Hi, I had the DIY bug for a long time and finally stumbled across passdiy a while ago, I have put a link to some shots of my pass diy penultimate zen amp, its mostly made from scrap that I salvaged from work, I had to buy the components to populate the boards and the (625VAC) mains transformer, the boards I made on a LPKF protomat; the whole project cost me $150 US dollars, please have a look at my photos and tell me what you think, all comments appreciated!
Chris
http://public.fotki.com/bartsimpson1234/power_amp_project/
Chris
http://public.fotki.com/bartsimpson1234/power_amp_project/
Heatsinks
The heatsinks are I believe glued in with some kind of thermal epoxy, they are from a company that makes peltiers called "Melcor".
They are used in cooler modules that fit into some of the products my company makes, usually 4X 1.5" square peltiers are on this heatsink so I figured they would be a good size for the amp boards.
I took some temp. measurements after I built the amp, at the highest temp spots (near the mosfets) the temp gets to about 50C.
The neat thing about the case I made is that the bottom is 0.25" aluminium and the top is 0.0625" aluminium, so they actually conduct some of the heat away also.
Chris
P.S. I do not have any more pics of the inside of the amp, but next time I open it up to check on it I will post some more!
The heatsinks are I believe glued in with some kind of thermal epoxy, they are from a company that makes peltiers called "Melcor".
They are used in cooler modules that fit into some of the products my company makes, usually 4X 1.5" square peltiers are on this heatsink so I figured they would be a good size for the amp boards.
I took some temp. measurements after I built the amp, at the highest temp spots (near the mosfets) the temp gets to about 50C.
The neat thing about the case I made is that the bottom is 0.25" aluminium and the top is 0.0625" aluminium, so they actually conduct some of the heat away also.
Chris
P.S. I do not have any more pics of the inside of the amp, but next time I open it up to check on it I will post some more!
Thanks for the comments!
The mill I used for the boards is this one (I think):
http://www.lpkf.com/products/rapid_pcb_prototyping/circuit_board_plotter/c_series/c_100_hf.htm
We bought it just for making prototype circuit boards etc, it is expensive at $20k but I didn't have to pay that!
I used the gerber files from the passdiy website, although we did have a lot of problems importing the drill holes, the LPKF system is very quirky and it takes quite a while to get used to it. I downloaded a copy of Eagle for PCB's and I made up two more boards for the pre-amp I am working on, I got the design from the ESP website, its going to be an op-amp battery powered design (lithium ion rechargeable) with integrated phono-amp stage. This was also very cheap to make at around $40 (ince $20 for an Alps blue volume pot).
The heatsinks were already made up, they were in some scrap products that I collected from our large garbage heap here at work, I just stripped them down and then drilled and tapped them for the mosfets etc.
Chris
The mill I used for the boards is this one (I think):
http://www.lpkf.com/products/rapid_pcb_prototyping/circuit_board_plotter/c_series/c_100_hf.htm
We bought it just for making prototype circuit boards etc, it is expensive at $20k but I didn't have to pay that!
I used the gerber files from the passdiy website, although we did have a lot of problems importing the drill holes, the LPKF system is very quirky and it takes quite a while to get used to it. I downloaded a copy of Eagle for PCB's and I made up two more boards for the pre-amp I am working on, I got the design from the ESP website, its going to be an op-amp battery powered design (lithium ion rechargeable) with integrated phono-amp stage. This was also very cheap to make at around $40 (ince $20 for an Alps blue volume pot).
The heatsinks were already made up, they were in some scrap products that I collected from our large garbage heap here at work, I just stripped them down and then drilled and tapped them for the mosfets etc.
Chris
Thanks for your comments!!
Its nice to hear nice comments about the stuff I have made!!
I have uploaded another shot of the front of my power amp and also uploaded a few pics of the inside of the battery powered pre-amp I am making, I got the schematics online and designed the boards and made them myself.
http://public.fotki.com/bartsimpson1234/pre-amp_shots/
one more power amp shot:
http://public.fotki.com/bartsimpson1234/power_amp_project/power_amp_front.html
Thanks again folks for the encouragement!
Chris
Its nice to hear nice comments about the stuff I have made!!
I have uploaded another shot of the front of my power amp and also uploaded a few pics of the inside of the battery powered pre-amp I am making, I got the schematics online and designed the boards and made them myself.
http://public.fotki.com/bartsimpson1234/pre-amp_shots/
one more power amp shot:
http://public.fotki.com/bartsimpson1234/power_amp_project/power_amp_front.html
Thanks again folks for the encouragement!
Chris
Thanks Netlist
Actually I was thinking about getting some kind of spray to finish off the boards with to stop them oxidizing, after I soldered all the components onto the boards I washed all the soldering flux away with methanol to slow down the oxidation, I find flux to be very acidic and it corrodes the copper real quick.
The only spray I could find online was really expensive, perhaps I will have a look again.
Chris
Actually I was thinking about getting some kind of spray to finish off the boards with to stop them oxidizing, after I soldered all the components onto the boards I washed all the soldering flux away with methanol to slow down the oxidation, I find flux to be very acidic and it corrodes the copper real quick.
The only spray I could find online was really expensive, perhaps I will have a look again.
Chris
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