Aluminium Dumpster diving
Well welcome to the world of salvage and repurposing.
I am lucky enough to have a few aluminium boat building shops in my town. I got to know the fellows in the shop and they let me dive through the waste pile and buy the bits and pieces for a very good price. I took a finished amp down to show them and they were very happy and helpful with ideas for working with aluminium. My prices even got better once they saw what I was making.
Aluminium is not that hard to work with if you get the right bits and blades. A non ferrous saw blade is very handy but carbide blade also work. Most metal drill bits are fine if you turn them slow and use a bit of light lubrication. You can even use router bits. Jig saw blades should be fine cut with lots of teeth. Watch out for the chips when machining as they are hot and sharp.
Silicon carbide sand paper (wet/dry) is the best way to go for dressing up prior to paintng, powder coating or anidizing. You can use regular garnet paper yet it will be come dull quite quickly. I dress aluminium to 220 for paint and 320 for every thing else. For painting I wipe things down with laquour thinner then acetone right after sanding. I spray with barbeque paint right away, two or three fine coats. It works for me and seems to be a pretty hard finish. I like the matte finish from the BBq paint and it matches pretty close to the heat sink finish.
Speaking of heatsinks how are things going with the order, any contact with Mr.Conrad?
I hope this helps
Well welcome to the world of salvage and repurposing.
I am lucky enough to have a few aluminium boat building shops in my town. I got to know the fellows in the shop and they let me dive through the waste pile and buy the bits and pieces for a very good price. I took a finished amp down to show them and they were very happy and helpful with ideas for working with aluminium. My prices even got better once they saw what I was making.
Aluminium is not that hard to work with if you get the right bits and blades. A non ferrous saw blade is very handy but carbide blade also work. Most metal drill bits are fine if you turn them slow and use a bit of light lubrication. You can even use router bits. Jig saw blades should be fine cut with lots of teeth. Watch out for the chips when machining as they are hot and sharp.
Silicon carbide sand paper (wet/dry) is the best way to go for dressing up prior to paintng, powder coating or anidizing. You can use regular garnet paper yet it will be come dull quite quickly. I dress aluminium to 220 for paint and 320 for every thing else. For painting I wipe things down with laquour thinner then acetone right after sanding. I spray with barbeque paint right away, two or three fine coats. It works for me and seems to be a pretty hard finish. I like the matte finish from the BBq paint and it matches pretty close to the heat sink finish.
Speaking of heatsinks how are things going with the order, any contact with Mr.Conrad?
I hope this helps
Re: Aluminium Dumpster diving
I'm waiting for a reply. I'll let everyone know as soon as I hear back.
Chris
SCD said:
I'm waiting for a reply. I'll let everyone know as soon as I hear back.
Chris
Hello Everyone..
I'm a bit new to this board.
Is is still possible to purchase a pair of heatsinks milled drilled and tapped? What height are these for?
Thank you
M
I'm a bit new to this board.
Is is still possible to purchase a pair of heatsinks milled drilled and tapped? What height are these for?
Thank you
M
dshambala said:
I believe the options will be for 6" and 12" heights. The buy is still awaiting a
price quote from the supplier.
Am I in this group buy??
Hi cwujek,
I have not received email yet.
I am listed at the top on the wiki order.
Sent you an email. No response? Am I in this group buy??
Hi cwujek,
I have not received email yet.
I am listed at the top on the wiki order.
Sent you an email. No response? Am I in this group buy??
calling dw8083
Hi David. Thanks for posting (#82) on the U-channel. What was the cost on the panel and work?
- Rob
dw8083 said:
Hi David. Thanks for posting (#82) on the U-channel. What was the cost on the panel and work?
- Rob
Re: calling dw8083
The chassis is a very large piece of sheetmetal, so it does cost some $$, and the results are unbelievable. Many people franky don't believe it is DIY until they see the silly comments on the back engraved label. "Warning: All Parts Inside are DIY Serviceable"
The cost is $150 and could be made for $125 if the number of holes were reduced for cooling. I actually had more than what was necessary. The back is completely labeled and inset with red or white paint inside the letters of the labels. Very professional looking.
