I guess that works itself out.
Just a flat $75 for each unit shipped.
That way I won't have to do any math.   

THANKS guys!
 

Dave just have everyone gift you the money there is that option when you send money and you do not loose a dime. 
Just my $.02.   PM sent

[lego4040]

Silvergun, now that I've regained conciousness from buying Nos matched sets of tubes + rectifier for the Tremulox I rememered I need to measure the cutout for faceplate. If you make the cutout 17" it leaves 1&1/2" left on each side. If that's not enough you can make it 16&1/2, it just won't show all the red on the side. Sluckey did a great job on face plate for me

[SILVERGUN]

Silvergun, now that I've regained conciousness from buying Nos matched sets of tubes + rectifier for the Tremulox I rememered I need to measure the cutout for faceplate. If you make the cutout 17" it leaves 1&1/2" left on each side. If that's not enough you can make it 16&1/2, it just won't show all the red on the side. Sluckey did a great job on face plate for me

No problem lego...I'll make it 16 3/4" 
You'll be in the next batch,,,coming soon.


You too shortfuse. PM returned.

[SILVERGUN]

Here's where we are:
2- boxed up and bound for bat city- done deal
2- boxed up and awaiting their passport to California- deal pending (jojo's got good credit)
1- boxed up and sitting on the dock for our fearless leader- done deal
1- boxed up and heading to the Moon- done deal
1- shortfuse- will take a reject  - deal pending
- mikhett has not re-surfaced, so I'm basically caught up with the current confirmed orders from the first run.

I have 1 of the quality control rejects that would be great for tolexing, and I cut a face panel for it already so I'm offering it up at $60.

Next batch coming soon....
1- lego4040- custom size
2- llama -multiple emails received 
1- additional for Ken Moon for next month (or whenever)

Thanks to tubenit, MakerDP and Mike J for your kind words, and Ed for that explanation 

Let me know if I'm missing anyone.

2/18***EDITED- removed the 2 for $110 offer because shortfuse will be taking one of the rejects for tolexing.

[DummyLoad]

yer a good egg SG! they look great and you are most kind to take the time to build these for us.


thank you so very much!


--pete

[llama]

Silvergun, you are a class act.

A huge collective Thank you!!!