Chris Cole Slant 212 Build Thread

Freekmagnet

Freekmagnet

Commercial User
Jan 3, 2010
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Ventura County, California, US
funktronicpickups.com
#1
In my quest to find a good 1-cab gig machine solution, I stumbled upon the Chris Cole Slant 212 thread here on TB. After reading through it and listening to the demos, I decided that this cab would be worth checking out. It has a nice form factor, seems like it’ll be loud when it needs to be, and it should sound really good. I hemmed and hawed for a couple of weeks before pulling the trigger on a kit from Speaker Hardware. I finally did it, and the kit will be arriving sometime this week.

This will be my first cab build, so any advice is welcome. I do have a lot general experience with building things, so I don't foresee any major difficulties - however, I shouldn't say that before actually having the kit in my hands!

I plan to finish the cab with a two-tone Tolex covering and cloth speaker grille.

I will post photos when the kit arrives. This week, I have a large project going on in my garage and there will be a few minor tools I will need to acquire in order to move forward. I decided to start a thread today mainly because I had a few minutes to do so. That being said, Leland Crooks send me the Sketchup plans for the cab today, so I felt that I could take a leap and start a thread because at this point, this project is officially ON.
 
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#4
My packages came in from Speaker Hardware.

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I unpacked them to see if everything came and to show you guys here on TB. First, I opened the cabinet flat pack. All the parts were shrink-wrapped.

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From there, I laid all the pieces on the floor (I deleted the pic off my phone by accident). The parts are all clearly marked.

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Putting the box together with the included biscuits was pretty self explanatory. I was able to quickly do a dry fitting.

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The braces are going to require actual measurements. Speaker Hardware included SketchUp files as documentation. I don’t foresee any problems there.

Next, I unpacked the kit.

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From L-R:

Eminence crossover
Crossover attenuation module
gaskets and gasket tape
Handles
Eminence BG25H tweeter
Wire
Chrome corners
Jack plate
Construction adhesive
Rubber feet
A few bags of screws and electronic hardware like jacks and stuff
A big ball of acoustic foam
And of course, the Beymas.

What I didn’t see was the pre-cut tubes for the ports. I’ll have to double check my packing list and email Leland if I can’t find them.

The first thing I’m going to do is sand all of the openings and check to see if the parts fit through them OK.

Then, I have a decision to make. A little background: I’m covering it with Tolex. I actually Tolex’d an old TL606 I hade years ago. It wasn’t too hard. However, I figured it out, and there isn’t a good way to the outside perimeter of this cab with one piece - unless I buy like 9ft of Tolex. I can wrap the left and right sides each with on piece with a central wrap. This would require only 6’. However, there will be seams on the top and back.

The solution is to do it Marshall style, with two seams on top, filled with a bit of stylish piping to cover them. However, this would require two 1/8” x 1/8” channelS cut through the top, back and bottom. The plywood is only 1/2” thick. I’m not sure how much that channel will compromise the strength of the cabinet. Probably not much, but I do have to think about it.

From there, I have to decide if I’m going to cut the channel on my table saw or with my router. Both approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages.

Then, I have to order my Tolex and my grille cloth. I wasn’t sure if there would be enough of a lip to insert a frame for the speaker grill, but now that I have it here, it doesn’t look like I’ll have a problem.

Lastly, I have to check and find out which terminal is positive and negative on the the Beymas. There’s no indication on the speakers.

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And that’s it! Hopefully, I’ll get started on this project over the weekend. It’s Día de los Muertos, and the li’l Lady is in charge of festivities in town. This year, I’m helping her make a Tree of Life, so I gotta get that out of my garage before I start building speakers. We have to install it at the local museum tomorrow.

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#9
Progress.

My original vision was to post a really thorough photo essay of the assembly and gluing process. I was going to assemble 3 sides, stop, and gradually place the other pieces together. Unfortunately, I was unable to do so and for that, I apologize. What I can say is that the transition from this stage...

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to this stage...

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...was really quick. All the parts fit together and for the most part, the box came out square.

I used the PL adhesive and used the provided screws as a clamping process. I have a few 3' bar clamps that are just shy of the long sides in length. Even so, clamping the braces on the inside would have been a distinctly awkward procedure. Overall, I think the screws worked fine. I allowed the glue to cure and removed the screws.

