Wd 40
I have been using the stuff for years in pots and on switches. It cleans and protects with just enough lubrication to be helpful but not enough to hurt conductivity. I have never had it hurt a part but have more than once saved a VC that didn't have an available replacement. It may have only lasted another year but better than nothing and certainly better than junking an otherwise good piece. I have not noticed it to have a sonic character but it is hard to tell as the sprayed part always sounds better after treatment. I also spray the internals of the DACT controls as a mater of course as they operate much smoother.
The only place you can get into a little trouble is if a switches detent requires grease and you wash it all off when you spray it.
As for electrical properties, they recommend it to spray wet auto ignition cables to disperse water. 30,000+ volts!
Roger
I have been using the stuff for years in pots and on switches. It cleans and protects with just enough lubrication to be helpful but not enough to hurt conductivity. I have never had it hurt a part but have more than once saved a VC that didn't have an available replacement. It may have only lasted another year but better than nothing and certainly better than junking an otherwise good piece. I have not noticed it to have a sonic character but it is hard to tell as the sprayed part always sounds better after treatment. I also spray the internals of the DACT controls as a mater of course as they operate much smoother.
The only place you can get into a little trouble is if a switches detent requires grease and you wash it all off when you spray it.
As for electrical properties, they recommend it to spray wet auto ignition cables to disperse water. 30,000+ volts!
Roger
Not to get off topic but that is quite an interesting use for WD40... When I worked at Clair Brothers Audio we used CAIG Deoxit on all metal contacts (pots, switches, etc) when servicing amps and input boxes. WD40 sure displaces water and lubricates well but I wonder how well it deoxidizes (if at all)?
WD40 and beyond
1)The 27 k is a more or less arbitrary value that should work well in most applications. I would go to 50k for the higher value pots like 100, 250k. The idea is to be low enough to do the job without upsetting the log curve too much.
2)I have used a rather large assortment of cleaners over the years and don’t think any of them do much better than WD40 at cleaning. If you used one of the others you would want to restore the protection and lubrication anyway so why do 2 steps when one does just as well. The other thing with the other types of cleaners is I am not sure the residual left behind is benign. I would hate to find out the hard way by having a comeback.
Roger
1)The 27 k is a more or less arbitrary value that should work well in most applications. I would go to 50k for the higher value pots like 100, 250k. The idea is to be low enough to do the job without upsetting the log curve too much.
2)I have used a rather large assortment of cleaners over the years and don’t think any of them do much better than WD40 at cleaning. If you used one of the others you would want to restore the protection and lubrication anyway so why do 2 steps when one does just as well. The other thing with the other types of cleaners is I am not sure the residual left behind is benign. I would hate to find out the hard way by having a comeback.
Roger
I've had one of those dale Attenuators for over a year now and have not experienced any problems with it at all
If you do get one of these I'd suggested wiring all the resistors up and running a sig gen through them for a while, I never believed resistors need burning in but the dales do benefit for some reason, I tried it and noticed an improvement
The case I use to house mine came from an old camera psu which cost me 50 pence from a radio rally
I just made a new front and back panel, well it does the job
If you do get one of these I'd suggested wiring all the resistors up and running a sig gen through them for a while, I never believed resistors need burning in but the dales do benefit for some reason, I tried it and noticed an improvement
The case I use to house mine came from an old camera psu which cost me 50 pence from a radio rally
I just made a new front and back panel, well it does the job
Attachments
People,
Please don't use it around HV cables and distributors in cars. I did it last week and it was misfiring badly (on great displeasure of other motorist during peak hour). From 280hp I was reduced to few asthmatic mule powers. Instead, use CRC or silicone spray. I guess it doesn't matter in low voltages.
No poping here baby! If you muck around Tripath amps, you should idealy de-couple with, say, >10uf poly cap. This is because the chip is internaly biased with 2.5VDC. I've asked people from DIY FIdelity if the switch is "make before break" type, but they didn't know. Lucky me, I work 2 blocks away from them.
t. and Nuuk,
thanks for showing me your chassis. They look great. I like woodworking and the pod would be fun to build, but I want a chassis that will contain both the amp and the PSU. So, I'll buy the $10 case I saw last Friday and make a nice front plate with wood or maybe with some black Plexiglas. I should be able to make it detachable. This will allow me to make a few front (Plexiglas) of different colour & change it from time to time.
I like Gold
& Red 
and could try these for fun.
Let the fun begin
Daniel
thanks for showing me your chassis. They look great. I like woodworking and the pod would be fun to build, but I want a chassis that will contain both the amp and the PSU. So, I'll buy the $10 case I saw last Friday and make a nice front plate with wood or maybe with some black Plexiglas. I should be able to make it detachable. This will allow me to make a few front (Plexiglas) of different colour & change it from time to time.
