Chassis for power amp

[rmihai]

Hi all,

I need a very nice chassis for my first power amp. It would be nice if it will include heatsinks.

The botttom line: where I can find very nice chassis for power amps?

Thank you

[funberry]

If you have a lot of money you can buy premium enclosures from companies like protocase.com or Hammond Manufacturing, etc.

But if you're on a budget, and are willing to improvise and adapt a case to your needs, then look on EBay for all kinds of DOA industrial, laboratory and test equipment.

You can buy a dead rackmount server for 3 bucks + shipping, then gut the server and you're left with a beautiful, professional-looking rack-mount case ready for your Amp.

Look for untested, or non-functional equipment, and instrumentation that the seller doesn't even know what it is. You don't care if it works. In fact, you want it to be clearly stated that it doesn't work, otherwise other buyers may bid up the price of it.

There is a lot of broken, dead, and unknown equipment out there, with cases that look like a gem.

You may need to re-design/re-finish the faceplate, or just be creative and use the existing holes as-is.

To make a fancy lettered faceplate, print your face design with a color printer at highest res on best paper. Cut out the print, then cover it with a thin plate of clear Plexiglas, and you got a custom color faceplate to be envied.
For increased long-term stability of the printed colors, you can spray the paper with several fine coats of clear urethane enamel, before covering it with the plexiglas.

Hope this helps.

Adrian

[lgreen]

Chassis and power amp heat sinks are the most difficult parts to get in the DIY hobby. There simply is no good supplier. Hammond cases are mostly for tubes and I think they look terrible (and they lack heat sinks and are very expensive). I have only see foreign amp chassis w/ heat sinks like the ones you seek. And most of the time they are out of stock.

australia

taiwan

taiwan 2

Shipping is very expensive. You are looking at over $300 for a big case with heat sinks.

The cheapest new cases I know of are at Par-Metal but they are not a very user-friendly company and have a large lag time. Cases look good though, but no heatsinks
.
I think people spend a lot of effort to either make their own case, or buy a broken/nonworking piece of equipment on ebay and reuse it. Or buy a 2U/3U/4U computer/server case and use that.

I've been looking for cases for 3 years and have not found a good on line source. The nicest amp and preamp cases I have found were sold on ebay or on the "marketplace" here, and I had to jump on them.

A crappy case can be made to look nice with a new front panel from front panel express. See my www link in the sig line for a few examples of the9ir panels.

Good luck, if you get a case let us know.

[Mikett]

My thoughts are converging to using wood and lining the inside with glued on thin aluminum flashing for shielding. If you use hardwood and finish it nicely, I think it might look quite nice.

[velmeran42]

Wood looks nice, but doesn't allow for much heat dissipation. I'm assuming this is a concern since rmihai specified an interest in it including heatsinks. I couldn't find a case that I liked for cheap enough, so I just fabricated one. This may not be within everones comfort zone, but I found it rather easy.

[Mikett]

I am thinking of using oversized heatsinks and maximizing the convective chimney effect for maximum effective cooling. At worst, a slow speed fan internal would do wonders as the heat transfer dramatically (really dramarically) increases with faster airflow. All sides are wood with heatsinks mounted totally internally.

[HFGuy]

Supreme Parts or what ever its called down on Queens street beside Active surplus has some cheaper enclosures. Most are under $100 for even the large ones. One of the largest one already has heatsinks on the side, maybe your lucky and thats the C/W you need ( dont hold your breath). The smaller ones can prolly be modded to mount heatsinks on the side. I used one for my headphone amp, they look identical to the one my buddy got from www.par-metal.com

[Dennis Hui]

Originally posted by HFGuy
Supreme Parts or what ever its called down on Queens street beside Active surplus has some cheaper enclosures. Most are under $100 for even the large ones. One of the largest one already has heatsinks on the side, maybe your lucky and thats the C/W you need ( dont hold your breath). The smaller ones can prolly be modded to mount heatsinks on the side. I used one for my headphone amp, they look identical to the one my buddy got from www.par-metal.com

Supremetronics: http://www.supremetronic.com/

I bought one of these cases with heatsinks on two sides a
while back. It's a plain-looking steel case with an aluminum front
panel and handles. The cost was around $45.

The sinks aren't too big, but each can probably handle 40W
dissipation.

Dennis

[kmj]

Audiokit in Italy.

[squarehdca]

I have used old ibm xt (8088) cases for my amps , they're usually free and of much heavier gauge than today's boxes. A new aluminum plate for the back and you're good to go.