m0tion said:
Electronics is a hobby since the late 1970's and I got into
audio in the early 1980's. In mid to late 90's I took a break from
this to do other hobbies. Electronics and audio can get boring too!
Electronics & audio, the first thing I did was to satisfy my curiosity,
to learn everything I can about it, personal quest. The last thing on
my mind was predicting the internet revolution and how I should
have taken pictures and documented my projects as nobody would
believe me today. ... lol ...
Most of these hobbies are just hobbies, messing around
with stuff in the garage, educating myself. But my main job is
connected to the electronics industry so I have to deal with that on
a daily basis, but it's not audio related.
I do have ancient pics of one of my bigger electronics projects that
I tried to take beyond a curiosity. My Voice Blaster project,
a product similar to the 'Invisi-Beam', a car audio voice
alarm with microwave sensor sold on the market. You walk next to
the car and the car would talk using a pre-recorded voice message
that the user can't change.
My idea was to use a new chip on the market to allow the user to
program their own message in non-volatile memory, a very interesting integrated circuit in the early 1990's.
PCB for the project;
http://home.pacbell.net/lordpk/temp/PcbTop.jpg
Final product;
http://home.pacbell.net/lordpk/temp/VoiceBlaster-Small.jpg
Another recent project that I wanted to take beyond curiosity is a
DIY home amp project. The base amplifier circuit design was created
by Anthony Holton as it was his design and I liked it alot, no need
to re-invent the wheel. I wanted extra "stuff' in the amplifier
package and these extra circuits were implemented on the
circuit board design. I also created a 'rail detector', a certain
protection circuit that triggers on a specific failure event. Long story
short, it was just cheaper to buy used pro audio amps than
to invest big money on this project and try to make it look
like a professional product. I just don't have that kind of money.
I did compete my documentation package and did the PCB layout,
but no prototype was built.
PCB pic;
http://home.pacbell.net/lordpk/temp/all-layers.jpg
Documentation;
On my hard drive as a Word file.
From the electronics side, I showed you something ancient
and something new.
From the audio side, I have prints of installs I did for people
but this is ancient news. Y2k and beyond I'm doing whatever
I want, that amp project was the bigger project from the electronics
side, the loudspeaker project was more or less saving up money
to buy certain drivers for a crazy project, a project that consumes
the most money of all my projects ever. It will take time to mature
before I hear the reward.
In the meantime, people are asking me about line arrays
on another forum and I keep giving out the same answers, so
recently I just started this thread so I can just point those people
there and we can talk about it and share information.
In that thread, I linked my budget line array project and related
topics for reference. It can give a noob a starting point for a
project like this.
http://www.caraudioforum.com/vbb3/showthread.php?t=266922
Try to have fun with your hobbies.
FYI, if you use an Art Cleanbox with your proamps like many
do to drive subwoofers, then check out this thread.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=867340
A simple mod costing cents can save the day.
I mostly spend my time on this forum, it's a new forum section.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=155
Come and join in
I know Shin pop in there once in a while.
Mods: It's been a week, you can delete my previous post now
and this one to un-clutter shins thread. I probably should have
replied via email. my bad.
Shin:
Are you following this thread?
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=867123
She has a fun project in the works.
and this one to un-clutter shins thread. I probably should have
replied via email. my bad.
Shin:
Are you following this thread?
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=867123
She has a fun project in the works.
Colour change time to save sanity. The silver metallic was starting to very faintly highlight the joints on the laminations. A flat colour doesn't do that since the basecoat isn't light reactive.
I've gone for the Ferrari Rosso Corsa, which is a mind numbingly intense shade of red. I absolutely adore it, although I seem to be the only one from the couple of people who've taken a look and commented. The silver is definitely more classy but this just looks intense and plays off the gloss black superbly.
I've also switched over to water based finishes and I have to say they have come along so much. Quite expensive at £63 for 1.5ltrs but it dries in minutes, seems tougher then celly finishes and the gloss is high.
I've gone for the Ferrari Rosso Corsa, which is a mind numbingly intense shade of red. I absolutely adore it, although I seem to be the only one from the couple of people who've taken a look and commented. The silver is definitely more classy but this just looks intense and plays off the gloss black superbly.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I've also switched over to water based finishes and I have to say they have come along so much. Quite expensive at £63 for 1.5ltrs but it dries in minutes, seems tougher then celly finishes and the gloss is high.
sqlkev said:I wouldve stayed with the silver
The red screams too much attention to the speakers, I'd be way too distracted when listening to them. Great for showcase though.
Yep the silver has classy look to it although I would prefer if it was a little less bright silver and more titanium.
