looking for enclosure

[ldarieut]

Hello all,
First post here, as I am trying to build my first tube amplifier. This forum has a wealth of information 🙂

I am looking for vintage looking enclosure like the ones can be found on Sun Audio for instance :

or things from Ojas :

Where should I start looking for such enclosure? They look like powder coated aluminium to me.

The idea would be to put my other DIY class D amp or DAC/streamer in different size but same looking enclosures to keep the same aesthetic.

Thanks!
Luc

 

[duncan2]

Its all about Classical design isn't it ?
Its not about utility cases of which there are plenty of modern style designs available ,you want an enclose designed to what I would call "Art Deco " style which extended even into the 1950,s.

So it wouldn't be one of the large number of Chinese suppliers but made to your own specifications from a high quality company like -

Enclosure Manufacturers, Amplifier Chassis, Aluminium

 

[ldarieut]

hello Duncan2, thanks for your reply.
I am looking for manufacturer who is able to make these rectangular plain cases, with a gray paint reminiscent of 50's colour.
So maybe modern utility cases as you suggest is ok.
They are usually not painted though, and a place where I could source theses in europe is better as I live in Absurdist... France 🙂.

 

[pcan]

Hammond 1444 series chassis are readily available but you need to bring them to a powder coating shop or auto body shop after drilling the holes - or you can use a hammered paint. 1441 series is already painted. Bottom plate is sold separately. 1451 series is the optional vintage-style tube cage. I also tried a cheaper pre-drilled, pre-painted China-sourced chassis but drilling and painting job were subpar.

 

[kodabmx]

I am looking for manufacturer who is able to make these rectangular plain cases, with a gray paint reminiscent of 50's colour.

Then Hammond 1441 is for you. Painted in standard grey.

Hammond 1444-34

Add BK3 to the part number for the black one.

 

[pcan]

1441-34 is made of steel. Less easy to drill than the aluminium 1444, but it supports heawy transformers without the need of bracings. Since it is your first amplifier: before drilling the transformer mounting holes, check out the optimal transformer orientation to minimize hum due to magnetic coupling between power transformer and output transformers. It may not be the one you imagine. The fastest way I've found (not the best) is to energize the primary winding of the power transformer and connect a cheap headphone or speaker to the output transformer winding. Rotate/rearrange to minimize hum. You need a chassis bigger than the bare minimum required by transformers and tubes.

 

[kodabmx]

Trust me. I thought for years that steel would be hard to work with. It really isn't. Just use decent drill bits (cobalt) so they last a while. Get a knockout punch kit for the socket holes - worth every cent if you want it to look nice.

They also make a grey version in aluminum. I needed no bracing on a 17x10x2 inch aluminum chassis and that amp weighed 27kg. The bottom plate is enough to hold it square.

 

[ldarieut]

Thanks everyone! This is a load of good information. Indeed Hammond looks like what I need.
Are there pcb kits for a 2a3 set build ? I am not a newbie with a soldering iron but I am more used working with electronic and mcu and I am a bit afraid of soldering everything together! Most of what I have seen so far looks very messy 🙂

 

[Francois G]

diyAudio vendor Tubelab | Dedicated to advancing the state of the art in affordable high end audio. has a good “Simple SE” PCB, with lots of info, BOMs and discussion on diyAudio threads in the Vendor Forum section.

He also has a more sophisticated SE board (TSE II) that gets rave reviews and is configurable for 45, 2A3 or 300b stereo amps.

See https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubelab/

This thread might be particularly useful to you. Help Needed with TSE-II Configuration Decisions for a First Time Tube Builder
Good luck!

 

[prairieboy]

Protocase? Sendcutsend?

 

[L0rdGwyn]

Not sure where you are located, Idarieut, but if you aren't averse to spending a little money, I'd recommend Landfall Systems in the USA, they do chassis for my projects in aluminum. You can get them raw, anodized, or Dave there recently invested in a powder coating setup, so he can do custom chassis design with powder coating services. He would likely ship international as well. Note that Dave does not do design work though, so you would need to provide a drawing at least of what you want so he can put it into CAD software for machining.

Here are some of my designs in chassis machined by Landfall.

 

[Magz]

I second Landfall. Their aluminum chassis is easy to machine yet extremely strong. Their customer service is excellent as well. My example attached.

 

[Windcrest77]

Your top photo looks like one of the 3 inch Hammonds. Hammond black has a wrinkle finish which I'm not real fond of. Maybe Hammond aluminum in 3 inch height, orbital sand it 800 grit, then powder coat it to a smooth finish.

Your second photo is an entirely different animal, its low profiled like a dynaco ST35 very mid-century modern. This one is more a work of art whereas the top photo is basically any old utility chassis. You could try your hand at fabricating the bottom chassis from aluminum but it will be a tight build due to the height good planning required.

 

[ldarieut]

Yes, the ojas looks really nice. The guy created ndg, a street wear brand, so he knows how to design stuff!
Inspiration taken from here it seems :

ASANO-Amplifier

It looks like 2 inches tall to me, which is manageable. Do you think it’s achievable as a dedicated hobbyist with an Hammond aluminium case hammered paint?
Luc