building a super-light cab: what wood?

Thanks ! Yes, I make this in my cave, with a less-than-rudimentary tooling...

-tbln

 

totally nice - I like the old Gibson amps vibe

 

Basswood. I paddle an open (aka Canadian) canoe and that's the lightest material that paddle makers use.

 

I built a super light cab from 1/4" baltic birch. Even box jointed it. All edges are doubled.it was a bit of work but its very light.

 

Basswood has the same density of Spruce (both vary) have a canoe maker somewhat nearby.

http://www.redrivercanoe.ca/

That is an interesting method. It has me thinking now. I have some 1/8" ply. If I could pick up 1/2" foam, skin it on both sides with the ply... ...great, another project.

 

I had a 2 x 10 made. The guy used #2 pine. Plywood baffles open back. It weighs like nothing. Very easy to handle and I really like 10s.

 

See my earlier post #28 showing a 4 x 10 I made with it. Feather light!

 

Sorry I missed that. I didn’t read past marine ply.

Baltek originated it but now there’s similar products. Anyone wanting to go superlight with extreme strength and dimensional stability should take a look.

And @printer2 , 1/8” would be overkill on a sandwich. What the Baltek has that a foam sandwich doesn’t is that end-grain aspect. Incredible compression strength in the core. For a ready-to-use material, it’s the shiz. I was in the composites business, built a zillion sandwiches.

 

Yeah, I got 5 sheets of this at a marine auction I went to, yard going out of business about 15 years ago. That stuff is rigid as heck, doesnt bend like plywood does. I should finish this cab some time, but I have two other big cabs... I guess it's $150-200 a sheet now...

 

I know the 1/8" is heavier than I need but I have it. I used to work for a company that aside from other things made composite parts for aircraft. I was in the test lab and part of the time breaking things. Other than impact resistance a thin skin is the way to go. Even then, what is a little dent between friends?

 

All this canoe talk has me thinking cedar, that's what mine is made put of and it's very light. Plus it's keep moths out of the amp.

Wooden canoe tip.
Don't put you canoe next to a building with a steel roof for the winter.

 

One way to make a very light cab is to rout a series of stopped/blind dadoes in line with the grain. Use standard 3/4" wood (called "one by") for the panels, and rout 1/2" wide dadoes 1/2" deep, 1/2" apart on all panels except for the center of the top portion where the handle mounts. The routed side of each panel faces inward, obviously. This removes a substantial amount of wood from the panel without sacrificing strength.

Adding glue and Tolex adds weight. Instead, shoot a thin layer of rubberized pickup truck bed liner spray (Rustoleum, etc.). It looks like black Tolex from a foot away and it is seamless. It's beerproof. It's also dead simple to repair (fill the ding, re-spray the area).

Here's a small 4x speaker cab with bed liner applied to bare wood:

 

Yes, it's available on aerosol spray cans.

 

A real "lumber yard" is like a white whale these days, so I usually get my amp and speaker cabinet wood from the local big box.

I got in the habit of checking the 1"x10" and 1"x12" pine racks whenever I go there, not just when I have a cabinet project in the works.

I always manage to find mostly clear, light-weight pine boards that I use for my dove-tailed cabinets - maybe not on this trip to the store, or even the next, but they always eventually show up .

Snap them up as soon as you see them, they won't be there next time you look .

Regular old pine, not yellow pine, not "SPF" like the pile of ratty-ass construction grade 2"x4"s.

Pine - easy to work, light-weight, and plenty strong.

Maybe, in your neck of the woods, radiatta pine may be another option?

 

baltic birch plywood.