Your Current DIY Project Pictorial

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Davey, Apr 20, 2022.

  1. scottys

    scottys Here I am, you pod bastards!

    Location:
    Prescott, AZ
    I rebuilt a couple of tube amps - over the course of two - week long vacations. In between the builds I used a Schitt Aegir amp which I absolutely love. It's been about 6 months and both amps are complete. Completely re-wired , bad caps replaced, new resistors and some new Belton tube sockets and a Rubli delay board to delay the B+ voltage along with a bucking transformer to keep the voltage old fashioned - at about 115-117 volts vs 123 which my house has.

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    So far so good.

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    Last edited: Jul 29, 2022
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  2. bluezee3228

    bluezee3228 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Well, I bit the bullet yesterday and ordered the regulated heater boards I had designed in EasyEDA. I actually ordered the boards from PCBWay.com instead of JLCPCB. They were 1. cheaper 2. I could get them in a thicker board (2.4mm) 3. I could get them with my preferred blue solder mask. They should be here in 2 weeks or less. In the meantime I thought some might be interested in a 3D version of the board. I have these setup to mount to standoffs on the top panel. The heat will rise away from the components and board. The connections are on the bottom of the board so I simply flip the amp over, take off the bottom cover and wire up everything. Not all the components I have slated for the boards have a 3D model so some of the slots you only see the footprint instead of the resistor or capacitor.

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  3. allied333

    allied333 Audiophile

    Location:
    nowhere
    All the DIY projects are great. I especially liked the tube amps. I used to build or upgrade mostly tube gear. Last upgrade was two years ago, It came back with three poor solder joints because I just could not see them well. Lucky it was a local upgrade. I knew I was done with DIY due to my poor eyesight.

    A tube amp sounds as good as the audio transformers. Per a test of about 50 vintage audio transformers only a few were rated Class A or the input waveform was very close to the output wave form. The available PP transformers rated class A were A470 from a Dynaco ST-70 (4300 ohm primary) and the smaller Z565 (8K primary). Triode Electronics used to sell new copies, now no stock. You have to buy used on eBay now. Anything else I would only trust Hashimoto.
     
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2022
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  4. Jaytor

    Jaytor DIY Enthusiast

    Location:
    Oregon
    Looks like you are making great progress. I look forward to seeing how it progresses.

    I returned from my vacation in Europe last week and almost immediately turned around and headed up to Seattle for the Pacific Audio Fest - lots of fun. But now I have several weeks of work backed up so it might be a while before I get back to my diy projects.

    But, I got some good news from Reference North Audio, the company that is machining my new speaker cabinets. They are finally making progress and I should have the cabinets soon. I have all the drivers and crossover parts, but I plan to order some nice hookup wire once I figure out how much I'll need. I'm planning to use Mundorf Angelique (gold-silver-copper alloy with teflon insulation).

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    These are machined out of composite and are bit under 6ft tall. The drivers are six Bohlender-Graebener NEO10 drivers with sixteen NEO3 drivers. These are planar-magnetic drivers with Neodymium magnets on both sides. I am using just one of the NEO3 drivers in my current speakers and they provide a very clean and smooth high-end.

    These speakers were designed by Danny Ritchie at GR-Research. I'm currently using GR's NX-Oticas which I really like. I started collecting the parts about two years ago and have been waiting almost that long for the enclosures. Can't wait to get these put together.
     
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  5. bluezee3228

    bluezee3228 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Thanks. Very slow progress it will be. I will have to acquire parts slowly as I can afford them. The parts have really added up but I am committed to this amp. Having said that, I am very excited to take the first steps toward the build.

    I hope the rest of the trip was fun and enjoyable. I saw some posts about the audio fest. Looked like a good time.

    Ahh, that's very good to hear. I was wondering how those cabinets were coming along.

    I still can't get over the size of that capacitor you had shown me for the speakers. That thing was huge!! That is some very good wire you are going to use for the speakers. Sounds like you have all the pieces in place for some top notch speakers. As Danny always says, don't use connectors, always solder. And no magnetic materials in the signal path. Good luck with that project. Cant wait to see how they turn out.
     
  6. bluezee3228

    bluezee3228 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    I am blown away. I got an email this morning saying the boards have already shipped. Now thats fast!!
     
