F5 build

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Hello

After some time fighting to be able to buy the essential parts for the build here i am!
This is the begin of my attempt to build this amp. This will be somehow a slow update topic as i will take some time to do things. But also i really have never done anything like this and my skills are ... eerrrr... rudimentary... but a lot of commitment!

I am like a noob in electronics but grabbed my balls and here i go! I have some basic rudimentary kind of doubts but i will make it as long as it takes. I try hard to read and learn with this fantastic forum and others but sometimes information is overwhelming.

I have been soldering the boards carefully and let me tell you dam this gave me a lot of work! I never soldered anything like this and has been like a fight to have the things looking as nice as i see here posted by others.

I only miss the ps capacitors and the heatsinks. Curently trying to work with heatsinkusa to order the 2 units but i'm not sure i will need so big units as i see people using. I mean i can't math the details as many of you so i cant really understand if the big piece of aluminium i have here would make the work.

So for starter i'll drop some pics of the parts i gathered and plans.
I'll say and make a lot of errors or stupid stuff but well, trying had to make a dream come true: make my own power amp and one designed by mr pass!

Antek unit
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Wish i could use the big one :)
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Can any1 please help me understand if this is a good ideia????????!????

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Chassis lower plate, elevated plate for transformer and back power connection plate.
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I got this nice thing!
This has a fan on the other side attached that might be the best fan i ever saw! It's a BB unit direct fed form 110v but can work from 80 to 110v. It's amazingly silent and even if i touch the blades with my finger and move them a litle it will spin for a long time.
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First time soldering ever lol
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I got these from a friend, they all working fine but weight like 1kg each...
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How about using our server to host pictures? I can't open any of these and while the thumbnails are reasonably large they aren't big enough to show useful detail.

You can edit this original post indefinitely to update the pictures, but will have to wait for it to be reapproved before you see the changes.
 
So now i'm slowly working on removing the extra solder some places have like those on the red circles. Even if i trained soldering some days ago i just can't seem to use just a small ammount. Dammit it is harder than it looks.
So i went and bought a thing called FL-15 and work got a lot easier!
But even then my lack of experience shows off...

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
 
Oh no :)
The thing is he was going to throw them out and i thought go get them, may be useful for something.
For the F5 i have 6x27.000uf 63v

Problem with my caps is that they have some use and i can't source affordable ones as it seems...
Guess i'll have to stick to it. Not i can spend $100 in heat sinks so i'll have to work hard on a solution.
 
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So now i'm slowly working on removing the extra solder some places have like those on the red circles. Even if i trained soldering some days ago i just can't seem to use just a small ammount. Dammit it is harder than it looks.
So i went and bought a thing called FL-15 and work got a lot easier!
But even then my lack of experience shows off...

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.

As to your solder "blobs".....I have best results by making sure tip is in good contact with the pad as well as lead of part. Touch solder to the pad, when solder melts on pad, draw tip up the lead a short distance. Otherwise, solder will tend to stick mainly to wire...as you add more, it forms the blob. YMMV.

I am assuming you soldered to the pads on the backside? Or both? I usually get enough leak through that the back side is sufficient, without need to touch the top side.

Russellc
 
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Thanks a lot for the hint! Will practice it later at home.
Makes sense what you say and the issue i have gets on my nerves really.
Yes i begin to solder from backside and i must say the result isn't that great but i'm removing most solder now and slowly solder them again the way you described.

I can't afford to spend much more on the amp (wife lost job) but i will finish it no matter what. It's a dream and dreams are worth fighting for.
 
Very nice pictures!
Have you also soldered the 5k pot as in pcb drawing or you put both in same direction?
I have followed the pcb drawing and yesterday night, after like 40m looking at it trying to figure out what would be the consequence i think the only issue is that each pot will turn in diferent direction to set bias, right?

How much were those heatsinks?
 
Very nice pictures!
Have you also soldered the 5k pot as in pcb drawing or you put both in same direction?
I have followed the pcb drawing and yesterday night, after like 40m looking at it trying to figure out what would be the consequence i think the only issue is that each pot will turn in diferent direction to set bias, right?

How much were those heatsinks?


heatsinks 120 USD
 
Hi there!

It's great to see more "tugas" here!
Thanks a lot for the offer and yes i am very close to lisbon and yes i will fill my fridge with beer! :)

Yes i will need sanity checks and someone that isn't such a noob as me to check things before power on. But i still need to get a set of sinks so it will take a couple of weeks.
Later i'll post a piece i have at home that i think, with help from a couple of fans, would do the job. It was from a 600w car power amp.
With recent events i can't afford to make things as i wanted first; i planned things up, gathered money and all but wife lost job so not much margin left.
I'll have to compromise beauty and perfection with costs.

Gonna look @ those links later in the evening when i leave work.

Cheers (Cmpts)
Don't order the heatsinks from the USA, you will pay a HUGE shipping fee. There are some nice heatsink vendors here in Europe with much better shipping costs.

modu
Aluminium Heatsinks, Aluminium Extrusions, Aluminium Extruded products, Aluminium profiles - Birmingham Aluminium

Just to name 2 examples.

If you are near Lisbon and need some help with soldering, calculations or initial setup don't mind asking and if you want I could change some help for "minis"( Portuguese beer :D )
 
Don't order the heatsinks from the USA, you will pay a HUGE shipping fee. There are some nice heatsink vendors here in Europe with much better shipping costs.

modu
Aluminium Heatsinks, Aluminium Extrusions, Aluminium Extruded products, Aluminium profiles - Birmingham Aluminium

Just to name 2 examples.

If you are near Lisbon and need some help with soldering, calculations or initial setup don't mind asking and if you want I could change some help for "minis"( Portuguese beer :D )
i ordered some sinks from heatsinkUsa. and with the shipping cost of $380
it was still cheaper then simular sinks from fisher and birmingham whitout shipping cost. and on top of that. birmingham had a shipping cost of over $600.
total cost from birmingham inkl shipping: $1850.
total cost from heatsinksUSA inkl shipping: $780. so i dont know. i cant see how birmingham is cheaper:)
 
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