chipamp case design (warning big pic inside)

[neutron7]

Just for fun here is the design for the case for my next LM3886. chipamp.com (BrianGT) amp

It is true dual mono including buffers, but apart from that is pretty bog standard BrianGT 3886, snubber PSU, seperate 100VA trafos

thought i would share the render i made of the design.

http://www.chillproductions.com/defe...blingclone.gif

it is 1.2 meg animated gif. that way most people can view it.

it is entirely 1/4 thick aluminium with no visible screws exept at the bottom. the mains is very nicely isolated from the rest of the electronics with this design.

the "legs" are carbon fiber (i have allready actually made them and the render doesnt do them justice)

the reason i made this render is because I was fitting all the parts together in 3d before i got the transformers, and decided to do a bit of an ambitious case but within my capabilities and what tools i have
and something that looks a bit different.

i have all the electronics built and tested, toroids on order i just need to get the metal stock to do the actual case.
(and polish and polish)

[Evilsizer]

thats nice! what did you use to do the 3d modleing with the parts inside it?

[jimbo1968]

Nice. You might start a fresh trend away from box shapes.

My screwless design is going to look tame in comparison.

[safetyman]

Originally posted by neutron7


i have all the electronics built and tested, toroids on order i just need to get the metal stock to do the actual case.
(and polish and polish)

neutron, looks really good.....good luck. BTW, how do you polish aluminum? I have a few pieces that I would like to use, but they look bad and I had asked some aluminum shops and they tell me it can't be done and suggested for me to paint them instead.

[neutron7]

Originally posted by Evilsizer
thats nice! what did you use to do the 3d modleing with the parts inside it?

well i actually measured the boards and capacitors etc of the Briangt boards and entered them in as objects in GMAX. But to render it you can not use GMAX (like MAX but free) so i sent it to a friend and then rendered it via windows remote desktop when he was not using the computer and emailed it back to myself

[neutron7]

Originally posted by safetyman


neutron, looks really good.....good luck. BTW, how do you polish aluminum? I have a few pieces that I would like to use, but they look bad and I had asked some aluminum shops and they tell me it can't be done and suggested for me to paint them instead.

well you can polish non anodized aluminium to a very high polish. sand it with finer and finer grit sandpaper (i do 800, 1000 then 2000) or start with a coarser one if its really badly marked.

for surfaces to be almost perfectly flat put the sandpaper on something very flat, such as a piece of plate glass.

i have a polishing wheel instead of one of the stones on my bench grinder. i use some metal polish ("flitz") on there and it polishes up like silver. you could use some proper jewelers rouge and it would probably be even better. the main problem is keeping it shiny after its polished.

maybe you could either spray some laquer or clear coat on there since it is not going to get rough treatment (clean it very well first) or take it to be clear anodized. (im not sure if that would screw up the polish?), how do they do car wheels and bike parts? campagnolo and shimano have had polished aluminium parts that can stand up to road dirt for ages since the 70s. anyways its not "impossible" otherwise there would be no "bling" wheels

by the way do not breathe aluminium dust. supposedly it can give you alzheimers. someone told me once i forgot who

http://www.englishcustompolishing.com/usca/gallery.html
those are aluminium!

[safetyman]

neutron, great advice. Points taken and I'll have a go at it once I am ready to do an enclosure.

[KT]

Neutron,

Great effort! Looks like you've really took the time to work out something original and unique. Great job!

Well, I can't help myself, but do you mind if I take this opportunity to offer some thoughts, impressions, ask some questions, and offer some constructive criticism? (it's part of my art school training )

I really love that you're thinking "outside of the box," literally in this case. I think that's very cool.

One thing that strikes me, though, is that the chassis reminds me of 1. a hair dryer and 2. Boba Fett's ship from Star Wars. I don't know if you intend to evoke those associations, but they did come up for me and I'm sure others might see that, as well. Just a personal impression at first glance.

Are you going to design some sort of complimentary case for a preamp or DAC? I think it would be very cool to see a collection of 2 or 3 complimentary pieces based on the same asethetic as part of your system. Like a furniture or industrial designer designing a coffee service or component grouping, you could have several components working off of the same design idea, slighly different in form, but based on the same materials and look. If you make speakers, these could be made to order, as well.

Very cool stuff. Keep it up!

Best,
KT

[neutron7]

Thanks KT !

Lol nobody mentioned the star wars ship yet but i noticed it looks a bit hair dryer ish. since it will be usually viewed from teh front i really do not think it matters (someone else said it looked like a whistle) im sure there are a lot of other things with a similar shape

http://www.englishcustompolishing.co..._the_deck.html
(whats that thing? if i could get one it would save me some work!)


btw i just googled that ship, it is called "slave-1" a bit similar but only when it is landed, it flies at a completely different angle. anyways to solve that possible misunderstanding ill make sure not to invite any star wars fanatics into my house

If this works out nicely I do have a rough plan in the works for the preamp, and possibly even a CD player as well .

oh and Evilsizer, if you want to model some electronics, it makes it much easier to align everything if you use an actual scan or photo of the circuitboard as the material map for the board object.

[jimbo1968]

it reminded me of one of the flying machines at the start of T2 (maybe T3).