The whole chassis is extremely ridged with no flex of any kind. The traditional DIY method of using aluminum bars to hold the chassis wall panels together is good, but requires more precision alignment. Those bars also cost $. It also takes away some interior dimensions and limits convection airflow up the backside of the heatsink to the top for cooling. These are small factors, but this U channel design eliminates them completely.
After clamping the Conrad heatsinks to the chassis, it was easy to outline the mounting holes directly on the heat sink and then precisely drill and tap them on the drill press. The heatsink mounting holes are slightly over 1/4" to allow for some drift of the drill bit.
Highly recommend www.frontpanelexpress.com
-David
rob3262 said:
The chassis is a very large piece of sheetmetal, so it does cost some $$, and the results are unbelievable. Many people franky don't believe it is DIY until they see the silly comments on the back engraved label. "Warning: All Parts Inside are DIY Serviceable"
The cost is $150 and could be made for $125 if the number of holes were reduced for cooling. I actually had more than what was necessary. The back is completely labeled and inset with red or white paint inside the letters of the labels. Very professional looking.
The whole chassis is extremely ridged with no flex of any kind. The traditional DIY method of using aluminum bars to hold the chassis wall panels together is good, but requires more precision alignment. Those bars also cost $. It also takes away some interior dimensions and limits convection airflow up the backside of the heatsink to the top for cooling. These are small factors, but this U channel design eliminates them completely.
After clamping the Conrad heatsinks to the chassis, it was easy to outline the mounting holes directly on the heat sink and then precisely drill and tap them on the drill press. The heatsink mounting holes are slightly over 1/4" to allow for some drift of the drill bit.
Highly recommend www.frontpanelexpress.com
-David
Chris
I have emailed you a couple of times and no response. I would like to stay in the GB.
JimS
I have emailed you a couple of times and no response. I would like to stay in the GB.
JimS
too late?
Too late to get in on this group buy?
Newbie question: how many of these sinks would be necessary to build a Pass F5? Here's what Pass has to say about the F5 design: "At 1.3 amps per channel, you will see idle heat dissipation of 62 watts. To keep the temperature rise of the heat sink to 20 deg C. above the ambient temperature, you will want a heat sink rated at about 0.6 deg C./watt for each transistor." (And the f5 uses 4 transistors.)
Too late to get in on this group buy?
Newbie question: how many of these sinks would be necessary to build a Pass F5? Here's what Pass has to say about the F5 design: "At 1.3 amps per channel, you will see idle heat dissipation of 62 watts. To keep the temperature rise of the heat sink to 20 deg C. above the ambient temperature, you will want a heat sink rated at about 0.6 deg C./watt for each transistor." (And the f5 uses 4 transistors.)
Re: too late?
I'm a newbie too, but I say two (one per channel). The spec is 0.21 deg C./watt.
Looney
flohmann said:
I'm a newbie too, but I say two (one per channel). The spec is 0.21 deg C./watt.
Looney
Re: Re: too late?
Hi Looney,
You need to take the Conrad C/W number and multiply it with a correction factor of 1.4 to get a real world, ambient temperature corrected value. 1.4 equates to about 80 degrees.
.21c/w * 1.4 = .294 C/W
-David
Looneytunes said:
Hi Looney,
You need to take the Conrad C/W number and multiply it with a correction factor of 1.4 to get a real world, ambient temperature corrected value. 1.4 equates to about 80 degrees.
.21c/w * 1.4 = .294 C/W
-David
Are we dead?
Hello group:
This thread /topic has been quiet for far too long. I have tried to contact Chris and recieved no response. I am starting to think this project is dead. Does anyone have the time or inclination to pick up the ball.
Thoughts or comments?
Hello group:
This thread /topic has been quiet for far too long. I have tried to contact Chris and recieved no response. I am starting to think this project is dead. Does anyone have the time or inclination to pick up the ball.
Thoughts or comments?
- Status
- Not open for further replies.