Build Your Own Clone Message Board

I'm in the early stages of my Champlifier combo cabinet and thought I would post a few photos as I progress thru the build. The cabinet will be made of 3/4" birch plywood with rabbeted corner joints that will be re-enforced with oak dowel pins. It'll measure 14.5" wide by 13" tall by 9" deep and have an open back. The speaker will be a 10" Eminence "Copperhead". I've got a bunch of pebble grain black tolex left over from my 4x12 cabinet build so I'll wrap it with that. My back is shot from the work I've done this far so I'm done for at least a day or three. More updates as I go providing my back agrees to it.

Sweet! I envy you guys with carpentry skills! Looks like it should be a beauty when you have it done, Stephen.....

And good call to let your back rest too!!

I'll follow this build for sure!

Nice clamps and 90degrees holders, i have the same!

I need to make a head cabinet......well 2.....

The back's been giving me fits the last few days so I haven't made much progress on my cabinet. I'm hoping it will calm down enough to work on it this weekend. Anyway...this is a shot of the 5/16" oak dowel pins to strengthen the corner joints.

The weather has been absolute shit since I began this project so progress has been extremely slow. I do all my router work on the back patio and since it has been raining more often than not I haven't been able to get much done. It was dry-ish this morning so I was able to make the cutout for the amp's chassis and glue the top piece onto the cabinet. With Christmas this weekend I probably won't get to do much work on the cabinet until next week. I just hope the weather is nice between now and New Years.

As I already said in my first post I will be wrapping it in a pebble grain black tolex that I have left over from a previous cabinet I built.

Progress may be slower than you'd like, Stephen, but what you've done so far looks great. We're all praying for good Ohio weather now to see how the rest of the project unfolds....

If my back doesn't calm down I'm not gonna finish this project until Labor Day.... if then.

This is the cabinet prior to wrapping it...



These are the T-nuts that the handle screws into...


Some of the tools needed to wrap the cabinet. A wood block also comes in handy to press the rounded edges and ends of panels that the rolling pin can't.


I do one side at a time starting with the top. The tape outlines where I need to put the contact cement. After both surfaces have been painted with cement you need to let them sit for 20 minutes before sticking them together.


The rolling pin is used to press the two glued surfaces together.


I like to place the butt joint where the two ends of the tolex come together in one of the corners. Overlap them and make one cut to get the ends to match up. This is where it is very important that you don't stretch the tolex. If you do in a few months the two ends will separate.



Here are some detail shots of wrapping the edges and corners.





This is how one of the corners look initially after wrapping the cabinet.


This is a shot of the "Y" cut to smooth out the tolex around the corners.


Some final shots of the completed cabinet. I forget to take a pic of the speaker baffle. I used a circle jig to make the cutout and then countersunk four T-nuts into it to screw the speaker into. This just leaves the easy part left to do... building the actual amplifier.

Wow, just ... wow.

If I had just painted the back panels I probably would have placed blocks along the bottom and top edges. With the tolex and the tightness of the fit I don't think rattles will be a problem. If it is it's an easy fix.

The grill cloth is from Parts Express. It's attached to the front of the baffle with 3M spray adhesive. I used hot glue to attach it to the edges of the baffle. I've tried staples in the past and didn't care for the results I got. The only thing I ever use staples for these days is to attach piping.

Byoo-tee-ful. Y cuts. That's it! One thing I didn't find in any of thr tolex tutorials I watched and looked at. And my corner hacks are either barely, or sometimes not entirely, - covered by the corner protectors...

Sweet, Stephen. Very professionally done!

As always, looks perfect! Nicely done.

Oh to have a shop!!!...

Lovely as always. Is that a 12in speaker? That's what I'd like to build. A champ in a 1-12 cab.

Stupidly awesome.

So how much for one?