wooden box for preamp?

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im thinking about doing a bosoz in a wooden enclosure instead of a metal one. the design just lends itself toward a simple and pleasant enclosure, than a harsh metal one.

the big problem becomes shielding. is there something i could easily (cheaply) do for shielding? copper sheets laminated inside the box walls? a spray on, or adhesive product that provides shielding?

if anyone has pics of wood enclosures, please post them, i would like some ideas!
 
cowanrg said:
duh, what DONT those guys have!

They don't have Marissa Tomei. I searched their entire catalog. Came up empty. :(

it looks like i can only get larger quantities though... $36 aint bad, but i dont need 50 feet of the stuf.

You can probably find smaller quantities at a local crafts/hobby store. Whip out the Yellow Pages and let your fingers do the walking. :)

se
 
good idea. this is going to be the ultra budget project, but of course, i still want the outcome to be good. it just doesnt need to be overkill.

this is the preamp that will drive my infinity intermezzos i just got (for free). doesnt need anything super duper nice, but they are decent speakers, they deserve some good front-end.

so far veneering sounds easy and hard, all at once. thankfully i just bought a router table and stand for my router. looks like thats the best way to get nice edges.
 
I shielded my guitar's cavity for cheap. What i did was getting common aluminum foil and gluing pieces (which were measured on a sheet of paper and cutted on the Al later) it with a suitable adhesive to the inside of the wood. Just make sure all the pieces touch each other and you're set.It was quite a lot of work and it's a bit delicate but worked flawlessly.
 
cowanrg said:
the big problem becomes shielding. is there something i could easily (cheaply) do for shielding? copper sheets laminated inside the box walls?

Raw PCB material (aka FR4) is cheap, robust, easily cut with a hacksaw, and can be soldered together to make screening boxes.

I've also used self-adhesive aluminium foil, which DIY shops sell (the rolls about 10cm wide) for wrapping round pipework for thermal insulation (IIRC). Very easy to apply, although you can't solder your ground connections on.

Cheers
IH
 
cowanrg said:
im thinking about doing a bosoz in a wooden enclosure instead of a metal one. the design just lends itself toward a simple and pleasant enclosure, than a harsh metal one.

the big problem becomes shielding. is there something i could easily (cheaply) do for shielding? copper sheets laminated inside the box walls? a spray on, or adhesive product that provides shielding?

if anyone has pics of wood enclosures, please post them, i would like some ideas!

Check out the Pass DIY gallery for many attractive pictures of PassDIY projects.
(passdiy.com, look for the gallery link.)

Look in the Pass Labs forum for a remarkable plastic enclosure under the topic "Blue BoSoZ". (Hopefully the search isn't case sensitive... its been awhile since I looked at that thread.) It is really a gorgeous piece of work.

I've been using my BoSoZ in a wide-open breadboard fashion for 6 months and I haven't felt compelled to do anything with it (other than for aesthetic purposes.)

So if you can't come up with a good shielding scheme right off, you may not even miss it.

Erik
 
wood veneer on outside, copper (or AL) lining on the inside. i like the copper foil (or AL foil) idea. sounds simple.

since the case will be relatively small, ive looked on ebay and found that you can get some damn purdy veneer for VERY cheap. i would like to do a complete bird's eye maple case. the question is just whether i do the whole thing, or just sides and front?

Steve Eddy said:
When you say "veneer" are you referring to wood veneer or the copper foil?

se
 
I thought I'd do the same thing.
Almost done...I swear...no really.
 

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cowanrg said:
wood veneer on outside, copper (or AL) lining on the inside. i like the copper foil (or AL foil) idea. sounds simple.

since the case will be relatively small, ive looked on ebay and found that you can get some damn purdy veneer for VERY cheap. i would like to do a complete bird's eye maple case. the question is just whether i do the whole thing, or just sides and front?

What do you plan to use for the base wood? Why not make it out of solid birdseye maple? For something as small as a preamp, it won't be that expensive. Though I guess if you haven't the tools to joint or plane solid wood it would perhaps be better to use something like a baltic birch ply and just veneer it.

If you're going to use veneer, I'd just do the whole thing. Not like another couple of strips of veneer are going to break the bank.

se
 
i WAS planning on using MDF with bird's eye maple veneer, but if i could get just birds eye maple planks, and do the whole thing with the wood, that would be perfect. maybe ill look around on ebay and see what they have. that would work well, because i wanted to do some rounded corners, and with veneer you cant easily do that.

i have a couple designs that would allow me to do the whole thing in hardwood, and not have to veneer (but still keep it strong). shouldnt be a problem. we will see...
 
cowanrg said:
i WAS planning on using MDF with bird's eye maple veneer, but if i could get just birds eye maple planks, and do the whole thing with the wood, that would be perfect. maybe ill look around on ebay and see what they have. that would work well, because i wanted to do some rounded corners, and with veneer you cant easily do that.

i have a couple designs that would allow me to do the whole thing in hardwood, and not have to veneer (but still keep it strong). shouldnt be a problem. we will see...

You can get pre-sized birdseye maple in 5" x 24" x 1/4", 3/8" or 3/4" from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.woodcraft.com">Woodcraft</a> for $9.99, $10.99 and $16.99 respectively.

se
 
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