Aleph 4 PCB Bulk Purchase

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#224
The amplifier featured in the PassDIY gallery was painted with car paint, so maybe automobile clearcoat would work fine. I am wondering if the coat of paint would take away from the heat dissipation qualities of the aluminum.

Here is the thread for others:

Link to Aluminum Protection thread

Not really much insight into clear coating, other then clear anodizing is the way to go. I am going to look into automotive clear coat.

Thanks,

--
Brian
gte619j@prism.gatech.edu
 
#225
I painted heat sinks with spray car paint and it stayed there, no problem with the heat. The only problem is that it's not really resistant to scratches. But if you take care than it's no problem. The best paints are the ones that get hard after baking in the oven. They get really resistant to scratching. But I don't know where to look for them.
Anodizing is the best way and if you find the right place it's not really that expensive. BTW there was also a thread about diy anodizing.
 
#226
I read the thread about DIY anodizing.. doesn't sound like it would work good for my case. I have a friend that anodizes his paintball gun parts that he makes, but for big pieces of metal and heatsinks, it seems like it would not work too well.

I am going to brush my aluminum for now with fine steel wool, and hopefully get it anodized later when I can find a place that can do it for a reasonable price.

If I get really bored, I will experiment on my chassis bottoms with clear coat and see how the results come out. Anodizing definately seems like the solution, but the prices that I have been quoted scare me away. I guess I have not found the right place yet. The places that I called seem to deal with large volume and don't want to do small jobs.

Thanks for your insight. I have one more question: If my heatsinks are already anodized clear, can I get them anodized again in black with the rest of my case, and have them match with the same black color? I am not sure if they are the same type of aluminum. I saw the picture of your A75 cases (ones you are using with your speakers), which look great. How much did you pay to get them anodized?

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Brian
gte619j@prism.gatech.edu
 
#227
I always get the heatsinks anodized by the manufacturer. They usually give you choice as to color. Anodizing the plates for my A75 cost me CAD$100 (8 plates). They can probably strip your clear anodizing on heat sinks but it's hard to say how would it turn out.
Why not going with natural aluminum color and anodize everything clear or combine silver and black (like Madrigal is doing now with their designs).
 
#228
Connectors on board

This is sort of related to this thread subject and I did not want to start a new thread ....

1. What do you call those plastic connectors with the screws in it that would allow one to screw the wires to the board without soldering - i.e. after the connectors are already soldered onto the board.
2. Are there any standard sizes in spacing of the pins/screw? I'm specifically looking for connectors to be used on the Aleph 2 boards. My thinking is that this would be very convenient for testing/troubleshooting the board if something went wrong on power up and one do not have to unsolder and solder the wires constantly.
3. If possible, direct me to a digi-key part number for a sample of what I should order. I've looked at the catalog .... can't tell what part number to order because the pictures are not very clear.

Thanks in advance.
 
#230
Next time I get boards made, or for the next project, I can integrate this into the board design for easier connections for those who desire them. I don't mind just soldiering the connections straight to the boards.

EDIT: The ones specified will not work with the boards, but I can design the boards to accomidate such connectors next time.

--
Brian
gte619j@prism.gatech.edu
 
#232
Dale: I'm looking at the Phoenix Contact's terminal block now ..... trying to see if I can find one with long enough pins so that I can bend it and still make it fit the Aleph 2 pcb. If you know some right from the top of your head, please post.

Brian: Yeah, intergrate those connectors to future Aleph 2 pcb or any other future projects. That could serve 3 purposes ... at least for me.

1. Easier troubleshooting/repair - if needed. Less desoldering and soldering and do damage to the trace side of the board.

2. Easier swaping of board out with another board that contains all the expensive exotic resistors and capacitors. There isn't any VR on the board to adjust, so built them like a computer for easy board swapping.
3. Easier building of amp. One could built the amp where everything are installed and the final step before testing would be to land the wires to the appropriate "lugs". And if wired incorrectly, it's just a matter of unscrewing and screwing which is easy.
 
#233
In my opinion: worse sound.
This technique is good for production when time, access and eficiency (and service) is important. However in DIY when you are creating one of a kind component without future repeatibility this is something not needed. It doesn't really matter if you spend more time soldering the wire to the trace on PCB ( or even better to the actual component). It doesn't matter if it doesn't look so good. What matters is that you made that extra efford to make the signal path as pure and simple as possible because this is why you don't buy commercial products and you prefer to do it yourself.
At least that's how I feel about it.🙂
 
#234
Aleph Rectifier and Output Boards

I'm making a set of Aleph rectifier and output boards for a member. These are pretty much as BrianGT has laid them out except the traces are wider on the output boards and the rectifier boards have a bare minumum of copper removed.

I don't know how to get this message to everyone that might be interested but the cost can come down a bit for multiple sets as only a single film negative needs to be made.

All the threads that deal with board are so interwoven and convoluted that I'm not sure where to post this. So, this is a test.

I'm posting a gif of the layout on my website at:

www.kbacoustics.com/aleph.html for your inspection and appraisal.

I can also do other boards on a custom or group basis. Email with your interests.
 
#235
Bill,

I would possibly interested in a set of boards. What is the estimated cost, including shipping?

Peter,

I agree that it would be worse sound, but if the spacing was made the same as the screw-in contacts, one could have a choice of implementation. It would allow for easier prototyping of case designs and testing. I wholeheartedly agree about the concept of DIY. The screw-in connectors would also be good for connecting vcc and ground to the boards as well. For your BOZ boards that you traded a while back, who makes the screw-in connectors that you used?

--
Brian
gte619j@prism.gatech.edu
 
#237
Yes you are right. I put the connectors on the board. They were from Digi-Key (part #ED1609). I designed the board so I could connect grounds and AC that way. I ended up connecting only AC through connectors, the grounds were soldered directly to the board. I would never connect signals through them.
Also the board was designed few years back when form was more important to me than function.😉
 
#240
Hi,

With those terminal blocks, how do you prevent it from turning / spin when tighten the wire connection with a screw driver, since the terminal block has only one pin goes thru the PCB and it is flat, how do you drill/cut a flat gap on the board, and if a round drill bit is used then there is a risk of ripping the solder and or the copper trace off too?

Chris

P.S. sorry, I meant for the mono/single ones not the multiple ones, the multiple ones should be ok because it has more than one leg sitting on the board.
 
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