Chassis Ideas

[homer09]

Originally posted by pixpop
Low cost aluminum chassis method:

All these materials can be had very cheap at hardware stores, or metal dealers (e.g. through ebay).

Your not the first i see mentioning ebay as a source for aluminium, but i never seem to find these "dealers". can you please show me where they are hiding on ebay

[jackinnj]

Originally posted by pixpop
Low cost aluminum chassis method:

Here's what I'm working on for my GC project.

Front and rear panels are architectural aluminum channel, 3 inch by 1 inch by 1/8 in. Get two peices, 10 inches long.

Top and bottom covers: 1/8 inch aluminum sheet. Get two peices, 10 inches by 6 inches.

Support structure: 1/2 in x 1/2 in aluminum bar, or aluminum angle will also work. Make verticals and front to back supports by cutting this material with hacksaw. Doesn't have to be precise, because won't be visible.

Side panels: wood planks. I got a peice of finished maple from the hardware store. It's nominally 1" x 4", but actually measures 3/4" x 3.5". So it's slightly taller than the metal. this will leave some space underneath and above the finished amp. Cut these to be the same as the front to back depth of the chassis.. which will be 8 inches with the measurements above. Or you can cut a little longer, if you want the wood to protrude front and back as well.

Drill holes, and attach the wood panels to the aluminum bar structure. Drill/file holes in back for connectors. Drill/file holes in front for lights/knobs as appropriate. Attach feet either to the bottom of the wood, or to the bottom of the chassis. Doesn't matter.

All these materials can be had very cheap at hardware stores, or metal dealers (e.g. through ebay). The only parts that need to be accurately cut are the aluminum channel that forms the front and back, and the aluminum plate that forms the top and bottom. These all need to be the same length. The two peices of aluminum sheet need to be the same width.

I hope I've explained well. It's very simple and cheap.

LA -- according to my son who went to grad school out there -- is a great place for finding surplus metal, finding metalworking shops -- must be Howard Hughes or something!

Here's the carcase -- or frame -- from an HP6130 power supply which I bought for about $10 --


And this is how Krohn-Hite fits together their cabinets -- Fluke used something similar in their old equipment. I actually made an engineering drawing in Solidworks for this and was thinking of having it milled:

[pixpop]

Your not the first i see mentioning ebay as a source for aluminium, but i never seem to find these "dealers". can you please show me where they are hiding on ebay

Just do an eBay search for "Aluminum bar stock" and you'll find quite a few dealers.

[jackinnj]

Originally posted by pixpop


Just do an eBay search for "Aluminum bar stock" and you'll find quite a few dealers.

shipping aluminum to Canada is like shipping coals to Newcastle.

there is a guy who has some 6061 sheet for sale pretty inexpensively, but you should be able to find someone in Montreal right out of the phone book.

[homer09]

Originally posted by jackinnj


shipping aluminum to Canada is like shipping coals to Newcastle.

there is a guy who has some 6061 sheet for sale pretty inexpensively, but you should be able to find someone in Montreal right out of the phone book.

That was my initial plan, but sometimes ebay's cheap prices compensate for shipping, but not in this case. Just checking my possibilites, but looks like i will pick up locally.

[phn]

I second jackinnj. Surplus/scrap metal. Some of those places don't like civilians messing around their place. Just tell them you're a student from some local college working on a project. Then you can aardvark around all you want.

You can find the most amazing stuff in those places, much you didn't even know existed. And why would you want your stuff to look like Naim or Mark Levinson, anyway? That's already been done. Watch Brazil. Pick up a design book. Or a book on vintage cars. Ideas are everywhere. Be creative.

[speaker]

Originally posted by phn
Watch Brazil. Pick up a design book. Or a book on vintage cars. Ideas are everywhere. Be creative.

I like the way you think!

I'd add, books on vintage motorcycles to current Italian ones.

speaker

[I_Forgot]

I like to pick up boxes at junk yards. They usually sell stuff on a $/lb basis. You can get all sorts of interesting stuff. Here's a cell telephone diversity antenna (I think) box that I picked up for about $10 or $15 if I recall correctly.

I gutted it, patched a few of the unneeded holes with Bondo auto body filler, drilled a few holes of my own, painted it, and built an amp into it.

Junk yards have tons of this sort of stuff and you can get it for pennies on the dollar.

I_F

[I_Forgot]

Here is what it looks like after paint- it's primer, then orange base coat, crackle medium, metallic blue, finally a clear coat. I was sort of inspired by my 1926 Neutrowound Super 6 radio...

Gotta get a better knob...

I_F

[jackinnj]

I Forgot:
from this part-time exegete --

You will appreciate this which appeared in The New Yorker last year: