Pass Monster?????

[kilowattski]

What ever happened to the Pass Monster??

[Stocker]

The Pass Monster?

This one? People have to work at paying jobs too sometimes I guess...

[kilowattski]

I guess they would have to if they want to eat.

[Stocker]

Pay bills more like it. Free food is easy enough to get. Well, so is free money, but you're more likely to get sent to prison for getting free money...

[Nelson Pass]

Last I looked, Dave and Casey were still working the
supply and output stage angle, and Grey had made some
sort of commitment to design a tube front end.

The supply and output stages are straightforward construction
projects (or at least should be) and I have a front end in case
Grey finds himself unable to finish it.

So I'm sure that the boys will let me know when they are ready
for more.

[GRollins]

I have very few hours of free time and writing takes precedence; it makes me money...audio costs money. The old adage about "don't quit your day job" still holds for writers, but as pocket money goes it's really quite a decent hobby in terms of what I make versus the amount of time I put into it. (I'll have a story in the next issue of Analog, if anyone reads SF. I'm not sure which story this will be, probably Give Up the Ghost.)
I've also still got a line stage to complete which will--in theory--make me a penny or two. After that, I will be free to put more time into the Monster front end. As things stand now, I've got the voltage swing that Nelson requested (that was a trivial matter, anyway) but I've got one or two details I want to nail down before going on to the output stage. I'm looking forward to that, as I've got an idea that I want to try. If it works out, I'm going to be very pleased, indeed. I keep threatening to do a solid state mock-up just to see if the principle works, but am so short on time that I haven't even gotten that far. Don't worry, if my oddball idea doesn't work out I've got at least two other ways to approach the problem, although asking current of a tube circuit leads to rather pesky problems.
Part of the problem is that every time I switch from solid state to tube and back I have to tear apart my bench and reassemble everything for the required voltages. If I had more room I could just move from one project to another, but that's just not going to happen. The redo takes me about an hour, all told, and if all I've got is forty-five minutes, then that tears up that day and part of the next. It's just not efficient to spend my time going back and forth. I'm much better off sticking with one sort of circuit and bearing down until it's done.
In other words, no, I haven't forgotten...just the usual time constraints.

Grey

[kilowattski]

Thanks everyone for the update. I was curious because it is one hell of an undertaking. I am not trying to hurry anyone; it was just simple curiousity. I wish I had the intestinal fortitude to take on a project of that magnitude. Well maybe someday. For now, kudos to the brave and fearless Dave, Casey and Grey.

[SmarmyDog]

By late-January I had everything purchased and kitted (except for some inductors) for the power supply section plus a few thousand IRFP240’s and IRFP9240’s for the output sections. The eighteen ¼-inch thick aluminum plates that would serve as the main structural member in the chassis were dropped off at the CNC shop in preparation for, um, “CNC’ing”. The original Pass Monster thread has several mechanical design renderings (and 3D models if you want to play with them) of the proposed 3-chassis design.

Other than tweaking some mechanical details and re-forming 6 Farads worth of big ol' electrolytics, I have been pretty much in a holding pattern waiting for inductors and CNC funding.

-Casey Walsh

[Nelson Pass]

How much CNC funding do you need?

Also, I have a wonderful local machine shop (semi-precision!)
that has excellent rates.

[SmarmyDog]

OK, can do… (I think I can, I think I can)

I gave the CNC shop the OK to machine the plates for the bottom chassis. I offered to calibrate some of their older (analog servo) CNC machines to get a respectable price break. Also, I have a 50-lb spool of 14 AWG magnet wire. I can make some 3” ID, 4”-long air-core inductors using PVC formers. I’m sure these will be adequate for big CLC part of the power supply section.

I’ll ping Zero to see if he is in a position to begin contributing to this project. If not, I’m sure I can drum up the time and money to bring four of these beasts to fruition.

Yo Grey: What is ‘SF'?

-Casey Walsh