  7. bluezee3228

    bluezee3228 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Well, they are here! A day early too. Here are some of the specs.
    - 2.4mm thick
    - 6mm wide traces
    - 2oz copper
    - blue top and bottom layer, most places that costs extra

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  8. okc_craft

    okc_craft It All Matters

    Location:
    Okc
    Couldn’t resist the urge for a dead easy DIY Pass amp. About to build the ACA mini, 5 watts push pull class A on a single board about 6”x6”.
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  9. okc_craft

    okc_craft It All Matters

    Location:
    Okc
    This little kit took all of 3hrs to build and sounds far better than it’s stupidly low cost would suggest. It definitely deserves a nice base of some kind, but I’ll be leaving the board and sinks exposed. It has a pair of jumpers so that you can alter the negative 2nd harmonic distortion profile. It’s either a objectively pleasing amp or subjective dream depending on whether the jumper is in or out. Quite a fun little amp.
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  10. FalseMetal666

    FalseMetal666 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle, WA
    Bitchin! What's up with the power supply? Kinda standard power brick they sell with the other ACA stuff?
     
  11. okc_craft

    okc_craft It All Matters

    Location:
    Okc
    Yeah, it’s the Meanwell switch mode power supply the bigger ACA uses. I have a power filter for the PSU that I’m going to build that should help with my audiophile neurosis around switch mode PSU.
     
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  12. fully_articulated

    fully_articulated Forum Resident

    Very nice! How do those heat sinks hold up?
     
  13. okc_craft

    okc_craft It All Matters

    Location:
    Okc
    They have solder pins and through holes in the board to hold them in place. It’s pretty secure, but they get hotter than hell.
     
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  14. FalseMetal666

    FalseMetal666 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle, WA
    You got one of those laser pointer thermometers? Curious just how hot those heat sinks get. The ACA stuff is kinda on my DIY list and been casually thinking about what a separate fan unit might look like if I wanted to get fancy...
     
  15. fully_articulated

    fully_articulated Forum Resident

    :laugh: Sorry, I did mean hold up to the heat. Luckily you answered that question too, despite my lax typing.
     
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  16. okc_craft

    okc_craft It All Matters

    Location:
    Okc
    I don’t, but it’s likely that’s someone on this long thread has measured it.
     
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  17. FalseMetal666

    FalseMetal666 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle, WA
    Built up a Newcomb TR100 SUT for a buddy’s birthday present. Will be used with his Hana EL, so the 1:10 setting should be perfect.

    Ratio switches and three position ground switch copied off Ned Clayton’s switching scheme. Sounds great, these Newcomb pieces are super cool.

    Practice pointer: turns out Kimber wire is pretty stiff.

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  18. okc_craft

    okc_craft It All Matters

    Location:
    Okc
    Great looking build!
     
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  19. FalseMetal666

    FalseMetal666 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle, WA
    The next one should be a bit tidier, wiring it with the stiff Kimber wire made for some needless challenges.
     
  20. fully_articulated

    fully_articulated Forum Resident

    Transformers that plug into octal sockets... ...that is pretty cool.
     
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  21. FalseMetal666

    FalseMetal666 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle, WA
    TR-100 is 1:10/1:20 and TR-91 is 1:15/1:30, so I’ve got all my bases covered.
     
  22. B. Scarpia

    B. Scarpia WatchingYouWatchingMe

    Location:
    WNC
    Returned to this thread looking for project inspiration after a couple of years of building nothong. I put myself on the mailing list when it's back in stock. Thanks for posting.
     
  23. B. Scarpia

    B. Scarpia WatchingYouWatchingMe

    Location:
    WNC
    Paging through this thread there are some nice racks and stands. Here's one I built shortly after the Covid isolation began and I couldn't bear to look at the Flexi-rack I made 20 years previous. The maple looked jaundiced and the all thread had lost it's shiny nickel coating.

    I trashed the all-thread, hand planed off the old finish, and filled the holes with plugs.
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    I decided to make the shelves fixed and thought legs at a 45 wood look good so I made the 12 cuts using a jig.
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    Keeping with the low budget re-purposing theme, using 4/4 walnut I had on hand I laminated it to 8/4 and machined the legs with dadoes.
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    Glued it all up utilizing dowels for accurately locating the shelves in the dadoes and adding a bit of architectural interest.
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    With Tried and True linseed oil based varnish to keep the walnut dark and General Finishes High Performance Satin to keep the maple white, the result
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    Those cinder blocks went away shortly after :D
     
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  24. B. Scarpia

    B. Scarpia WatchingYouWatchingMe

    Location:
    WNC
    Cinder blocks replaced with sand boxes that maintained the horn height and the 30 lbs.of sand each increased the SQ clarity as they always do on a suspended floor.
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    The finished, for now, front wall
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  25. T69

    T69 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sweden
    So far I am only building in my imagination and in the CAD-software. Will see if it will end up in real life...
    Anyhow: its a layered plinth construction for a Lenco L75 drive and top plate and my DIY:ed sideways unipivot truss tonearm (which actually exists and works great).
    The empty compartments may be implemented to contain some weight and damping like leadshots baked into some acoustic putty.

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