As part of my mini-aleph design I have produced a few case designs, which I feel can be easily scaled up, I'm in the final stages of the design of CNC cuts and holes, which is for now the most expensive part (also busy designing and building a CNC router to automate things in fututre and cut out outsourceing).
The inspiration is the lack of decent cases available on the market for DIY, its always big money for little value. I get sad when I see some of the nice designs and fancy parts guy use and then stick in an ugly box with a 1960 toggle switch and a glareing LED. I guess not everyone is mechanicaly inclined. Sure there are the few exceptions. Keep watching this spot, I still need to get the powdercoating sorted as well, I was going to go for the whole black anodised thing, and then decided, bugger that, this is another century.
The inspiration is the lack of decent cases available on the market for DIY, its always big money for little value. I get sad when I see some of the nice designs and fancy parts guy use and then stick in an ugly box with a 1960 toggle switch and a glareing LED. I guess not everyone is mechanicaly inclined. Sure there are the few exceptions. Keep watching this spot, I still need to get the powdercoating sorted as well, I was going to go for the whole black anodised thing, and then decided, bugger that, this is another century.
Yeah, I think way overpriced for what you get.
I agree its a big mission to get setup, and some people do things because its business.
My opinion on the boxes is tht they are very plain looking, maybe the large Disipante with those silver handles still make somewhat of a statement.
For the most part with those cases you are looking at spending a 100 EUR and thats with thin 4mm face plates etc. Hardly what i call good value for money if you knew the costs of material etc. I feel with a class-A amp, you need all your panels to contribute to the thermal design.
Also, and one could see this as a good or a bad thing, most of their designs do not include switches and connectors, which I guess is still forgiveable in thin aluminium.
See my point re ugly switches in previous post. I'm actualy going for a 10mm powdercoated face in a tomato or apple red for the first batch. I was like no, when I thought about it, then tried it on my rendered model and then I was like all yessss.
Also the choice of handles and switch was a long process, chosen to suit the curves of the amp, not be same as everything else, and most importantly not leave any room for bad design choices by the final user (I'm gonna get flamed for that) yet retain a certain familiarity. Parts chosen are not cheap by any means, but still add up to about the average cost of the thin stuff on the market. There is, unless you design for those with noo finincial restraints, a big dif between designing something to be profitable and competitive, with distributing something at cost and love. I pretty much have everything I could want from life and have an awefull lot of time to kill
I agree its a big mission to get setup, and some people do things because its business.
My opinion on the boxes is tht they are very plain looking, maybe the large Disipante with those silver handles still make somewhat of a statement.
For the most part with those cases you are looking at spending a 100 EUR and thats with thin 4mm face plates etc. Hardly what i call good value for money if you knew the costs of material etc. I feel with a class-A amp, you need all your panels to contribute to the thermal design.
Also, and one could see this as a good or a bad thing, most of their designs do not include switches and connectors, which I guess is still forgiveable in thin aluminium.
See my point re ugly switches in previous post. I'm actualy going for a 10mm powdercoated face in a tomato or apple red for the first batch. I was like no, when I thought about it, then tried it on my rendered model and then I was like all yessss.
Also the choice of handles and switch was a long process, chosen to suit the curves of the amp, not be same as everything else, and most importantly not leave any room for bad design choices by the final user (I'm gonna get flamed for that) yet retain a certain familiarity. Parts chosen are not cheap by any means, but still add up to about the average cost of the thin stuff on the market. There is, unless you design for those with noo finincial restraints, a big dif between designing something to be profitable and competitive, with distributing something at cost and love. I pretty much have everything I could want from life and have an awefull lot of time to kill
Sinks will never be cheap, but they are the first part of my case designs.
Chooseing maximum dissipation/$ and for convection cooling orientation.
I am toying with two possibilities, as the distributor I buy my sink from has many branches globaly, it is possible to have the sinks directly from a local source, the downside is that there would need to be more play in the face nuts to accommodate any not to accurate drilling and tapping of the sinks by the assembler. I know it is going to be a challenge scaling it up to the dissipation needed by F5's etc. but I am quietly convinced it is possible, from my back of the envelope calculations, and even more sure once my router is done, as that reduces my cost for produceing the faces 10:1 + powdercoating/anodysing. The latter haveing to be done professionaly as the aluminium they make the thick sheet stock from tends to be 8082 which leaves blotches when light colours are used and the process is not done well.
I'll probably have the power switches by next Monday or so as they are comming ex UK, I need that to confirm the cutout for the front panel, as it is made to fit into a thin sheetmetal case, so that part needs to be milled pretty accurately for it to fit securely.
The first cases will not be scaled for the F5 though, my first babies are for the mini-aleph, which can fit in a case with 60W dissipation, probably good enough for any of the larger chipamps and say about a 100W class-AB designs. But it would allow you to see the quality I am after. This one will be a simple design with just the power switch/ status LED's and silkscreening on the face as it is intended for a bi-amping setup.
But one of the designs is pretty balls to the walls with extended geared pot shafts (to get around the transformer) and go to the back of the case, it also has a relay based input selector, which means the signal travels in a straight line to amp PCB's without going to the faceplate, for shortest distance. It also has VU meters.
