KGSSHV Carbon Build Thread

[johnwmclean]

I’ve had yet another terrible experience with Cam-Expert, a relationship of years has come to a head after getting back a front panel for the second time that was very poor workmanship indeed, the brushing was coarse and rough, the rear side screw holes for the stax sockets were still slightly out of alignment again (I managed to fix this by making the holes slightly bigger on the sockets themselves).

Anyway... I did a bit of experimenting, I removed the anodising via a caustic soda bath and wet sanded for a brushed polished look. I did this for all panels, the result isn’t bad and I prefer the shiny appearance to the duller clear anodised panels, but it does leave the panels vulnerable to fingerprints and scratches easily. 

Here’s a pic of the results... 

[bui501]

So...  Having completed by first KGSSHV build using boards from Spritzer, I'd like to move on to a KGSSHV Carbon build.

I've already had the carbon amp boards fabricated using the gerber files on Dr. Gilmore's site.  I'm puzzled as to which of the myriads of power supply boards I'll need to power the carbon amp boards, however.  My KGSSHV build was an on-board version -- I'd like to go with an off-board version for the carbon build.  

Would some of the more experienced members give me some tips on which power supply boards I can use and any gotcha's to watch out for with a carbon build? 

-Vinh

[johnwmclean]

The Carbon is purely an off-board build btw.

The 2 power supplies;
1) The Golden Reference High Voltage (GRHV) these boards include bias and low voltage circuits.
2) The Golden Reference Low Voltage (GRLV) supplies.
You need to chose between using the the supplied low voltage circuit included on the HV boards or use a GRLV. If you do use the low voltage circuit included on the HV boards you won't need the GRLV boards.
I personally like the GRLV supplies and think they are worth it, YMMV.

From here... the many gerber files are mainly sizing and split supply options, most of them will be a choice purely to suit your design requirements.

Watchouts...
Well I prefer stainless steel M3 socket screws for the cree and ixy devices, many builders here use peek screws, I haven’t had anything arc yet, just be diligent and ensure work is clean and solder joints are as smooth as possible. I completely flush the scrub boards with 99% isopropyl alcohol before powering up.

[JoaMat]

Has anyone tried the low voltage supplies on the HV boards with AMB’s Sigma 78/79 regulators? I think it would be a simple and not very expensive improvement.

[HemiSam]

16 hours ago, johnwmclean said:

I’ve had yet another terrible experience with Cam-Expert, a relationship of years has come to a head after getting back a front panel for the second time that was very poor workmanship indeed, the brushing was coarse and rough, the rear side screw holes for the stax sockets were still slightly out of alignment again (I managed to fix this by making the holes slightly bigger on the sockets themselves).

Anyway... I did a bit of experimenting, I removed the anodising via a caustic soda bath and wet sanded for a brushed polished look. I did this for all panels, the result isn’t bad and I prefer the shiny appearance to the duller clear anodised panels, but it does leave the panels vulnerable to fingerprints and scratches easily. 

Here’s a pic of the results... 

Sorry to see the trouble with your vendor, John.

Must say the result does look very good to my mechanically inclined eyes.  I have quite a bit of experience with raw aluminum on my car projects and your conclusions are spot on...high maintenance to say the least.  Anodizing or powdercoating (if you can find one that scratches the itch) is best in the long run IMO.

Regardless, your work continues to impress.  

Happy Holidays!

Sam

[bui501]

20 hours ago, johnwmclean said:

The Carbon is purely an off-board build btw.

The 2 power supplies;
1) The Golden Reference High Voltage (GRHV) these boards include bias and low voltage circuits.
2) The Golden Reference Low Voltage (GRLV) supplies.
You need to chose between using the the supplied low voltage circuit included on the HV boards or use a GRLV. If you do use the low voltage circuit included on the HV boards you won't need the GRLV boards.
I personally like the GRLV supplies and think they are worth it, YMMV.

From here... the many gerber files are mainly sizing and split supply options, most of them will be a choice purely to suit your design requirements.

Watchouts...
Well I prefer stainless steel M3 socket screws for the cree and ixy devices, many builders here use peek screws, I haven’t had anything arc yet, just be diligent and ensure work is clean and solder joints are as smooth as possible. I completely flush the scrub boards with 99% isopropyl alcohol before powering up.

Thanks, John.  I'll go with the GRLV.  Much appreciate the tips.

[bui501]

Thanks, John.  I'll go with the GRLV.  Much appreciate the tips.

