So! I thought I'd ask how folks go about a project.
I tend to
1. read obsessively here at DIY
2. scope out parts, finding bargains and eventually purchasing the pcb/unobtainium
3. build the PCB! (yay!)
4. try and build into the chassis
5. stall due to poor spacial planning, and typically a slightly too small chassis
6. twiddle fingers and start recursing back to whatever the new project is.
So the end result of this is a...
1. 95% complete F6 needing input Jfets (and I cant use the LSK parts onhand!)
2. a pcb complete m2, needing heatsinks (hence case) to suit the pcb length, and me holding off on an order for the heatsinks till I -know- what other heatsinks I'll need, and again, me not wasting lsk jfets on a buffer
2a. a set of breadboarded diamond buffers to replace the lsk fet requirement
2b. a pile of smd jfets the replace the lks jfets that behave -a lot- differently at higher supply voltages.... and may die from thermal stress
3. a set of components for an f3 (I have the heatsinks), but... no chassis
4. a set of parts/pcbs for an f4 (...why? I'd need to build an amazing pre amp. Oh!)
5. PCB's for a ugs pre (and now I need SMD kit to do this and the skills to build it!)
Lessons learned? less graft and more expense... but... hmmm... 😉
I tend to
1. read obsessively here at DIY
2. scope out parts, finding bargains and eventually purchasing the pcb/unobtainium
3. build the PCB! (yay!)
4. try and build into the chassis
5. stall due to poor spacial planning, and typically a slightly too small chassis
6. twiddle fingers and start recursing back to whatever the new project is.
So the end result of this is a...
1. 95% complete F6 needing input Jfets (and I cant use the LSK parts onhand!)
2. a pcb complete m2, needing heatsinks (hence case) to suit the pcb length, and me holding off on an order for the heatsinks till I -know- what other heatsinks I'll need, and again, me not wasting lsk jfets on a buffer
2a. a set of breadboarded diamond buffers to replace the lsk fet requirement
2b. a pile of smd jfets the replace the lks jfets that behave -a lot- differently at higher supply voltages.... and may die from thermal stress
3. a set of components for an f3 (I have the heatsinks), but... no chassis
4. a set of parts/pcbs for an f4 (...why? I'd need to build an amazing pre amp. Oh!)
5. PCB's for a ugs pre (and now I need SMD kit to do this and the skills to build it!)
Lessons learned? less graft and more expense... but... hmmm... 😉
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I focus on the thing i want most, tweak it, finish it & use it for a while.
Then it all starts again 😀
Then it all starts again 😀
I know that answering this question is not the main purpose of this thread, but I would like to suggest two options:
1) Conrad heat sink MF35-151.5, as I showed in the M2 thread. That heat sink is suitable to build any of the First Watt amplifiers published to date.
2) Hifi 2000 4U x 400mm case. The hole spacing on the PCB I designed matches the fin spacing on the heat sinks. That means you can drill thru holes in between the fins which are simpler and less risky than blind, threaded ones.
Hi grimberg,
Agree'd on the way forward for me - I was mainly writing here to take the mick out of my own cycle of enthusiasm -> incomplete projects 🙂
I actually have no drama's building my own chassis, tapping holes and such, and having Conrad in the same country certainly makes it a bit easier to source some great heatsinks at a fair price.
I just tend to get to a point where the excitement and 'playground of the mind' of a new project ends up being more interesting than finishing something I've hit a roadblock on. 🙂
Agree'd on the way forward for me - I was mainly writing here to take the mick out of my own cycle of enthusiasm -> incomplete projects 🙂
I actually have no drama's building my own chassis, tapping holes and such, and having Conrad in the same country certainly makes it a bit easier to source some great heatsinks at a fair price.
I just tend to get to a point where the excitement and 'playground of the mind' of a new project ends up being more interesting than finishing something I've hit a roadblock on. 🙂
I have been in the same situation. A few times I hit a roadblock, put the project on hold and started another one. What helped me change was a conversation with another forum member during Burning Amp in 2008. We were talking about projects we had done and at one point he asked me to see them. That's when I had to confront the fact that none of them was in a condition to be safely transported, which was the reason I had not brought any of them to the meeting.
From that point on I started managing my DIY audio projects the same way I manage my professional work. I organize the tasks and acceptance criteria. In other words, steps to get it done and how to decide when it is REALLY ready.
From several pictures I have posted in different threads you can see that the strategy is working.
🙂
From that point on I started managing my DIY audio projects the same way I manage my professional work. I organize the tasks and acceptance criteria. In other words, steps to get it done and how to decide when it is REALLY ready.
From several pictures I have posted in different threads you can see that the strategy is working.
🙂
My biggest challenge last year was deciding to abandon the speaker project of my own design, and build a better designed speaker instead. Isn't it strange that the ones I designed looked good on paper, measure flat, but yet sounded boring and lifeless?
