| How's this for a cheap GC enclosure? - Click HERE for Original Thread |
| Nuuk |
I have been looking at that sort of item as a potential GC case too! It really depends on the price, size and how much of a GC that you want to get inside.
But some of the stuff (like the hard drive cases) certainly looks good! ;) |
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| lgreen |
I think you might need two of them, one for the PS and one for the GC, they look a little small. After getting two, the price is not so cheap, but I agree, they look nice. I like the 1st one.
Informative post, thanks a lot. |
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| Nuuk |
| quote: | | After getting two, the price is not so cheap, but I agree, they look nice. I like the 1st one. |
Or just use them for the amp housing and have a less exotic housing for the PSU and keep it out of view! ;) |
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| Stephen Morgan |
Searching for enclosure ideas, I came across this thread, but the ebay links have expired.
Anybody recall what the enclosures were? |
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| Dominick22 |
I would like to see some web site postings of some good enclosure manufacturers if anyone has some that they like.
Dominick |
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| jaudio |
Have you tried the locate computer store or compusa. I seen some nice cases at those stores. The cases are aluminum and has enought surface area for two chips.
Also try second hand store,I got a good old hard drive case for $1 and it has enough surface area for 4 chips. |
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| Dominick22 |
Interesting-I will look into it!
Dominick |
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| GG |
I'm looking for economical enclosure ideas for a stereo gainclone as well. I am going to try using an old VCR case. I'll post how I make out. In the meantime, I would love to see some pictures of economical enclosures.
Cheers,
Gio. |
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| Spasticteapot |
Your best bet is an aluminum SATA external drive case. You can get them for 15$ or less at Geeks.com.
I'm using a 3$ aluminum box from radioshack for the PSU. Not pretty, but functional. |
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| jaudio |
Are you planning on gutting it?
Is it aluminum,if it is,how big is it?
Where did you buy it? |
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| enzedone |
Hey guys if your after some nice cases then check the 'ATI chassis' thread in group buys
There is some really nice stuff at that web site. Too much for me in New Zealand, but not for u guys
Brett |
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| jaudio |
Dang!
I guess cheap means different things to different folks.
The case is almost $100 in total |
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| enzedone |
But they are nice. I've made two different cases. And it's frustrating when you can't get the nice finish you want. Thats why I was looking at these..........yes they are expensive
Brett |
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| jaudio |
| quote: | Originally posted by enzedone
But they are nice. I've made two different cases. And it's frustrating when you can't get the nice finish you want. Thats why I was looking at these..........yes they are expensive
Brett |
Do you have picture of your cases? |
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| enzedone |
| I will have to have a look for them......maybe if you did a search under 'enzedone' you might find them. Otherwise leave you email address and i'll try to email them to you. |
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| enzedone |
That case looks quite nice what are the dimensions? How much is that?
Brett |
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| tomtt |
Originally posted by jaudio
Are you planning on gutting it?
Is it aluminum,if it is,how big is it?
Where did you buy it?
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i might change a few things inside, no gutting though-
the front is plastic, the sides are lumber.
metal tray slides in from the front.
mine is radio shack, versions from the 70's and early
80's had a metal front.
new these cost 59.95$usd- seemed like too much for
a 1.8 watt lo-fi amp
got at a thrift store, on ebay they go for 25-40$usd
amp chip is la4440 |
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| Nordic |
If you are adventurous you could try the following.
I bought an old Tedelex amp from the bootsale for a few bucks, ripped the internals out for transformer and heatsink.
The case was a horrible smoke staned silver which refused to clean, so I dissasembled it and sprayed all the pannels matt black.
Then I got a piece of veneer which was also small change and covered the face...
I so wish I still had a digital camera, but realy looks good, probably beter than the original looked brand new. |
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| Spasticteapot |
| quote: | Originally posted by Nordic
If you are adventurous you could try the following.
I bought an old Tedelex amp from the bootsale for a few bucks, ripped the internals out for transformer and heatsink.
The case was a horrible smoke staned silver which refused to clean, so I dissasembled it and sprayed all the pannels matt black.
