Audio Project Amplifier Speaker Loudspeaker Kit
diyAudio.com diyAudio Forums Archive > Top > Amplifiers > Pass Labs
 
aleph 2 questions (beginner) - Click HERE for Original Thread
Luke
hi all,

Ive been reading this forum for a few months now and decided to give my first DIY project a whirl. Im big Pass fan and decided the only way to listen to one of his amps was to build one:) . THANKS NELSON!!!

Since this is my first project I have a few questions and yes sorry one is a heatsink question.

I have 12 sinks, 130mm x 160mm x 50mm (5.2 x 6.4 x 2 inches) and starting to doubt if its enough for two monoblocks. Most the aleph 2s on the pass diy forum are a little bigger and wondering if I would need a fan, or should I just go for it and see how it goes?

I need to order some transformers from Plitron, I've decided for 2 X 1kva at 2 x 33 volts. Is this right, as Im ordering new I may as well get the right voltage and VA. im not going to do the pi filter thing so from what Ive read this looks ok?

Found some surplus filter caps out of an old mainframe, they are 4 x 25000 uf / monoblock. Should I try get some more capacitance or will this be ok.

Also never constructed a chassis before and wondering what sort of screws you guys use to mount your fets? Does Digi key supply them?Strange question huh, but its hard finding all that stuff here, or im not looking in the right place. Just dont want it to look butch with big holes going through the sinks. Gonna use IRFP240s I hope.

probably a couple of months from getting everything together but look forward to showing off my new mono blocks:cool:

thanks arthur
marjan
Arthur
If yor fins are runing vertical at 160mm side you should bi fine with 3 per side of monoblock (don`t know what they look like). It will be deep (390mm) and construction will be litle more complecs, but heat disipation should be suficiente. My sinks 200x300mm per side and mesured heat is aprox. 59-61°C and your fins are even longer than my.
I allso used 33 0 33 toroid 1,5kw and 132 000uF. On the dc rails there is 44,3 + -.
Good luck
rgds Marijan
Luke
Hi Marijan,

My sinks are very close to yours in size. Each fin will about 160 x 400 so think it will run at same temp as yours.
Looks like Ive got the hard bits sorted. Now need to sort my pcbs, semis etc.

thanks Arthur
fcel
Check out "useful tools and technique" thread for info on building the chassis since you have never build the chassis before. My guess is you'll probably spend more than 50% of the time building the chassis - do some planning first. Use 6-32 screws for the FET's. You can get them from Home Depot or any hardware stores.
Luke
Fcel,

Thanks for the tip, will check out tools and techniques.
Embarrasing question :blush: is 6-32 a size or quantity.
Will I need to taper the holes or just drill and use self taping.
I used to skip metal work classes cos I was so bad, wish Id gone now.

thanks Arthur
Jason Hubbard
When you drill the holes ensure they are countersunk, else a ridge around the rim of the hole will prevent the FET's from bolting down flush to the surface of the heatsink.

I've used both self tappers and standard M3 screws for mounting output devices - either have been satisfactory
Luke
thanks Jason,


Will do the M3 thing and tap the holes I think.


ta ab
Narcisse91
quote:
Originally posted by Luke
Fcel,

Thanks for the tip, will check out tools and techniques.
Embarrasing question :blush: is 6-32 a size or quantity.
Will I need to taper the holes or just drill and use self taping.
I used to skip metal work classes cos I was so bad, wish Id gone now.

thanks Arthur


6-32 is a size and thread width. If you go shopping for screws, you'll see some clearly labelled 6-32, so you'll know when you've found them.

When I'm working with heatsinks, I've found drilling a hole, then tapping with a tap handle (as opposed to self-tapping screws) and just using bolts works very well.
fcel
Arthur,
Here is another thread that might be helpful in terms of building the chassis.
http://diyaudio.com/forums/showthre...5&pagenumber=10 Check out the thread starting from 4/20/02 at 11:19am. You may notice that I was asking the same questions that you were asking now. It helps me a lot and I thought you may like to read it too. I'm sure there are other helpful threads but I happen to know where I post my questions and I can find it.
Luke
Fcel,

checked out the post. Very usefull. I will probably get a tap and do it properly.

Narcisse,

Think here I need M3 as suggested by Jason.
Got all my angle brackets cut and drilled, so reay to assemble the sinks.

Thanks for the posts.
vpharris
Four suggestions:

1. Use a light oil on the tap while you are tapping.

2. Go slowly

3. Turn 1/4 turn, then back up 1/8 turn. Turn 1/4 turn, back up 1/8 turn.....

4. Don't break the tap. You'll be ****ed!
BrianGT
Yeah... I rushed a couple of holes when building my Aleph chassis and broke a couple of taps... not recommended. Take it slowly, and when the resistance gets high with the tap, I just back the tap all of the way out, clean it, apply more oil and resume tapping the hole.