I expect to pull that off well south of $150.
The cheapest solution is designing the case yourself, phone a local wholesale metal supplier that will cut it to size for you. In the UK you can also try Buy Metal | Online Metal Supplies | Aluminium | Brass | Stainless Steel They offer a cutting service and a nice selection of metals in stocks, bars, tubes and sheets.
I'm just a small fish, I am sure there are many ways to get a case done if you put your mind to it, sometimes you need to stretch a project over a few months, go look at the tube guy's work, some of those jobbies were assembled over years. I Think there is a thread allready of a guy makeing cases just for the F5.
Chooseing maximum dissipation/$ and for convection cooling orientation.
I am toying with two possibilities, as the distributor I buy my sink from has many branches globaly, it is possible to have the sinks directly from a local source, the downside is that there would need to be more play in the face nuts to accommodate any not to accurate drilling and tapping of the sinks by the assembler. I know it is going to be a challenge scaling it up to the dissipation needed by F5's etc. but I am quietly convinced it is possible, from my back of the envelope calculations, and even more sure once my router is done, as that reduces my cost for produceing the faces 10:1 + powdercoating/anodysing. The latter haveing to be done professionaly as the aluminium they make the thick sheet stock from tends to be 8082 which leaves blotches when light colours are used and the process is not done well.
I'll probably have the power switches by next Monday or so as they are comming ex UK, I need that to confirm the cutout for the front panel, as it is made to fit into a thin sheetmetal case, so that part needs to be milled pretty accurately for it to fit securely.
The first cases will not be scaled for the F5 though, my first babies are for the mini-aleph, which can fit in a case with 60W dissipation, probably good enough for any of the larger chipamps and say about a 100W class-AB designs. But it would allow you to see the quality I am after. This one will be a simple design with just the power switch/ status LED's and silkscreening on the face as it is intended for a bi-amping setup.
But one of the designs is pretty balls to the walls with extended geared pot shafts (to get around the transformer) and go to the back of the case, it also has a relay based input selector, which means the signal travels in a straight line to amp PCB's without going to the faceplate, for shortest distance. It also has VU meters.
I expect to pull that off well south of $150.
The cheapest solution is designing the case yourself, phone a local wholesale metal supplier that will cut it to size for you. In the UK you can also try Buy Metal | Online Metal Supplies | Aluminium | Brass | Stainless Steel They offer a cutting service and a nice selection of metals in stocks, bars, tubes and sheets.
I'm just a small fish, I am sure there are many ways to get a case done if you put your mind to it, sometimes you need to stretch a project over a few months, go look at the tube guy's work, some of those jobbies were assembled over years. I Think there is a thread allready of a guy makeing cases just for the F5.
I too didn't want to run signal from back to front for a volume pot, and then front to back. There are so many reasons - signal cable length, for a start, which can be dealt with as you are planning, with an elaborate rod based system. What this method fails to deal with, however, is the signal degradation of the pot itself. For a truly modern and excellent approach to volume controls, you might consider what I did in my pre-amp, and adopt a relay based system, as you are planning with your selector. My pre-amp uses an LDR "Lightspeed" attenuator, made from a small kit by Uriah Daily for $30, and powered by a small 5v Salas shunt reg. It works really well, and is quite transparent, and keeps signal length at it's nadir too.
I have toyed with making my own metal case. I am a craftsman, and have made many wooden cases, but I am feeling like buying one this time, as it's such a chore. More power to you though - a good hand-designed and made case is much more of a show-stopper.
I have toyed with making my own metal case. I am a craftsman, and have made many wooden cases, but I am feeling like buying one this time, as it's such a chore. More power to you though - a good hand-designed and made case is much more of a show-stopper.
I was planning on useing a stepped attenuator at the back for improved tracking, but this is only for the case with a volume control, The relay input switching is realy neat though as you never have to run a signal wire around pointlessly, nor does it need any MCU or processing power, the switch on the face simply selects which set of relays to power in the rear.
For my first cases this is not a problem as volume control and input selection is done on a seperate box, with the actual amp cases being close to each speaker.
I have the same sentiments towards well crafted things, I think the red is gonna make a real conversation piece.
Anyhow, I'm into it so deep now, there is no turning back, I just got tired of wooden cases etc. And I can do pretty nice carpentry, I had woodwork as a school subject till the end of 12th grade, and its always been a hobby of mine. Its just with modern tools and fabricating facilities we are capable of makeing realy well engineerd things that can last till our grandchildren inherits them, and then some.
For my first cases this is not a problem as volume control and input selection is done on a seperate box, with the actual amp cases being close to each speaker.
I have the same sentiments towards well crafted things, I think the red is gonna make a real conversation piece.
Anyhow, I'm into it so deep now, there is no turning back, I just got tired of wooden cases etc. And I can do pretty nice carpentry, I had woodwork as a school subject till the end of 12th grade, and its always been a hobby of mine. Its just with modern tools and fabricating facilities we are capable of makeing realy well engineerd things that can last till our grandchildren inherits them, and then some.
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