Inexpensive things for audio that work

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#81
Getting parts for free from sales reps. who supply the company you work for.
Sometimes you just have to ask and they are quite happy to send you parts. They love to please. I once asked for a couple of MJ15022/23, but only if they happened to have any spare, and the next thing I got was a box of 25 of each. I still haven't used them all.
 
#86
planet10 said:
And out of the context of histology or somesuch where does one get pure enuff ethyl alcohol?

dave
Click to expand...

Hardware store ethyl alcohol is essentially commercially pure with a little water added. It's cheaper for them to dilute the pure stuff than have multiple material streams (as backwards as that sounds). The expensive lab stuff we buy has the certifications and validation paperwork to go with it, but that's really it.

VenusFly said:
I would be concerned with the nail polish and/or alcohol dissolving any glue which is used in the needle components.

Also, I wouldn't touch my vinyl with anything but a professional cleaner, or a wet towel and tap water.
Click to expand...

Chemical Compatibility Database from Cole-Parmer

Worth bookmarking 🙂
 
#88
Hello,

As different components chassis are often at slightly different levels of voltages from true ground and you really don't want ground currents flowing through your interconnects -

Take some really flexible (easier to use) 12 or 10 gauge wire, cut to good lengths and add lugs to the ends to put under screws, clean the paint from around a chassis screw on each unit and wire all the components together.

Wire and some lugs should cost about ten dollars.
 
#90
starkeyg said:
Hello,

As different components chassis are often at slightly different levels of voltages from true ground and you really don't want ground currents flowing through your interconnects -

Take some really flexible (easier to use) 12 or 10 gauge wire, cut to good lengths and add lugs to the ends to put under screws, clean the paint from around a chassis screw on each unit and wire all the components together.

Wire and some lugs should cost about ten dollars.
Click to expand...

Or better, use a circuit configuration at inputs that suppresses ground current in shield connections. Best is balanced line, but even with unbalanced there are remarkably effective ways to do it for about the cost of a resistor. My writeup on one is:
Ground loop noise, why it is and what you might do about it - diyAudio
There's a better explanation and treatment I saw since in one of the early issues of Linear Audio.
 
#91
Denatured Alcohol, in the US, can be cut with many nasty things. Some of them oily, which foils the cleaning effect of pure alcohol.

EverClear and similar products are sold either 151 or 190 proof, or not at all, depending on your state law. AFAIK the other 25%-5% is water. 5% water is inevitable: straight ethyl will absorb that much out of the air when you open the bottle. Yes you pay excise tax. No, I've never used so much 95% alky that the tax really mattered. Here in Maine I would pay $23 for 750ml of 151 proof Everclear.... $123/gallon ($186/gal on the ethyl). 20 years back in NJ I paid maybe $16 for a small jug of 191, used less than half in a decade+, and threw it out when I quit that job. (I am a sick dry alcoholic and I was glad to lose it.)
 
#92
Hello,
I hope pictures are self explanatory. Excellent feeling pot shaft extender for two euros.
 

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#93
Rather than sand, I've used Sandblast Media. I think I paid about $15 for a 20 Kg bag (if you're in Canada, Princess Auto, but it's not hard to find anywhere).

It's an inherently dry, rough surface media, versus sand which is typically rounded (a byproduct of how it's created by breaking down rock or coral with wave action). The rough texture helps dissipate more energy via transfer to heat.

It comes in various types, and various particle sizes, is very consistent in size, and you can mix two sizes or types easily.

If you want a media consisting mostly of air you can alternately seek out microspheres, which are hollow glass balls of a very small size, used as filler in fibreglass/epoxy layups, especially in composite aircraft construction.
 
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#94
planet10 said:
And out of the context of histology or somesuch where does one get pure enuff ethyl alcohol?

dave
Click to expand...

Here in Sask we used to buy it by the gallon from Farm Supply vendors, used it in college for printmaking.

You have to show ID and sign something, they track how much you buy but that's it, for our purposes it's plenty. Cheap too.

If that fails you can get it from the college of nursing, medicine, dentistry, etc. You might have to know someone for that method to work but it does work.
 
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#95
PRR said:
Denatured Alcohol, in the US, can be cut with many nasty things. Some of them oily, which foils the cleaning effect of pure alcohol.

EverClear and similar products are sold either 151 or 190 proof, or not at all, depending on your state law. AFAIK the other 25%-5% is water. 5% water is inevitable: straight ethyl will absorb that much out of the air when you open the bottle. Yes you pay excise tax. No, I've never used so much 95% alky that the tax really mattered. Here in Maine I would pay $23 for 750ml of 151 proof Everclear.... $123/gallon ($186/gal on the ethyl). 20 years back in NJ I paid maybe $16 for a small jug of 191, used less than half in a decade+, and threw it out when I quit that job. (I am a sick dry alcoholic and I was glad to lose it.)
Click to expand...

Wow! The last 750ml bottle I bought was $13 and it was 95%. I use it to make pickled peaches.
 
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