John, I found the Goldenreference7plus and goldenreference7minus boards--they look like just the LV version you've mentioned. Which ones of the boards is the GRHV board?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[johnwmclean]

Split HV Boards as follows:

The skinny boards
kgsshvpssicfetsinglenewrightsws.zip
kgsshvpssicfetsinglenewleftsws.zip

The fat boards HV
kgsshvpssicfetsinglenewrightfatsws.zip
kgsshvpssicfetsinglenewleftfatsws.zip

bui501 I have a stash of boards, every option fat, skinny dual... just pm me for a price.

[Whitigir]

Hello all,

it is my first time here and as I am very interested in building myself this Amp, this is my first post.  I am looking into buying the boards, chassis, volume controls and PsU to start the motion.  Can someone point me to where to get it ? Thank you

 

just pmed John above.  Hopefully to hear good news soon

[purk]

21 hours ago, Whitigir said:

Hello all,

it is my first time here and as I am very interested in building myself this Amp, this is my first post.  I am looking into buying the boards, chassis, volume controls and PsU to start the motion.  Can someone point me to where to get it ? Thank you

 

just pmed John above.  Hopefully to hear good news soon

Hi Vince,

You are in good hands.  John's DIY work is very inspiring.

[wink]

Vince,

John is a meticulous graphic artist and builder.

Below is a Carbon designed and built by John, sitting on top of a KGSSHV off board designed and by John and assembled by me.

The knobs are stainless steel on the Carbon and titanium on the KGSSHV...

 

Edited February 9, 2017 by wink
Extra info.

[Pars]

On 2/7/2017 at 11:14 AM, Whitigir said:

Hello all,

it is my first time here and as I am very interested in building myself this Amp, this is my first post.  I am looking into buying the boards, chassis, volume controls and PsU to start the motion.  Can someone point me to where to get it ? Thank you

 

just pmed John above.  Hopefully to hear good news soon

I think he said HE was going to build it, not John...

[drmlyung]

I would also very much like to try my hands on building the Carbon.

+1 PM John.

 

Edited February 19, 2017 by drmlyung
missing words

[JoaMat]

Needs more work - a lot. Board size 4.5 in x 2.4 in. No trimmers, servos on bottom.

[drmlyung]

On 4/3/2016 at 5:05 AM, congo5 said:

looks to be 5" x 2.5"

Would like to use this on my Carbon build.

Is there a way to get the schematic and BOM?

[Kerry]

These boards have extra circuitry for the delay timer, which is not needed on the Carbon.  I'd have to see if I can dig up a bom.  Not sure if I published it earlier.

[joehpj]

This is a small project paying tribute to stax mafia. So I called it stacked mafia.  I am going to build several amps in the same boxes.

This is the first one. The Carbon with two boxes, GRHV, GRLV, 23 stepped VR.

Planned by my friend and I and built by @ang728.

Here are some pics. One GG is also done and more amps are in progess.

photo credit to ang728

Edited February 24, 2017 by joehpj

[congo5]

That looks great, very much like the looks, the clean rounded face and color, the  lettering and  ventilation

Edited February 24, 2017 by congo5

[johnwmclean]

Very nice building.

I can't see any thermal grease applied? Not sure about those insulators with metal screws?

 

Edited February 24, 2017 by johnwmclean

[ang728]

On 2017/2/24 at 3:46 PM, johnwmclean said:

Very nice building.

I can't see any thermal grease applied? Not sure about those insulators with metal screws?

 

I'm not applying too much thermal grease on ceramic thermal pads and angle brackets but sufficient to have good thermal contacts

My approach is applying thermal grease at about pea size then screw all the compoments together,let the pressure spread out the grease.

Edited February 27, 2017 by ang728

[drmlyung]

On 2/22/2017 at 7:53 PM, Kerry said:

These boards have extra circuitry for the delay timer, which is not needed on the Carbon.  I'd have to see if I can dig up a bom.  Not sure if I published it earlier.

Hi, Kerry,

Thank you for the quick reply. 

You did mention in the previous post that "

Just don't add the opto relay (CPC1117N) and the 600 ohm resistor (not necessary).  It is a normally closed relay that prevents the HV from starting up.

EDIT:  Also, the 3K resistor above the relay is not required."

I have gone through every page of this thread, couple of times, and could not find the BOM (or its location) nor the schematic. It would be great if you could provide a pointer.

 

[congo5]

On 8/9/2016 at 4:13 PM, kevin gilmore said:

 

http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/kgsshvcarbonpsleft.jpg

http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/kgsshvcarbonpsright.jpg

older power supply schematic without the on/off switch

http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/goldenreferencehvsic.pdf

 

 

you can use that schematic and figure out the extra three parts now I see its been added,

BOM is harder, write down the silk screen and look it up or wait for Kerry.

Haven't seen any build this but Him

Edited February 24, 2017 by congo5

[Kerry]

Here's a rough BOM.  You'll need to double check things.  Patterns are not necessarily correct, but part numbers probably are pretty close.  Use this as a guide...

