Big caps, little space for such....

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I ran into the (to most of the builders here) familiar problem, that I ran out of space inside the "box". There was just no way I could fit the caps, due to the relatively large foot-print of the clamps.... :bawling:

This is how I got around the problem :smash:

http://www.briangt.com/gallery/album64

This saves me like a third of the footprint.

Magura :)
 

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Magura said:
I ran into the (to most of the builders here) familiar problem, that I ran out of space inside the "box". There was just no way I could fit the caps, due to the relatively large foot-print of the clamps.... :bawling:

And the clamps are sooo ugly. I've got the same problem, not with fitting them in the box, but I've got the same sized caps (V: 75x145). Very pretty.

How do you tighten them, or are they just a 'snug' fit?
 
Re: Re: Big caps, little space for such....

Cloth Ears said:



How do you tighten them, or are they just a 'snug' fit?

They are made to have a snug fit :)

mpmarino said:


Those are cool. Did you bore and rough them on a mill and hand finish - or CNC?

I usually go the CNC route, but these could easily have been made as you suggest.

steenoe said:
I assume you made some of those for me too:D Joke aside, they look great.

Steen:)

Do you have caps that fit those?


Magura :)
 
I hate cap clamps on general principles, as they take too much space, and the ones you can get never seem to fit the caps you have (Murphy hard at work, as usual). I turn the cpas upside down and mount them on a thick piece of plastic (1/8" epoxy glass works just fine), with a couple of stips of copper for bus bars. This assembly gets mounted to the chassis via standoffs, and the wire conections come from underneath. If the caps aren't too heavy, you can make do with a piece of FR-4 single sided copper clad.
 
wrenchone said:
I hate cap clamps on general principles, as they take too much space, and the ones you can get never seem to fit the caps you have (Murphy hard at work, as usual). I turn the cpas upside down and mount them on a thick piece of plastic (1/8" epoxy glass works just fine), with a couple of stips of copper for bus bars. This assembly gets mounted to the chassis via standoffs, and the wire conections come from underneath. If the caps aren't too heavy, you can make do with a piece of FR-4 single sided copper clad.

I hate cap clamps too! They take up too much room and they look like crap.

Magura's solution is the most elegant I have ever seen. Very nice.

I also like your PCB solution. This is similar to what Threshold did on the CAS2 amp only they used REALLY LONG standoffs so that the caps "hung" from the PCB.

Bill
 
Re: Re: Re: Big caps, little space for such....

Magura said:


Do you have caps that fit those?


Magura :)

Yep, I do:D But its not those in my A-X's, if thats what made you ask;) I had some more of those white ugly caps later;) Both big and small. I like them Rifa's a lot! They are better at filtering than anything else!! More robust too, more reliable and longer shelflife and....the list goes on, but ugly they are;)

Steen:)
 
wrenchone said:
I hate cap clamps on general principles, as they take too much space, and the ones you can get never seem to fit the caps you have (Murphy hard at work, as usual). I turn the cpas upside down and mount them on a thick piece of plastic (1/8" epoxy glass works just fine), with a couple of stips of copper for bus bars. This assembly gets mounted to the chassis via standoffs, and the wire conections come from underneath. If the caps aren't too heavy, you can make do with a piece of FR-4 single sided copper clad.

Uhhh Ohh, if they have a safety vent, dont turn them upside down!!
 
Why not turn a vented cap upside down? As long as some space is left for the vent to operate, no harm is done. If the natural spacing of the cap screw terminals is not deemed enough, one can always insert a couple of washers to boost up the cap a little, or better still, drill a relief hole in the mounting board in the right location. BTW, I've never seen a computer-style electrolytic vent unless it was horribly abused, either grossly overvolted or hooked up backwards. I've had a couple of 22kuf, 50V caps operating upside down for years in a mounting board just like I described, with no ill effects.
 
Its up to you, but:
Check out the datasheet for the caps you are using. Usually if they have a safety vent.hole, they stink like hell if something goes wrong:D Turning them upside down, is almost surely the way to ask for that;) This is just a decent meant piece of advice!

Steen:)
 
steenoe said:


Uhhh Ohh, if they have a safety vent, dont turn them upside down!!


Yeah, he scared me as well a bit with that suggestion :bigeyes:

Read some of the app. notes, upside down is a no-go!

Those big caps have liquid electrlyte floating around inside. If the vent is facing up, they will let out some hot gas if something goes sour.....on the contrary they will let out boiling electrolyte if the vent is facing down :hot:

Not my kind of fun!


Magura :)
 
Re: Re: Re: Re: Big caps, little space for such....

steenoe said:


Yep, I do:D But its not those in my A-X's, if thats what made you ask;) I had some more of those white ugly caps later;) Both big and small. I like them Rifa's a lot! They are better at filtering than anything else!! More robust too, more reliable and longer shelflife and....the list goes on, but ugly they are;)

Steen:)

I will consider that in my evening prayer ;)

Magura :)
 
Caps stink like hell in any case if something goes wrong, upside down or right side up, and if grossly abused, the vents are not sufficient insurance against bad stuff happening - we nearly got a VDE engineer with a cap bazooka at my last job.
If someone is exceptionally ansy on this issue, they could hang the caps right side up using threaded rod stock from the hardware store. I've never had problems using my scheme, but I check the polarity rigorously before powering up, too.
 
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