Then I got a piece of veneer which was also small change and covered the face...
I so wish I still had a digital camera, but realy looks good, probably beter than the original looked brand new. |
A buffing wheel and some Tripoli will do wonders on aluminum , copper, and silver; almost as well on steel. Sandblasting also works well if you've got access to the equipment. (You can get a buffing wheel you can stick on a drill for about 10$; find some guys removing graffiti if you really need something sandblasted.) |
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| jaudio |
Here is some of the $1 cases I have. All are from old modem,the painted ones are kinda thick.
If you strip the paint,you will have a decent case minus the front plate and back,that is where your creativity comes in. |
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| dvarner |
I found a nice wood box at the Container Store, squared dovetail joints, 4 sides plus an inset flat bottom, that neatly fit my 300va transformer. I set one GC on a shelf mounted to the side and set the rectifiers on another aluminum angle mounted on top of the transformer. No major heatsink. Box is about 6" cubed. Cheap, Cheap. Was thinking about floating corrugated metal over the open top.
DV |
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| Garnett |
Hi.
I'm having trouble finding a cheap aluminium enclosure to fit my IE transformer here in the UK.
Is there anything wrong with these tins:
http://snipurl.com/noeb
They're super-cheap, but I'm concerned: Do I need something more rigid? |
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| Nordic |
| Seems usable.... in fact some of us like to scrounge around the kitchenware sections at the mall for cheap chromed or brushed steel containers on the cheap. |
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| jimbo1968 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Garnett
I'm having trouble finding a cheap aluminium enclosure to fit my IE transformer here in the UK.
Is there anything wrong with these tins:
http://snipurl.com/noeb
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I guess it'll be so thin that it makes a real mess when you try to make holes in it.
What size do you need? I know it's hard to find stuff in UK, I've been searching for nice looking enclosures at a reasonable price. |
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| jaudio |
Have any members purchased the above cases?. |
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| Greg Erskine |
| Excellent case no_nfb. :) |
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| davidlzimmer |
| Stunning case. Just as impressive is the P to P! |
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| jaudio |
no_nfb
You are damn creative.:D
What was the final cost for the enclosure? |
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| no_nfb |
| quote: | | What was the final cost for the enclosure? |
I was looking for something minimal with the possibility to use
my 2 old heatsinks you see in the pictures, the only solution was
to build the case "around" the heatsinks.
I don't know if it's a low cost solution, it depends if you have to buy
the heatsinks....
- 8 Euros for the pieces of wood.
-12 Euros for the heatsinks (6 Euros each). |
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| jaudio |
$25 and with the large heatsinks it is expandable,you can add other chip amps in the future(bi-amping??).
Excellent! |
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| Stephen Morgan |
| quote: | Originally posted by no_nfb
sorry.... the description is in italian.
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That's alright, it speaks the universal language of craftsmanship. Beautiful job! |
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| lasso |
| quote: | Originally posted by Garnett
I'm having trouble finding a cheap aluminium enclosure to fit my IE transformer here in the UK.
Is there anything wrong with these tins:
http://snipurl.com/noeb
They're super-cheap, but I'm concerned: Do I need something more rigid? |
I used the silver version for one of my headphone amps. Drilling larger holes (~8mm) made a mess of the rather thin walls, but smaller holes (3-4mm) went well.
Today I would simply drill small holes and dremel them to the right size, because the material was really easy to work with.
The walls could be a little more stable, they flex just a little when inserting the plugs. But otherwise there is nothing wrong with the boxes, I'll probably use them again if I just need a vanilla enclosure with no frills. |
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| RDV |
Here's my LM3886 stereo amp in my old Carver CD player chassis.
RDV |
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| RDV |
Another view of amp.
RDV |
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| GG |
It seems very interesting. Too bad the pictures are only thumbnails. I'd like to see a good picture of the heatsink.
Gio. |
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| Spasticteapot |
It appears to have heatsinks fashioned of copper pipe. Clever! Of course, this also gives a nice segue to cheap active cooling.
