The diyAudio Store (USA) soon to stock chassis – requesting your feedback!

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Our warehouse partner is opening an Australian warehouse in the very near future, so don't lose all hope yet :) One thing Australians have that nobody else has is loads of bauxite, and plenty of coal to fry it into cheap Aluminium, so we do have an edge up on the rest of the world when it comes to getting heatsinks from Conrad :)
 
As someone new to this, all I have to say is THANKS ! I’m about to assemble (just finished the boards) my first project - an F5 - and I can say that I without this site, and a tip of the hat to Nelson Pass, I would not have started this project. The PCBs are awesome (One less hurtle and much better that I would have put together.) and the support from the community is jaw dropping. And now this!

What you have done is lower the activation energy for someone starting out. It’s not so scary to start an unfamiliar project. One more step, making it easer and cheeper.

Thanks!
 
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Any news when cabinets will be available. They are not listed yet in the DIY Store but according to one of the few previous post they where out of the manufacturing plant.

Starting to build the Honey Badger amp and it would save me time and effort if cabinet is available within few weeks while working with the soldering iron:)
 
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Not on the first run. If they sell well and there is demand we'll do 3U for the next run.

The PCBs are awesome (One less hurtle and much better that I would have put together.) and the support from the community is jaw dropping. And now this!

What you have done is lower the activation energy for someone starting out. It’s not so scary to start an unfamiliar project. One more step, making it easer and cheeper.

Thanks!

Thanks for the positive feedback :) It's been an inordinate amount of work, we could probably write a book about our trials and tribulations over the last few years pulling all this together. We're blessed to have such a great community supporting diyAudio and of course this would never have happened without Nelson. My own personal dream for diyAudio is to have it achieve what I created it for in the first place - to be the best place on the internet to find and contribute to audio projects, and that definitely means even for beginners. We're making slow but steady progress behind the scenes on a number of fronts to make that dream a reality!

Any news when cabinets will be available. They are not listed yet in the DIY Store but according to one of the few previous post they where out of the manufacturing plant.

Starting to build the Honey Badger amp and it would save me time and effort if cabinet is available within few weeks while working with the soldering iron:)

The first run is complete and presently half way across the Atlantic ocean. We are expecting they will be available for sale about the 19th or 20th of September.
 
TEN millimeter front panels? Pardon me, but are you mad? Do you know that virtually no volume pots, toggle or rotary switches will fit on such a thick panel? How in the heck is someone supposed to mount say a nice Neutrik locking headphone connector on such a panel unless they have their very own milling machine? I have a couple of boxes from Siliconray with 6mm front panels and they are still too thick for me to do much with besides just basic drilling, besides the fact that several of the pots and switches I have do not have enough thread on them to fit on the panels. I would have to send the panels out to a shop to have them mill a hole for the above mentioned Neutrik headphone D style connector. For DIY, thinner is better.
 
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Dirk:

One solution is to drill a hole where you want the shaft of your switch to be located and then enlarge that hole, working from the rear face of the panel, using a large bit, say 0.75" or 1". If you drill in just 6 or 7 mm from the rear using the larger bit, you'll have space to mount the switch and 3 or 4 mm of metal to secure it to.

Regards,
Scott
 
Dirk:

One solution is to drill a hole where you want the shaft of your switch to be located and then enlarge that hole, working from the rear face of the panel, using a large bit, say 0.75" or 1". If you drill in just 6 or 7 mm from the rear using the larger bit, you'll have space to mount the switch and 3 or 4 mm of metal to secure it to.

Regards,
Scott

Where do you get a Forstner bit for aluminum? (since that's the only way really be sure that the bottom of the recess is going to be flat) OTOH, I doubt my drill press can swing a 1" bit into aluminum.
 

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Where do you get a Forstner bit for aluminum? (since that's the only way really be sure that the bottom of the recess is going to be flat) OTOH, I doubt my drill press can swing a 1" bit into aluminum.

This is what I would try -

Drill a pilot hole that is the size of the Forstner's pointy bit.

Clamp the work.

Go really slow and use lots of motor oil or 3-in-1. Clean the spall out from under the bit often.

The biggest problem is that there is no way of "trying it out" on a piece that won't show.
 
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If you are using rotary switches and have the space in the chassis a sub panel can be the simplest solution.Use a piece of 3mm alluminium spaced back from the 10mm plate with blind tapped holes and some pcb type spacers and attatch the switches to this leaving you to only have to drill 6mm holes in the front panel.Use some 6mm nylon washers ala Peter Daniels set into the back of the 10mm so that the extension pieces of 6mm dia. rod does'nt bind.Hope this makes sense.
 
This is what I would try -

Drill a pilot hole that is the size of the Forstner's pointy bit.

Clamp the work.

Go really slow and use lots of motor oil or 3-in-1. Clean the spall out from under the bit often.

The biggest problem is that there is no way of "trying it out" on a piece that won't show.

Have you tried this? I have some Forstner bits and they are not rated for metal, or at least don't look like it.
 
If you are using rotary switches and have the space in the chassis a sub panel can be the simplest solution.Use a piece of 3mm alluminium spaced back from the 10mm plate with blind tapped holes and some pcb type spacers and attatch the switches to this leaving you to only have to drill 6mm holes in the front panel.Use some 6mm nylon washers ala Peter Daniels set into the back of the 10mm so that the extension pieces of 6mm dia. rod does'nt bind.Hope this makes sense.

Yes, I realize there are ways to do this. I have done similar before. It is a PITA and requires ordering various obscure hardware parts from unusual places.

Your solution will only work if the shaft for the control is long enough. Otherwise, you need to make an extension and provide a bearing support.

It is far easier to just use a thinner front panel. Why the obsession with thick front panels when there is no functional reason to have it? Do people think their amp will sound better with a thick front panel?
 
I thought these were going to all be pre-drilled? I'm still waiting to see these like everyone else, but I just assumed I would have to order a custom milled face plate from Italy so it's how I want it, versus a pre-drilled verson...overall I love the 10mm face plate "look".
 
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