Basically I was wondering about replacing the cases of old 70's style amps, the sort with thick chunky stainless steel fronts but ugly, painted black sheet metal cases with wood or perhaps even stainless steel?
I love the sound but especially the look of vintage separates system hifi gear, but a lot of units where designed to be housed on shelves in cabinets, and so the cases are functional rather than aesthetically pleasing.
This, an amp I own, is a good example
http://www.radiomuseum.org/images/radio/toshiba_corporation/ampli_a_sy_330_783364.jpg
Same sort of thing
These I'm my opinion look 10x cooler than modern amps. The cases let them down though. Id love something like the one above and it could sit well with modern house decor paired with some nice modern speakers on a long low level unit.
How hard would it be to do a custom job?
I love the sound but especially the look of vintage separates system hifi gear, but a lot of units where designed to be housed on shelves in cabinets, and so the cases are functional rather than aesthetically pleasing.
This, an amp I own, is a good example
http://www.radiomuseum.org/images/radio/toshiba_corporation/ampli_a_sy_330_783364.jpg
Same sort of thing
These I'm my opinion look 10x cooler than modern amps. The cases let them down though. Id love something like the one above and it could sit well with modern house decor paired with some nice modern speakers on a long low level unit.
How hard would it be to do a custom job?
Grounded steel cases keep the RF interference out. Everybody carries a radio these days, called a phone.
Wood does not. Depends on how much screaming screeching or buzzing you desire to hear whether you would like a wood case or not.
Stainless is not as effective at reducing hum, since it is non-magnetic. So as long as your shelf unit was not near a flux producer like a clock or something. Some hammond organ models in a wood case used to hum if a synchronous motor clock was set on the left side. Motor driven clocks are an anachronism now.
Stainless steel is also intensely difficult to work. Difficult to shear, difficult to flame cut evenly, difficult to bend in a press brake, difficult to drill and tap screw holes, easy to tig weld however.
Have you perhaps thought of sheet copper? Or brass? They don't weld well, is all.
It would be much more functional to silk screen paint a wood grain on your boring old steel case. However that has been done before, in the tacky old seventies. Followed by fake wood grain on PVC plastic in the tacky old eighties.
Wood does not. Depends on how much screaming screeching or buzzing you desire to hear whether you would like a wood case or not.
Stainless is not as effective at reducing hum, since it is non-magnetic. So as long as your shelf unit was not near a flux producer like a clock or something. Some hammond organ models in a wood case used to hum if a synchronous motor clock was set on the left side. Motor driven clocks are an anachronism now.
Stainless steel is also intensely difficult to work. Difficult to shear, difficult to flame cut evenly, difficult to bend in a press brake, difficult to drill and tap screw holes, easy to tig weld however.
Have you perhaps thought of sheet copper? Or brass? They don't weld well, is all.
It would be much more functional to silk screen paint a wood grain on your boring old steel case. However that has been done before, in the tacky old seventies. Followed by fake wood grain on PVC plastic in the tacky old eighties.
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In the 1970s when Hi-fi became wildly popular, cheaper and in every home, consumers had similar ideas about what a sound system should look like since it was going to be a prominent furniture item.
Many smaller power amplifiers, similar looking to the little pioneer model in your pic, were simply sleeved as is, with timber veneered ply etc. Materials like plywood, chipboard, MDF might seem tacky substitutes for the real thing but a warm running amplifier would cause most solid timber to dry and crack, even if vent holes were cut through the top and the bottom was uncovered and vented too. Only use solid timber if you are certain it is well seasoned and stable enough to take any heat cycling.
In more recent times it had become cool to fit chunky solid timber exteriors, front panels, slab side panels, even big, rounded timber knobs etc and generally overstate the timber thing. Personally, I find that all a bit too easily dated for something that may be around long after the interior fashion has become passe. You don't want to rebuild something with every trend, so I think electronics are either a throwaway item or they need to be somewhat conservative if you're going to live with them for some years.
In the first pic. is what Luxman used to do for a timber sleeve on similar aged models and front panel styling. The amplifiers's steel case was still there though. The second pic shows a half-sleeve with top vent and your pic also indicates this is required. In reply more to your question though, essential features like this are not easy to make by DIY methods. Think about how you are going to fit a cover that doesn't restrict airflow. Otherwise, you risk meltdown, perhaps even fire, if your amplifier gets slowly warmer until thermal runaway is initiated.
Many smaller power amplifiers, similar looking to the little pioneer model in your pic, were simply sleeved as is, with timber veneered ply etc. Materials like plywood, chipboard, MDF might seem tacky substitutes for the real thing but a warm running amplifier would cause most solid timber to dry and crack, even if vent holes were cut through the top and the bottom was uncovered and vented too. Only use solid timber if you are certain it is well seasoned and stable enough to take any heat cycling.
In more recent times it had become cool to fit chunky solid timber exteriors, front panels, slab side panels, even big, rounded timber knobs etc and generally overstate the timber thing. Personally, I find that all a bit too easily dated for something that may be around long after the interior fashion has become passe. You don't want to rebuild something with every trend, so I think electronics are either a throwaway item or they need to be somewhat conservative if you're going to live with them for some years.
In the first pic. is what Luxman used to do for a timber sleeve on similar aged models and front panel styling. The amplifiers's steel case was still there though. The second pic shows a half-sleeve with top vent and your pic also indicates this is required. In reply more to your question though, essential features like this are not easy to make by DIY methods. Think about how you are going to fit a cover that doesn't restrict airflow. Otherwise, you risk meltdown, perhaps even fire, if your amplifier gets slowly warmer until thermal runaway is initiated.
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