Sun Microsystems Gainclone?

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Heatsinks…

As concerns the use of the PIII sinks, I hooked up the amp to my left and right home theater speakers and drove it quite hard for almost 4 hours straight. I had the fan on, which is completely inaudible from 8 feet away, and the sinks got pretty warm, but no meltdown… not even close. So my conclusion is, at least with 31 V rails, that these socket 470 sinks with a little bit of air flow work just fine.

Steve [/B][/QUOTE]

Hi Steve,

I think you could make the airflow much more efficient.
The fan is very far away from the coolers/chips,
and even has the transformer in front of it.
If you put the transformer at front and the chips/coolers
joined together at the back, in front of the fan, it would
be much better.
Just a suggestion.
You amp looks cool.😎
 
cpu cooler

You guys just solved my problem for me....

I was worried about putting 2 chips on a slot1 heatsink.

I think I'll to use the cpu cooler fan that was attached & run it off a few ni-cads - after all at 12v these things cool a pretty hefty load inside a pc

Cheers

Paul
 
Carlos,

Thanks… I just put some different knobs on it and it looks a lot better.

For various reasons I decided on the layout you see in the photo. The transformer is not blocking airflow… It actually directs air from the fan over the heat sinks and out through vent holes directly in front of the heat sinks on the bottom of the chassis. It works quite well.

Paul,

Why don’t you do what I did… use a wall wart. At 12 volts, a CPU heatsink fan is going to be quite loud. Try something a lot lower, like 3~4 volts. It may still move enough air to keep your heat sink temp within limits.

Steve
 
mr_ro_co said:
For various reasons I decided on the layout you see in the photo. The transformer is not blocking airflow… It actually directs air from the fan over the heat sinks and out through vent holes directly in front of the heat sinks on the bottom of the chassis. It works quite well.
Have you considered doing it the other way, where the air comes in through the holes, flows through the heatsinks before anything else has had a chance to warm it up, and then wanders it's way around the inside of the box before being sucked out the back by the fan?
 
karma said:
nice job. its nice to see im not the only one using computer parts to make amps out of. y not thay look good😉


My Gainclone is finished for about two weeks, and it has been playing without a box.
I've been thinking of how to do about the box...
Meanwhile, last Saturday i passed by Cash Converters and saw an old computer, a Schneider 386SX, that is a little one, with a box of the dimentions I had in mind.
I bough it for 17.5 Euros.:devily:
What box could you buy at this price?
I've removed everyting from the inside and the front plastic pannel.
For the front and back pannel I've put some pieces of cardboard.
Everything is painted black.
You wouldn't know it's a computer box unless I told you.
I'm finishing it, yesterday I was doing it until 2 AM.
It's beautiful, that gorgeous blue led...😱 😉
Today it's the final touch, and it's done.
But only after the Uefa final, FC Porto - Celtic.😎
 
air flow direction

Circlotron,

I could, but it would involve flipping the fan around and the current arrangement seems to work just fine. The transformer is completely quiet doesn’t even get warm to the touch even after hours of being on, and it’s the only thing in the airflow path.

Steve
 
cosmetic update

The final home for this little guy. I added a green LED pilot (unfortunately my camera's flash overpowered it), and put some proper knobs on it with a purple accent plate.

I'm just tickled with this thing and really like the arrangement with it living under the monitor. It's space efficient, easy to reach, and it looks good, too!

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
 
Gainclones behind the Zion Curtain

How many people have built gainclones in Salt Lake City? I've got most of the parts for mine (along with my Zen V4) but I would love to hear what one sounds like before diving in and building one.

Cheers,
Zach
 
Alright.... thats it... I'm building a gainclone into a CDrom case as soon as I get home... 😉 if only I could find the non working CDrom drive I had somewhere... hmm... lol I have been looking for it for... wait... I recall seeing the guts from it somewhere.... Have to look there for the case... 🙂 I know where the front panel is.... lol actually.. I don't.. but I don't know where anything is... 🙄
 
SkinnyBoy said:
Alright.... thats it... I'm building a gainclone into a CDrom case as soon as I get home... 😉 if only I could find the non working CDrom drive I had somewhere... hmm... lol I have been looking for it for... wait... I recall seeing the guts from it somewhere.... Have to look there for the case... 🙂 I know where the front panel is.... lol actually.. I don't.. but I don't know where anything is... 🙄


why not make the amp in one case, and stack it on top of/underneath a working CD drive to have a CD player/Amp combo?
 
nice case!!!!

I like It !!!
I am fiddling with some Compaq old 386 computers, marked to go to scrap, and some of them have a pretty slim case.....
Maybe I could borrow one...or two?
For the question about putting an amp into a CD drive cage, I did it a couple years ago, with a stereo 25w+25w ULN2002x4 kit, that goes on 12vdc (right from the PS, mama!)
It was intended to give some juice to the JBL baffles I had in that time....:bawling:
I sold the PC with the gizmo inside, baffles and all.(sorry, no photos)
But ....just reading your question......I felt inspired....again.
Let me take a breath, and some catalogs...
25+25w....12vdc....here I go!
From down under.
Rolf
 
My version:

Here's my version, a SUN 411 box with buffered NIGC monoblocks, Noble pot, vandal on/off pushbutton, Avel Lindberg torroids, Vampyre binding posts, WBT RCAs, snubbers on the diodes:

n_outside.jpg


Inside:

n_inside.jpg


Back:
n_back.jpg


I have other versions, one without buffer and one with selectable dual inputs.
 
More than 4,600 views at 36 posts in the thread.
It's annoying how many guys seem to actually wish that Sun announced gainclones!
It's like mentioning sex in the thread title...

😎

PS: But the way you all make them looks real good!
 
Re: Upcoming DIN (or whatever) standard amp?

Circlotron said:
Having seen that, I wonder who's going to be the first to build a stereo gainclone into an old CDROM drive case? Would slot into your PC just neat. In fact, if you had an old CD burner case they already have a small fan at the back. Noise would not really be an issue in a PC environment.


Ooohhh... a chalenge:devilr:

i have been thinking of it, indeed.
just waiting for those volt linverting thingies.. an atx psu dont deliver more than 0.5 amps at -12v as you certainly know.. though my psu do deliver 34A at regular 12v.. enough?:cannotbe:
 
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