ID	RefDes	Pattern	Name	Value	Vendor	Part Number	Quantity
100	A5	Bridge HV	BRIDGE	BR		GBU-610	1
101	AC-IN2	Mate-N-Lok 2	Connector 2 Pin	325VAC		sames series as 3 pin	1
102	DC-OUT	Mate-N-Lok 3	Connector 3 Pin			571-1-770170-0, 571-1721661, 571-770988-1	1
103	AuxPwr, PWR-IND	Header 1x2	Connector 2 Pin				2
104	C1	CAP_2815		47uF		80-T491D476K020	1
105	C11	Cap 22.5PS 10.5x22.5		.22uF		B32913A5224M	1
106	C13	Cap 22.5PS 10.5x22.5		.33uF		505-MKS4.33/1000/10	1
10	C14, C16	Cap 15PS 9x18		0.1uF		505-MKS4.1/1000/10	2
108	C23	CAPPR-10/35h20		330uF		594-MAL215959181E3	1
9	C25	Cap 15PS 9x18		47nF		I used 100pF instead	1
110	C26	Cap Pol 10PS 25D		220uF		80-ELG157M450AR4AA	1
16	C27	CAP_1206		5pF		581-12067A5R6CAT2A	1
112	C36	Cap Pol 2.5PS 6.6D		470uF		647-UVR1A471MED	1
113	C40	Cap Pol 2.5PS 6.6D		47uF		667-EEA-GA1A470H	1
25	D12, D13, D23, D25	SMA				FM4007	4
27	D14	SMA		130V		1SMA130Z	1
29	D15, D16, D17	SMA		150V		1SMA150Z	2
25	D20	SMA		1N4004		FM4007	1
26	D22	SMA		24V			1
24	D24	SMA		15V			1
121	Q10	TO-220		FQPF8N80C		FQPF8N80C	1
41	Q13	SOT23-5				HN4A51J	1
36	Q15, Q16	TO-220		KSC5026		KSC5026	2
44	Q21	SOT23		MMBT3904		MMBT3904	1
44	Q31	SOT23				MMBT3904	1
45	Q32	SOT23		MMBT3906		MMBT3906	1
39	Q36	SOT223-4		STN9360		STN9360	1
43	Q37	SOT89		DN2540		DN2540	1
54	R1, R41, R29, R30	RES_1206		3K			4
130	R2	RES_1206		600		667-ERJ-8ENF6040V	1
131	R3, R38, R78	RES_1206		1K		71-TNPW12061K00BEEN	3
55	R25	Res500LP		50K			1
56	R26	Res500LP		1M			1
57	R27	Res500LP		4.7M			1
136	R29, R30	RES_1206		100K		71-TNPW1206100KBEEN	2
60	R31	Res500LP		10M			1
138	R36	Res500LP		4		71-CPF33R3000FKRE6	1
139	R37, R42	RES_1206		390K		71-TNPV1206390KBEEN	2
49	R39	RES_1206		2K			1
48	R40	RES_1206		100			1
143	R43, R46	RES_2512	330K & 390K	300K			2
144	R44	RES_1206		20K		71-TNPW120620K0BEEN	1
53	R45	RES_1206		50K			1
65	R65	RES_0805		100K			1
67	R70	RES_0805		20K		RG2012P-203-D-T5	1
68	R72	RES_0805		10K		RG2012P-103-D-T5	1
69	R73, R75	RES_0805		2K		RG2012P-202-D-T5	2
70	R74	RES_0805		3.3K		RG2012P-332-D-T5	1
61	R79	RES_1206		4.7K			1
152	U1	SOIC-8/150mil			D	LT1021DCS8-10	1
153	U2	CPC1117N				CPC1117N	1
154	U3	TO-220		10M90S		IXCP10M90S	1
155	U8, U14	TO-220				IXCP10M90S	2
156	U11	SOIC-14/150mil		CD4093		595-CD4093BM	1
157	VR1	POT T93B		50K		652-3266W-1-503LF	1

 

Here's the schematic:

SingleRailGRLV400V.pdf

SingleRailGRLV400V-2.pdf

 

EDIT:

I made some tweaks to the PS.  I'll need to see what I did.  I think I added some extra capacitance.

Edited February 25, 2017 by Kerry

[drmlyung]

Thank you Congo5, thank you Kerry.

I shall start to source the board set soon.

 

On 2/22/2017 at 3:29 PM, JoaMat said:

Needs more work - a lot. Board size 4.5 in x 2.4 in. No trimmers, servos on bottom.

Is this an Amplifier board with surface mount components?

[congo5]

yep  

imaginary one for now