--
Brian
Peter Daniel
Are you kidding?;)

Just use cordless drill gun with a clutch, set it for 1/3 of the range and go for it. No broken taps, and much faster. Trust me, I do it every day.:)
Edwin Dorre
quote:
Originally posted by Peter Daniel
Are you kidding?;)

Just use cordless drill gun with a clutch, set it for 1/3 of the range and go for it. No broken taps, and much faster. Trust me, I do it every day.:)

With a M3 tap???

Without oil of some kind???

You gotta be kidding! :D

Edwin
skaara
Oil must be there, but yes, you can use drill gun to do this.
Peter Daniel
quote:
Originally posted by Edwin Dorre


With a M3 tap???

Without oil of some kind???

You gotta be kidding! :D

Edwin

Did I say I'm using no oil? Of course you need it. Actually, what I'm using is special aircraft lubricant, much better than oil. Slower speed on gun is better. I used handle before, but keeping it straight against your piece is quite a challenge. with gun it is no problem.

I used M3 with gun as well. You must know there are different types of taps. The one which is narrow at the end and then gradually achieving full size is prefferable. Although for mounting devices 6-32 size is the best. Is it popular in Europe thou?
Peter Daniel
Both taps are M3. The one on the left will be much easier to use because of the tip's shape.
Luke
this weekend im gonna look for anodising services and try get some sides and front plates for my amp. If I get time I may get some taps as well.
Thing about this I dont get is, the base of the sink is like 6-8 mm, something like that, its not alot of hole before you go through the sink. is 5 mm of thread enough to tighten the device for good thermal transfer?
Hopefully they will look like Marijans in the pass forum, didnt realise it was your amp I was going to copy when I got your post ealier on in this thread:)
promitheus
The 6-32 is in inches ?
these are not so easy to find in Europe. Maybe in England but in the rest of Europe we use metric.
Are these for use with metal sheets ?
I have used metal sheet screws with Heatsinks but you have to open a big enough hole for the screw or the screw will snap and break.
This is the worst that can happen it makes the construction look ****.

Peter do you think that a cordless drill-screwdriver is easier ?
I made already one heatsink and broke one tap in 20 holes. My hand slipped while I was using the hand tapper tool and snap !
The problem was that I was pressing downwards but my hand slipped to one side breaking the tool.

I will try the other three heatsinks I am lasy to tap with my battery screwdriver. I find the idea very good. Do you do this everyday in your job ?

Luke 5mm should be enough if you tap it good. but the hole must be a little deeper or else you won´t be able to tap that deep.
marjan
Luke
You will have a problem. My baseplate is 9mm thick. Holes where aproks. 8-8,5mm deep. And I had only 5mm to screw fet on. Enough but tight. Your tool as you know is conus shaped and that will take you cca 3mm away. I supouse that you will be forced to drill through the heat sink. Anyway, try on some peace of metal before you get to the sinks, maybe you can do it. If you drill through you can allways use anodised (black) screws long enough to be just even with other side of the baseplate.
rgds Marijan
Peter Daniel
quote:
Originally posted by promitheus

Peter do you think that a cordless drill-screwdriver is easier ?
I made already one heatsink and broke one tap in 20 holes. My hand slipped while I was using the hand tapper tool and snap !
The problem was that I was pressing downwards but my hand slipped to one side breaking the tool.

Do you do this everyday in your job ?

.

Cordless drill is the best way to tap the holes. I do it everyday at home on my projects. I have 6 active projects at the moment.;)

6-32 is in inches.
Luke
Peter,

not so sure about the tapping with drill, would feel more comfortable doing it by hand I think. Maybe I'll try on a spare piece of sink I got first and practice it before I do it on my chassis.

Got these really nice sinks from Plinius and think it should look nice when im finished, as long as im patient and do it right.
The sinks are really nice, they interlock and have little channels to put a screw head in. The thread sticks out and can bolt it to metal rails to hold it all together(if that makes sense). I was really hoping to get some of their sexy SA250 sinks, but none on offer.
Cool factory, there was rack full of SA250s in various stages of construction, couldnt keep my eyes of them.
Plinius is really saught after here in New Zealand, think bang for buck you cant do much better. European, USA and Canadian kit is way more expensive here.

Page generated in 0.057334899902344 seconds with 17 queries,
spending 0.00989032 doing MySQL queries and 0.04744458 doing PHP things.

Powered by: Search Engine Indexer and vBulletin
Copyright ©1999-2008 diyAudio.com