Sadly, for me, using any metallic on these baffles is just going to drive me nuts because from certain angles you can see a slight change in the metallic where the light interacting with the surface is highlighting the surface imperfections on the basecoat. You don't get any of that with flat colours.
I've also bought another Ferarri colour, Grigio Titanio which is a dark silvery grey. I look forward to using this on another project where things aren't so critical.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Which can be seen with clear coat applied here:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I'm not usually into "techno-modern" looking speakers or anything that looks like a car, but that red really looks excellent on those speakers! I approve of the change!
BTW do you use any treatment on the MDF edges to keep seams from showing? I use Minwax Wood Hardener but my projects so far have been veenered so it didn't really matter. But I have a future project that will be all piano black and i was wondering if there was a good way to prevent swelling and the seams becoming visible.
BTW do you use any treatment on the MDF edges to keep seams from showing? I use Minwax Wood Hardener but my projects so far have been veenered so it didn't really matter. But I have a future project that will be all piano black and i was wondering if there was a good way to prevent swelling and the seams becoming visible.
David Gatti said:Nice, I wonder what your female friends would think. The might actually love it, my ex wanted pink speakers
Shin, you mentioned water based. Do you mean acrylic? Thats what I've been using. Seems to require quite a few coats, and you're right about the price!!
Acrylic and waterbased are different animals. Waterbased you could drink and still live although you wouldn't feel too great, if you drank acrylic you'd be less than talkative. Permanently.
Waterbased is pretty safe but up until the last couple of years its been very much a no go for decent paint performance the automotive industry requires. Today, good waterbased paints cost about 3 times more than good 1k or 2k paints but you don't have worry about using an airfed mask nor looking like Gordon Freeman with the a hazard suit. The performance of the products I'm using is better than 1k but still behind 2k.
Cool. So that's two of us then
Besides all I ever build is silver and black speakers these days. Gets kinda boring after awhile.
The edges aren't treated as such, at least not in the sense of resins, coatings and other tricks. I have tried some of those though but with limited success. This time around I veneered over the joints to stop them showing. It very almost worked but metallic is uber picky as am I so the silver went. A flat colour such as black or red is much more forgiving. I could scratch my name in a black basecoat and once I'd laquered and buffed it out you'd never know, do that on a metallic and by god you'd see it from the other end of a football pitch, well maybe not, perhaps a subbuteo size football pitch.
Subbuteo, what a great word. Carp game though.
Shin,
Recently, I "accidently" had some success with mdf priming using the epoxy that is used to resurface bathtubs. The epoxy claims to be self leveling and when I sanded downwith 150grit, the seams are still not showing.
This waterbased paint that you're using, is it still automotive paint? or am I totally off? not waterbased paint that people use to paint interiors now is it?
Recently, I "accidently" had some success with mdf priming using the epoxy that is used to resurface bathtubs. The epoxy claims to be self leveling and when I sanded downwith 150grit, the seams are still not showing.
This waterbased paint that you're using, is it still automotive paint? or am I totally off? not waterbased paint that people use to paint interiors now is it?
sqlkev said:
Sploo on here is doing some sterling work with the sprayed MDF joint problem. I think the verdict is still out on the effectiveness of epoxy. I've used polyester resin though and the results weren't to my liking.
I guess much depends on the formulation, the substrate its applied to, the finish that goes on to it and the environment the work lives in. Overall that's a lot of variables.
Its proper automotive paint from an Italian company called Lechler and another called PPG. House paint is dirt, only fit for giving the kids to pour on the carpet and make hand art on the walls.
ShinOBIWAN said:
Ah, so I'm not the only one that absolutely loves (or should that be 'amo') the new paint coat on the F1 Fezzas! That front wing is simply a work of art...
The speakers don't look bad either
ShinOBIWAN said:
...And shortly about to post some updates (apologies, I've been a bit busy over the last couple of weeks).
Incidentally, the urethane paint I've been testing has come from Lechler.
Ray Collins said:
A 4 turbine unit like I had would be what I consider to be a minimum for spraying automotive paint, especially high build primers.
My real problem with them is the feel and use, its nothing like compressed air and takes some getting used to. You have to change the way you spray and that, for me, was the real killer. I'm better with the compressed air so the HVLP went.
If your coming from a compressor to HVLP I expect you'll react to it similarly. If you persevere and find a good gun(I'm not 100% sure the Sharpe T1 gun I had was suited) then I'll bet excellent results can be had.
From research it appears HVLP is mainly used for automotive primer and basecoats. Clearcoat and metallics are best applied with RP guns on compressed air. I'd agree with that since HVLP doesn't atomise the paint to the same extent as running 3 or 4 bar on a compressor.
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.