I like Gold
& Red and could try these for fun. Let the fun begin
Daniel
kanaddict said:t. and Nuuk,
thanks for showing me your chassis. They look great. I like woodworking and the pod would be fun to build, but I want a chassis that will contain both the amp and the PSU. So, I'll buy the $10 case I saw last Friday and make a nice front plate with wood or maybe with some black Plexiglas. I should be able to make it detachable. This will allow me to make a few front (Plexiglas) of different colour & change it from time to time.
I like Gold
Let the fun begin
Daniel
Yes, well have fun Daniel and don't forget to post some pictures
The advantage of having a seperate enclosed psu is it allows you to try out different supplies easier for comparing
Plus NUUKs pods look really smart
t. said:
Yes, well have fun Daniel and don't forget to post some pictures
The advantage of having a seperate enclosed psu is it allows you to try out different supplies easier for comparing
Plus NUUKs pods look really smart
I could try the Pod for the next project. I'll post some pictures and comments about the autocostruire kit in a few weeks. Here is a picture of my last project :
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I like the wood front, gives an organic feel to any project.
Can we see pic of the internals?
I also like the idea of seperate pieces that can be pluged together, just like Lego or if you are into programming, Java Beans.
I have started to do something that don't need cables between them, eg a DAC that plugs into passive pre that plugs into power amp side by side. This way I can swap the passive for another one to see if it's better.
Only constraint, these beans must be small enough to be able to be plugged side by side and still stand on a standard shelf.
41hz amp3 , monica2 DAC and passive pre are ideal candidates for audio beans.
I'll post some pics as and when these can be shown.
Cheers,
Thierry.
Can we see pic of the internals?
I also like the idea of seperate pieces that can be pluged together, just like Lego or if you are into programming, Java Beans.
I have started to do something that don't need cables between them, eg a DAC that plugs into passive pre that plugs into power amp side by side. This way I can swap the passive for another one to see if it's better.
Only constraint, these beans must be small enough to be able to be plugged side by side and still stand on a standard shelf.
41hz amp3 , monica2 DAC and passive pre are ideal candidates for audio beans.
I'll post some pics as and when these can be shown.
Cheers,
Thierry.
MrDodo said:
Yes, wood ad some warmth to a piece of electronic. Most modern amp look cold. I bought an antique radio last week (tubes) mostly because of the nice wood they used. It's my second antique radio, last years I got a nice 1938 Zenith. These radio are piece of art and are part of the audio history.
About the pictures of the internals, I don't have some...mainly because it is not as well done as it should be. It was my first project and I had to deal with the video recorder case. The amp look good externally, but the inside is far from being a reference
Regards,
t. said:
Nice work Daniel
Nuuk said:Yes, nice work and a beautiful piece of wood!
Thanks guy !
I have some leftover of this wood and will probably use it for my actual project (autocostruire kit). I want to try plaxiglass before, to see how it look. By the way, I used Tung oil to protect the wood.
Daniel,
Acrylic and wood looks nice, particularly dark wood.
See my attempt at making the smallest case for amp3, and having shortest length of cable to sockets. Top is acrylic, side wood and bottom aluminium, which also serve as heatsink. Sorry, pic is not very good. My inablilty to take a good pic, not the camera's fault.
Thierry.
Acrylic and wood looks nice, particularly dark wood.
See my attempt at making the smallest case for amp3, and having shortest length of cable to sockets. Top is acrylic, side wood and bottom aluminium, which also serve as heatsink. Sorry, pic is not very good. My inablilty to take a good pic, not the camera's fault.
Thierry.
Attachments
me again...
Well, I'm back again... I received my AMP3 kit and have soldered almost everything in place except for the chip. Soldering, however, is not first class ... (meaning that it is not always the "by the book" concave shinning surface type, sometimes it's a bit more messier)... but everything seems well soldered. My inexperience in soldering SMD components for one and the not so thin tip of the iron are to blame (that is why I could not solder the chip...). Will there be adverse effects of this soldering, I mean, nasty even, on the sound quality or will it just look worst than if done by a pro? That is, if I didn't burn any of the components 
(does this happen easilly?)...
Regretably late, I'm getting a new welding iron with finer tip for soldering the tripath chip. Regarding the PSU that I talked about, welll... I tore it apart but there seems to be no output regulator so I'll be using the (measured) 12.34V. Will it be necessary to add a heatsink to the chip?
Cheers,
Paulo P
Well, I'm back again... I received my AMP3 kit and have soldered almost everything in place except for the chip. Soldering, however, is not first class
... (meaning that it is not always the "by the book" concave shinning surface type, sometimes it's a bit more messier)... but everything seems well soldered. My inexperience in soldering SMD components for one and the not so thin tip of the iron are to blame (that is why I could not solder the chip...). Will there be adverse effects of this soldering, I mean, nasty even, on the sound quality or will it just look worst than if done by a pro? That is, if I didn't burn any of the components (does this happen easilly?)...Regretably late, I'm getting a new welding iron with finer tip for soldering the tripath chip. Regarding the PSU that I talked about, welll... I tore it apart but there seems to be no output regulator so I'll be using the (measured) 12.34V. Will it be necessary to add a heatsink to the chip?
Cheers,
Paulo P
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