Hmm...I imagine that watercooling would be great for those tri-amped bridged LM3886 setups; 12 gainclones running at once would put out a lot of heat. Some cheap copper pipe, a pump, and a heatercore would make for a dandy watercooled system. |
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| jaudio |
| Here is a old Hayes modem enclosure being prepared for stereo lm3886 amp(sticking out),Carlos' verison if I can fit everything on the board. |
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| jaudio |
| One side has small heatsink attached and one side doesnt,sometime this week,I will line everything up and put the heatsink on the other side. So far,it only costed me $1 for the enclosure and about $8. Im trying my best to keep everything under $15 |
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| davidlzimmer |
| I got this at Circuit Specialist for about $10. Very nice. |
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| jaudio |
| quote: | Originally posted by davidlzimmer
I got this at Circuit Specialist for about $10. Very nice. |
Is it all aluminum?
What kind of chipc are you using or plan to use?
Error in my last post.I meant to say. So far, I spent $1 on the enclose and $8 on the amp. |
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| jaudio |
Are you using heatsinks?
Do you have pictures? |
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| davidlzimmer |
The heat sink is a flat aluminum bar. Got it from an old guitar amp. Son is out of town with camera at present.
The encloser is 5w by 6d by 2.5 h. Plenty of room for any arrangement.
Note: The powersupply is in separate encloser. Out of sight. |
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| tangen |
These enclosures contain my lm3875 chip amp and DAC from Peter Daniel. I got them from the IT-lab on my university. Cost = zero ;)
best wishes
Jan Ove |
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| dfdye |
Those look like old Sun external enclosures! Am I seeing that correctly??
David |
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| Upupa Epops |
| Cost = zero... certainly you need it, poor guy from poor country... :D |
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| tangen |
| quote: | Originally posted by dfdye
Those look like old Sun external enclosures! Am I seeing that correctly??
David |
I'm not familiar with the terminology of computers and enclosures. But on the bottom side, it is printed "SCSI Disk System". I got them stripped for everything except for power connector, on/off switch and a little fan. I removed the fan, but if I am going bridged/parallell this fan-option can be very handy. In another tread they recommended fans on low speed to reduce the noise of it.
If I got the time (I have the money Upupa ;) ) something like Peter Daniels enclosures will be built. But until then I really enjoy the amp and the DAC.
best wishes for the easter holiday to all of you.
Jan Ove |
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| dfdye |
| quote: | Originally posted by tangen
I got them from the IT-lab on my university. Cost = zero ;) |
You just inspired me to raid our computer closet and see what I could find. This enclosure has a GREAT two tiered design with a steel plate separating the area where the power supply was and where the drive was. I figure I am going to put my transformers on the bottom near the front, use the steel plate for as much isolation as possible, and mount the amps close to the back. There is so much room in this enclosure, I am sure I could fit a ton more channels in, but the size of the rear panel will not really let me put too many connectors on the back. Either way, this will make a great iPod amp for my office! There is even a cutout for a cooling fan if it is needed, but I really hope to avoid that if possible. (my guess is it won’t be a problem, but who knows. . . )
Thanks again for the idea!! |
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| dfdye |
| Here is a pic of the inside! |
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| tangen |
| quote: | Originally posted by dfdye
Here is a pic of the inside! |
That was something! I can only imagine how many parallelled/bridged lm3875 kits you can mount above two big transformers ;)
Good luck!
Jan Ove |
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| halx00 |
Hi this is my first post here.
What a wealth of information this forum has been. I have been enjoying building various gain clones as you can see http://shoot.mine.nu/gallery/albums.php
all the above cases I got free.
Now that I am going to build a amp5 Tripath class T from 41Hz.com I would like to buy or build a good professional case using aluminium/copper, any good suppliers in the UK?
tia |
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| Nuuk |
| quote: | | Now that I am going to build a amp5 Tripath class T from 41Hz.com I would like to buy or build a good professional case using aluminium/copper, any good suppliers in the UK? |
What about
these ? :att'n: |
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