trinityamps.com

Looking at the 18 watt head cab dimensions in the resource section ... I'm wondering about how much extra space is needed to fit the tolex around the front and back panels as well as around the sides of the cabinet?

For example if I cut the head cab so that the outer width will be 24 inches and I use 1/2 inch baltic ply, then the inner width should be about 23 inches. How wide should the front and back cover panels be cut in order to fit nicely with tolex applied around both the head cab and the panels.

The info in the resource section doesn't list the required width of the front and back panels.

The panels should be a little over four Tolex thicknesses smaller than the opening. There will be a layer on each side of the panel and a layer wrapped around each edge of the cabinet. I measured the thickness of some extra Tolex I have here and came up with a hair over 1/16" for four layers. If I made the panels 3/32" smaller than the opening they would fit snug.

Measure your opening after you get the cabinet built. Plywood isn't always exactly as thick as you might expect. Then measure the thickness of four layers of your Tolex and subtract that from the size of the opening. Allow a bit more for glue and to make it easy to get the panel in and out. Not so loose, though, that the panel flops around in the opening.

After you cut the panels, you can test how tight they fit by putting them in place with two layers of small Tolex scraps at the corners of each side. If the Tolex doesn't slide in and out fairly easily, cut the panel down a bit more.

OK thanks Mitch. This is exactly what I'm after.

I actually don't have any tolex on hand yet. I can build the shell but should probably wait until I have the tolex before making the cuts the end panels. Steamco used to be a Canadian source for this stuff but they have been closed for a while now. Do you have any advice for where to get this stuff in Canada or am I looking at a purchase on the other side of the border?

Try here I have never ordered from them but they do have some tolex and grill cloth. and it seems there in ontario

http://nextgenguitars.ca

Thanks for the link, sazafraz. They're in Ontario, all right, and they seem to have a lot of goodies for amp builders - Celestion and Eminence speakers, grill cloth, Tolex, hardware, pots, knobs, chassis, Hammond transformers .....

Too bad there's nothing in BC like that! But we are a long way from the "center of the universe." At least we have good Canadian source for parts now. I'll have to give them a try.

Yes .. thanks for that, it's a good link. One that I hadn't seen before.

Together with justradios and thetubestore it opens things up a bit in Ontario and should provide others across the country with and a chance to avoid the whole issue with shipping costs from the U.S. (and the potential issues with customs). And it would appear that the nextgenguitars prices are in $Cdn (unlike justradios and thetubestore) which is welcome considering the current state of our dollar!

I'm just about to start cutting 1/2 inch baltic birch ply for my 18Watt head cab.

I have previously only worked with 3/4 inch solid pine and used a 1/2 inch dovetail router bit for those projects.

It's tough to tell from the images in the resource section but it looks like a half blind dovetail was used on the 18watt head cab example. If this is the case, would a 3/8 dovetail bit make sense when using 1/2 inch baltic birch ply??

hmm BC based you say

http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/tubes.html
http://pacifictv.ca
http://www.mainelectronics.com/tubes.htm

There's another one in BC just can't find my link for it


And the site I'm going to get my DC junior from

https://precisionguitarkits.com

Ive only ever used finger joints like Jim did

Dovetail joints are usually just used on solid wood. They don't work well on plywood, although baltic birch is stronger than ordinary plywood and can stand up to the routing better. I wouldn't bother using dovetails on 1/2" plywood, even if it's baltic birch. Finger joints are easier to cut and more than adequate for a small head cabinet.

I have only ever used my router with a dovetail jig and have never tried finger joints. I have a router table but I'm not completely sure how to use it for finger joints. Is there any decent on-line literature available that explains it properly?

i just got the one finger guide from the crafted busy bee tools dove tail guide and with 1/4 inch bid and a coller on the router base worked out to3/16 pins and slots . the pain in the ass part is off setting your wood off sets and remembering which ones are in and out

If you have a table saw and a dado blade set, making finger joints is really easy. All you need is a simple jig you can make from scrap in a few minutes.

There are lots of websites that describe how it's done. Some more elaborate than others. Just search for "box joint jig." Here's a link to a web page that describes a fairly simple one.
http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/makin ... joint-jig/

There are lots of videos on YouTube showing this, too. Here's a link to a good one.
https://youtu.be/NutwD7B6tmE