Next, I put the top pieces on. There is a top and a small brace that goes behind the speaker baffle. I saved these for last because whatever inconsistencies in manufacture or assembly were going to have to be addressed in that last stage. As I stated before, the box is pretty square. Any variance amounts to maybe 1/32 or 1/64 of an inch. To rectify the variance, I merely had to shave a little bit of wood off of the top speaker baffle. When it came to setting the top piece, I had to use those long bar clamps in 3 places to draw the sides of box together enough to screw it down. Lastly, I also had to shave a little bit of wood off of the brace that went behind the top speaker baffle.

All things considered, I think it came out pretty good:

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Once the adhesive cures, I need to remove the last of the screws, fill the holes, cleanup the squeeze-out and sand the whole piece. For the holes, I'll probably use some sawdust mixed with epoxy. There are one or two spots where a chip came out of the plywood. The epoxy/sawdust mixture will fill all of those and in addition, it will be perfect for evening out any any corner areas that are uneven.

After sanding, I will then have to come up with good way of rounding off the corners. The only problem I see is with the front; there's no place for the bearing to run on the box. I could attack it from the from but there's not enough of a surface for the router to rest securely while I run it over the edge. I have a makeshift router table, and while it will be extremely awkward running a box of this size over my crudely assembled routing fixture, it may be my best choice of action.

At some point, I have to come up with a way to make a wooden frame for the grillcloth. The puzzle will be mounting the frame into the top section. The bottom section is no prob. Perhaps I will have to construct a lip for the upon which the back of the grill frame will rest.

Lastly, I still need to order some Tolex and grill cloth. I will most likely do so after the weekend.

I'm liking this box. While it is larger than I had envisioned, it actually has a considerably smaller footprint than most of the 115 cabs I have used. Most of the additional size is in its height, so I don't think this speaker box will take up much more room than my old cab. I know that expecting a 212 to be small is fairly absurd, but this box does a pretty good job of being economical with physical space. Who knows? So far, building this box has been a fairly entertaining venture, I could foresee building a smaller cab such as a 110 or a 112 in the future.
 
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#10
Without a big tabled router it's definitely tricky to roundover the front edge. I've done it enough times that I just have at it, balancing the router on the edge with the bearing riding on the inside edge of the lip. Then there's usually enough there to rest the router base on the sides/top/bottom to get the outer edge rounded over. Patience and steady hand and you'll be fine.
 
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#11
6thplanet said:
Without a big tabled router it's definitely tricky to roundover the front edge. I've done it enough times that I just have at it, balancing the router on the edge with the bearing riding on the inside edge of the lip. Then there's usually enough there to rest the router base on the sides/top/bottom to get the outer edge rounded over. Patience and steady hand and you'll be fine.
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Yeah, you're probably right about that. I'm having a hard time envisioning any scenario where running the entire box over a router table would be anything but extremely awkward. Balancing the router base on a 1/2" thick piece of plywood doesn't seem like it will be much of a party either, but the more I think about it, it seems like that may very well be the way I have to go.
 
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#14
jaysbass2002 said:
Maybe clamp a 2x4 level with the outside edge to give yourself more surface? Just thinking out loud. Years ago I built two T24 Tubas and had to improvise. Looking great! Great build thread!
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Thanks for the kind words!

I thought about that, and that could work. For it to be any help, the extra piece would have to be perfectly flush with that edge. That's doable, but the tricky part is that it would actually have to be clamped to the inside edge. In certain areas I would have to negotiate with limited space. Not too big a deal - at that point it comes down to my laziness. However, that approach may be the best way to go.
 
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#16
Keep in mind that after you've rounded over one edge, the guide bearing would now be travelling on the rounded-over corner when you try to route the opposite edge, so you'll need to route that side "edge on" also. Clamping a supporting piece of wood on the side opposite the one you're routing will work; you could also make a alternative sub-base with a right-angle edge-guide. (I'm looking for a pic but haven't found one yet.)
 
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#20
Flying B said:
Looking good! Just wondering why you removed all the screws? Could've just countersunk them and filled the holes...i get that the glue will hold it together but seems like it wouldn't do any harm to leave them in anyway?
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That’s a good question.

The reason why I removed the screws is I’m planning to round over the edges with a 1/2” radius. The screws are 1/4” from the edges, so they would be within that radius if I had left them in the wood. The screws holding the baffles would not be affected, so I guess I could have left those in. I took them out anyway. I’m not worried - the PL adhesive hold it together.
 
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