hi all,
late last night i was tinkering with my SACD player and was thinking of some tweaks, e.g. some copper foil tape on the ICs to reduce stray lead inductance and copper sheilding here and there. i had originally thought of using materials like Ti-shield and 3M copper foil tape, but they are fairly expensive and i would have to order them from Percy Audio/Digikey respectively. so, i thought about using household aluminum foil, but it is not as conductive as copper and the lack of solderability is a problem. so i did a search on google for copper sheeting, and through some very helpful home gardening forums (they like to use metals for decorative trinkets) i came across a couple sources for copper sheeting:
http://www.misterart.com/store/view.cfm?store=003&group_id=794
http://www.wildwooddesigns.com/store/prodinfo.asp?number=96947
http://www.rjleahy.com/Store/coil/index.html
apparently this stuff is fairly common in art supply stores, so i'm going to head over to my local store to see if they have it today. i'm not sure if it's pure copper or if the conductivity/solderability is good but it should be decent at least. the last link is most useful as you can get the sheeting in various gauges, as thick as 18ga.... would be very useful for any DIY project (copper-shielded chassis/circuit modules anyone?). i will try the stuff out and let you guys know how it is.
cheers,
dorkus
late last night i was tinkering with my SACD player and was thinking of some tweaks, e.g. some copper foil tape on the ICs to reduce stray lead inductance and copper sheilding here and there. i had originally thought of using materials like Ti-shield and 3M copper foil tape, but they are fairly expensive and i would have to order them from Percy Audio/Digikey respectively. so, i thought about using household aluminum foil, but it is not as conductive as copper and the lack of solderability is a problem. so i did a search on google for copper sheeting, and through some very helpful home gardening forums (they like to use metals for decorative trinkets) i came across a couple sources for copper sheeting:
http://www.misterart.com/store/view.cfm?store=003&group_id=794
http://www.wildwooddesigns.com/store/prodinfo.asp?number=96947
http://www.rjleahy.com/Store/coil/index.html
apparently this stuff is fairly common in art supply stores, so i'm going to head over to my local store to see if they have it today. i'm not sure if it's pure copper or if the conductivity/solderability is good but it should be decent at least. the last link is most useful as you can get the sheeting in various gauges, as thick as 18ga.... would be very useful for any DIY project (copper-shielded chassis/circuit modules anyone?). i will try the stuff out and let you guys know how it is.
cheers,
dorkus
good thinking, i was using some of the TechSpray stuff myself to prevent tarnishing. u may still want to use a chemical-based cleaner in addition to scotchbrite, i also highly recommend a contact enhancer such as Caig Pro-Gold. applying a little squirt to the contact area before connection can go a long way to improving long-term conductivity... i find it works very well.
I thought of using .25" aluminum scraps from my chassis. The terminal bosses on computer type caps all seem to be aluminum, so using an aluminum bus bar would reduce the possibility of corrosion in that junction. I know it would move the problem to the terminals connected to it, but those are more visible and serviceable. What are your thoughts guys?
aluminum connections
just a side bar to the conversation:
at one time, when the construction industry was feeling "economical" houses were wired with Aluminum power cable -- seems however that Aluminum and Copper have different thermal expansion coefficients and the joints -- at switch boxes and outlets -- would come loose after only a few years. This lead to a number of fires! They now sell outlets and switches labeled "AL-CO" for this application.
Aluminum is OK for making that 8 element log-periodic array, but leave it out of the wiring.
just a side bar to the conversation:
at one time, when the construction industry was feeling "economical" houses were wired with Aluminum power cable -- seems however that Aluminum and Copper have different thermal expansion coefficients and the joints -- at switch boxes and outlets -- would come loose after only a few years. This lead to a number of fires! They now sell outlets and switches labeled "AL-CO" for this application.
Aluminum is OK for making that 8 element log-periodic array, but leave it out of the wiring.
I'm aware of the thermal expansion problem. The loose connection also helps the Al to oxidize and increases resistance, more heat, more corision, until you have a fire or open circuit.
That's the question I have with using copper bars to connect Aluminum cap terminals. Seems the aluinum scraps would be better, but you still have to connect to copper wires. What would be the best way to do this?
That's the question I have with using copper bars to connect Aluminum cap terminals. Seems the aluinum scraps would be better, but you still have to connect to copper wires. What would be the best way to do this?
The threaded bosses on my caps all seem to be aluminum. They're certainly not brass or copper, and I doubt that they are silver. They're too soft to be stainless, and they don't rust, and they're not magnetic, so I'm assuming they're aluminum. That's what type of metal electrolytic caps are made of, isn't it?
Dorkus, I was refering to computer grade caps with screw terminals.
I see the terminals in the above pic would seem to be folded out of tinned copper sheet, but my large Sprauge caps have solid aluminum bar thats threaded for a screw sticking out the top.
Dorkus, I was refering to computer grade caps with screw terminals.
I see the terminals in the above pic would seem to be folded out of tinned copper sheet, but my large Sprauge caps have solid aluminum bar thats threaded for a screw sticking out the top.
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