n_maher

The only issue I ever had with that approach is that a) you have to supply your own material for the panel and anodizing is your responsibility as well.

Well it did and didn't go well last night. Chassis fab = bad, Pete's review of the power supply wiring = good. Just a couple minor tweaks and that part is essentially functional if not done. I think the PS can live without the chassis stiffening for now although that'll be the first thing that I do after finishing the Amp. I'm hoping that the hardest decision that I have to make next weekend is what sets of output tubes I'm going to bring with me to CanJam. Oh, and I'm really hoping that I'll have actually gotten to flip the power switch before shipping it to Florida.

I haven't found any and when I've asked other folks about it the answer has always been that outside of FPE things get really expensive, really fast.

I think I was just pushing it a little to hard and should have allowed more time for the bit to cool. It cut the first two holes fine and then died. The second bit was a cheap POS so I wasn't really expecting it to do anything. A big amen on that one and I appreciate the low parts count more and more every day.

Yeah, we need a pissed off dog or cat smiley. perhaps: but somehow it loses something when it's that small... Regardless, I made myself somewhat productive tonight and cleaned the adhesive off of all of the caps and mounted them in their clamps so that's one less thing that I have to worry about tomorrow night. I just hope the next bit can make it through the last two holes. With all the bits and such it's almost to the point where having a panel fabricated might not have been a bad idea. I'm pretty sure I torched at least $40 tonight.

Ugh, an hour and half in and things were going well. An hour and 31 minutes, not so much. Both 2-1/2" hole saws have cooked themselves, the first one after just two holes, the second couldn't cut for shit from the get go. So not much progress will be made tonight, which sucks because at this point I don't nights to throw away and there's no going to get another bit at this point. I guess we'll give it another go tomorrow night when I get home at 9...

Yeah, that's the idea for sure. Can't say that I'll be shipping this around the country like I have the DAC though.

Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahaha - - waaaaaaaahahahahahaha!

Funny thing, I'm actually not feeling particularly great but I'm behind at work as it is so no leaving early for Nate tonight. And mini meets will be decidedly difficult for a while, but I'll do what I can.

corduroy?

Well, here's to hoping that my hand is as steady with this chassis as it was with the first. And hopefully it'll be picture time some time before midnight tonight.

Funny you'd ask that, they just pulled up outside so we'll see if they've got anything for me... [edit]amp chassis has arrived, won't get to check it till I get home but should be ok.

Just go preparing to have to calmly explain what it is, what it does and why they should treat it the same as an Ipod. It may be aggravating but I think your attitude about it will go a long way towards whether or not there's a problem. My guess is that if it's in carry-on luggage they may take a look at it but that's about it.

Heh, wait till you see the amplifier section, not as much iron but bigger caps.

So tired, so very tired, but the power supply wiring is done. I haven't reviewed the wiring yet with a clear head so no embarrassing pictures yet, just this teaser with the tubes installed. And with the wife out at meetings tomorrow night I hope to launch into chassis fab for the amp. That is of course assuming that UPS does their job and delivers the chassis tomorrow, I have great luck with shippers so I don't know what I'm worried about... Oh, and one more detail about the power supply. I got some good news from the trafo designer today, provided that some other calculations are done and proper precautions taken to avoid overstressing the low-voltage secondaries I should be able to run 5U4 rectifiers so that the tube compliment of this amp will be the same as the original HA-2. That's good news on two fronts, one 5U4's cost less than half of what 5AR4's do and there are a ton more options for good NOS tubes, two it's just so fracken cool that they can be the same that it makes me go .

Even though I make my own cables I feel compelled to go buy something from BJC right now. And I'd love to hear Moster's reply to the letter.

Yeah, cry me a river Mr. K1000 x 2.

Heh, we'll have to see about that. In real news I got about 60% of the power supply wired tonight. It's going much better than expected really and I hope to wrap up the majority of it tomorrow night. The amp chassis will arrive Wednesday and I've spent a bit of time working with its layout in CAD. It's pretty hard for me to believe that the amp, which largely consists of a bunch of resistors, is proving to be the bigger layout headache. And that's not even taking into consideration the wiring aspect of the amp, just the physical layout of the bits and pieces. I see some late nights in my future...

I think what Earl was alluding to is the large voltage spike at turn on. Typically all caps in a tube amp are rated for the full power supply voltage plus a healthy margin for start up. At least that's my understanding of the rationale.

What are the current caps are rated for?

Nice job!!!

Steve, I'd poke around www.mcmastercarr.com, specifically under woven wire cloth and see if you can't find what you're looking for.

Congrats Todd! But some of those are screaming for LOLCAT treatment....

You can't use PSUD to model parallel rectifiers but I know that Pete has been using it to semi-simulate the situation here. And your suggestion of the dual core choke is good and noted for future use. Like I said, I may not stop with this initial build and may tear the whole thing back down depending on what my ears tell me when it's done. Yup, this is one of the things that we'll be watching. The cap is currently sized at 40uF and the option exists to add a series resistor if problems arise or change out the cap. Pete is re-running some of the simulations based on actual data that I've given him from the trafo and we'll adjust things as required. I appreciate all the advice and sanity checks, it's always better to have multiple sets of eyes on things. I'll be doing my best to keep things inline as far as wire routing goes but unfortunately some things about this amp are dictated by the physical size of the parts involved. I'm sure that I could have made things a little bit smaller in the PSU chassis I've designed so far but not by much without turning the top panel into worthless swiss cheese that wouldn't have been capable of supporting You're way ahead of me in regards to this so don't sell yourself short.