Started working on the cabinets.

Amp number 1 is still on hold pending a breakthrough on the faceplate labeling front. I found that 3M Photo Mount spray adhesive is most likely the way forward. I did a test and sprayed in on a full color 4x6 postcard card that we got in the mail. I glued it to the Lexan and tried to get all the air out and it worked great. The adhesive caused no optical fuzziness that I could tell. There were a few air bubbles so I'll be doing the lamination in a vacuum bag to suck out all of the air.

Amp #2 is moving along. I received the color choices from my friend. I've been playing around with the design and have it about 95% figured out. This past Saturday I took a road trip to NC Hard Wood Store http://www.hardwoodstore.com/. The last time I visited them was a couple years ago. They have since moved into an even larger space. This is great because they have even more selections that previously. OK I admit I spent about 30 minutes just walking around looking at all of the wood species. For Amp #1 I picked up so nice Paduak. It was 3/4" thick so they cut it to the length of 4', jointed one side and planned it down to 5/8" for the whopping sum of $1.10 labor. The wood ended up being $18. For amp #2 I picked up some 1/2" Baltic Birch.

Since I'm using plywood for the construction, Dovetails are not an option. Amps made of a hardwood or Pine can be dovetailed but Plywood would weaken and de-laminate over time. The classic joinery technique is to use rabbits and I'm going the extra steps by installing gussets on all of the corners. The cabinets will be pretty much bullet proof in their strength.
Here's the head cabinet fresh off the router table. Stacked like a house of cards with just gravity holding it together.


I wanted to get a feel for the dimensions so here is all of the pieces taped together with some scrap wood to hold them somewhat in place. This is looking at the backside. The middle speaker cabinet will have a slant half way up (Marshall Stack style)

Amp #2 from the back/side angle.

Though I wanted to just start putting the cabinets together I needed to construct the most important part first. The baffle. In this case for added PUNCH I'm using 2 sheets of 1/2 Baltic birch glued together with epoxy and vacuum bagged to eliminate any air voids in the lamination.
Here I've added the epoxy and have previously drilled two locating holes where the speaker is to be cut out. the locating holes will keep things in perfect alignment while its being vacuum bagged.

This is with the top sheet added along with two wood dowels hammered into place.
Ready for bagging prep.

The first time I tried to vacuum bag some wood, my bag popped. The sharp corners of the wood poked right through the bag. I've learned since then. I now add some cloth or in this case some paper towels to eliminate any sharp points that would cause a leak.

Here's the vacuum bag (I picked these giant Zip Locks up at Lowes).

Here's a video of the vacuum process. I had picked up a nice vacuum pump on eBay for doing some other lamination(s). Since this Speaker Baffle is about 18" x 19" and there is 14.7 PSI of air pressure at sea level. Using a vacuum bag in this application causes 5027 Pounds of total force to be applied to the plywood. This is the Best Clamp Ever invented, as it has an even clamping force throughout the work piece. And is much easier than trying to drive an SUV onto such a small area.