Gents,
I have some pictures below of the metal working process on my Zen IV build. The printed circuit cards are built and I have all the parts but the metal work is taking forever. My only excuse for this taking so long is that I had to learn how to operate a milling machine before I started to fabricate the chassis. I am a rookie with the milling machine, so I take my sweet time and check everything two or three times with the calipers before I make a cut. I have a good friend who is allowing me to use a milling machine in his shop every Saturday afternoon for a few hours to fabricate the amp. The only catch was that he can not help me because his business is very busy. He spent a couple of hours teaching me how to use the mill and I was on my own. I am very thankful he has allowed me to use his milling machine.
The toroids and rectifiers are to be mounted to the bottom plate and the capacitors will be mounted through the center plate. The PCB's will mount to the heatsinks above the the center plate isolating the signal path totally from the power supply. I have also cut some slots into the bottom and center plates to allow cool air to enter the bottom and escape through vents that I will cut into the top panel.
I have to fabricate the rear, top and front panels before the heatsinks go to the annodizer and the rest goes to the powder coater. I have a little something special planned for the front panel.
I have some pictures below of the metal working process on my Zen IV build. The printed circuit cards are built and I have all the parts but the metal work is taking forever. My only excuse for this taking so long is that I had to learn how to operate a milling machine before I started to fabricate the chassis. I am a rookie with the milling machine, so I take my sweet time and check everything two or three times with the calipers before I make a cut. I have a good friend who is allowing me to use a milling machine in his shop every Saturday afternoon for a few hours to fabricate the amp. The only catch was that he can not help me because his business is very busy. He spent a couple of hours teaching me how to use the mill and I was on my own. I am very thankful he has allowed me to use his milling machine.
The toroids and rectifiers are to be mounted to the bottom plate and the capacitors will be mounted through the center plate. The PCB's will mount to the heatsinks above the the center plate isolating the signal path totally from the power supply. I have also cut some slots into the bottom and center plates to allow cool air to enter the bottom and escape through vents that I will cut into the top panel.
I have to fabricate the rear, top and front panels before the heatsinks go to the annodizer and the rest goes to the powder coater. I have a little something special planned for the front panel.
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QUOTE:{It looks like it's going to be monoblocks.}
Ooops! I thought the two pics where in one frame. Cool, well-thought chassis design. In putting together my Zv4, I'm trying to finish the chassis first too. If I did the circuit first I bet I'll be stuck in the sweet spot and will rush the chassis work.
Ooops! I thought the two pics where in one frame. Cool, well-thought chassis design. In putting together my Zv4, I'm trying to finish the chassis first too. If I did the circuit first I bet I'll be stuck in the sweet spot and will rush the chassis work.
Have a 8' piece of 6" wide 5/4 oak the I will glue up into a rectangular panel of 13" x 20". I will route an indentation in the top deep enough to fit a 12" x 19" piece of .125" aluminum plate. I will belt sand the aluminum to give it a brushed look and put some clear finish on it. This assembly will sit on the floor of my family room. I will turn some tip toes (cones) out of a 12" piece of 1" solid steel round tube. Yes, I get to learn how to use the metal lathe. Anyway, the amp will sit on the little platform I mentioned above. I am figuring that the amp will weigh about 70 lbs when done. It will be fun to see how close I am to my weight estimate when it is finished.
It would be cool with the oak front panel. I used oak in most of my projects...hard wood but easy to mill/shape. Using wood keeps us up with our Euro friends
who are turning up beautifully crafted wood chassis amps.
For my "tip-toes" I used four 1/2"x1.5" chrome lug nuts with rounded tips. They're supporting 60 pounds of chassis and ps parts. Most of the heavy stuff are already in (2 toroids and 6 ps caps). It would have been a lot cool if I put in the really giant chrome lug nuts used in semi-trailers' front wheels.
who are turning up beautifully crafted wood chassis amps. For my "tip-toes" I used four 1/2"x1.5" chrome lug nuts with rounded tips. They're supporting 60 pounds of chassis and ps parts. Most of the heavy stuff are already in (2 toroids and 6 ps caps). It would have been a lot cool if I put in the really giant chrome lug nuts used in semi-trailers' front wheels.
Gentlemen,
Thank you all for the kind words. Some of the credit belongs to you. After seeing all of the wonderful amplifiers you all have built, it has given me the drive and courage to try building one myself. Granted, I have access to a milling machine, but what really blows me away, is the beautiful amplifiers that you have built without access to such machinery. To me, that is more of an accomplishment than what I have done.
Thank you all for the kind words. Some of the credit belongs to you. After seeing all of the wonderful amplifiers you all have built, it has given me the drive and courage to try building one myself. Granted, I have access to a milling machine, but what really blows me away, is the beautiful amplifiers that you have built without access to such machinery. To me, that is more of an accomplishment than what I have done.
This looks like it is comming along very nicely, and I have to say that I'm rather jealous. However, looking at your pics, I was wondering how you are intending to mout the top plate, as you have built the suports up to the full height of the heatsinks, not leaving any room to flush mount the top plate with them (or is the top plate the one in the bottom of the picture?).
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