Following a speaker-plan designed by a pro instead was a great decision. Now I have speakers that sound awesome, and left over parts to design and play with.
For amps, DAC and Pre, I had to plan it in such a way that I could use some DIY compenents then upgrade adding other ones, i.e., the DAC could be enjoyed with my old receiver. Then I built preamp next, the DAC was repurposed as the digital input and incorporated into balanced-preamp. But I didn't see a point to start on amp until the preamp was done, because I wouldn't have an XLR source without the DAC+Preamp.
So for me, speakers first always
Then choose an amp appropriate to drive said speakers.
My path of reading, searching parts, ordering, populating pcb, design chassis, roadblock is all very similar to yours.
At the moment building a pair of subs. Planning which panels to cut first. It has to be a thoughtful approach as I make jigs to do certain dimentions and I want to get everything of that equal dimention cut before I reconstruct the jig for another dimention. My measuring doesn't seem precise enough to me, but i can get within a 1/16 or 1/32", then I can repeat exactly, things come out nice and square for me that way.
Doh! I just realized I'm likely to end up with a problem, the amps I have to drive the subs were my first ones, and never completely finished 5 years ago. They are just peices bolted to "test boards" and wired together. If I don't take them apart, build a proper chassis and reassemble them before the subs are done, it may never happen. The worst part is that I'm going to run out of summer soon, and everything will be put on hold till spring. At least this winter I'll have awesome speakers to listen to inside.
Following a speaker-plan designed by a pro instead was a great decision. Now I have speakers that sound awesome, and left over parts to design and play with.
For amps, DAC and Pre, I had to plan it in such a way that I could use some DIY compenents then upgrade adding other ones, i.e., the DAC could be enjoyed with my old receiver. Then I built preamp next, the DAC was repurposed as the digital input and incorporated into balanced-preamp. But I didn't see a point to start on amp until the preamp was done, because I wouldn't have an XLR source without the DAC+Preamp.
So for me, speakers first always
Then choose an amp appropriate to drive said speakers.
My path of reading, searching parts, ordering, populating pcb, design chassis, roadblock is all very similar to yours.
At the moment building a pair of subs. Planning which panels to cut first. It has to be a thoughtful approach as I make jigs to do certain dimentions and I want to get everything of that equal dimention cut before I reconstruct the jig for another dimention. My measuring doesn't seem precise enough to me, but i can get within a 1/16 or 1/32", then I can repeat exactly, things come out nice and square for me that way.
Doh! I just realized I'm likely to end up with a problem, the amps I have to drive the subs were my first ones, and never completely finished 5 years ago. They are just peices bolted to "test boards" and wired together. If I don't take them apart, build a proper chassis and reassemble them before the subs are done, it may never happen. The worst part is that I'm going to run out of summer soon, and everything will be put on hold till spring. At least this winter I'll have awesome speakers to listen to inside.
I know what you mean alright. There's definitely an irony in my organizational load and ability at work vs my complete disorder at home 🙂 That said, it's supposed to be fun, and I enjoy the process more than I do the completion.
I did much better on my last project, until I stalled on the jfets and the level of waste in using unobtainium as a buffer. Many adventures with alternate jfets and counterfeit parts ensued, and eventually some smd work and diamond buffer design, and the end result is still incomplete.
The m2 stalled when I realised I had a 300mm long case that I'd planned for it to go in that was too short... and I felt I couldn't justify the expense of new heatsinks till I use up what I have already.
And then the Vfet amp came along... Who can resist? <facepalm> And the vfetron as well... oooh! a different topology! and adventures in learning about signal transformers!
I think If I sat down and costed and planned out everything first, I'd probably stop building amps 🙂
I did much better on my last project, until I stalled on the jfets and the level of waste in using unobtainium as a buffer. Many adventures with alternate jfets and counterfeit parts ensued, and eventually some smd work and diamond buffer design, and the end result is still incomplete.
The m2 stalled when I realised I had a 300mm long case that I'd planned for it to go in that was too short... and I felt I couldn't justify the expense of new heatsinks till I use up what I have already.
And then the Vfet amp came along... Who can resist? <facepalm> And the vfetron as well... oooh! a different topology! and adventures in learning about signal transformers!
I think If I sat down and costed and planned out everything first, I'd probably stop building amps 🙂
I doubt it. Having the cost in mind helps me stay disciplined to complete each project. Cost is an essential component of project management.
True enough. I have a fair bit of frugalophile in me, so quite often the pause is due to me spending too much time on finding a way to save a buck. If I apply the same discipline to my fun as I did my work, I'd be costing that time out, and no doubt choosing speed and convenience instead of poring through the clearance specials from a supplier in Melbourne 🙂
I resemble this comment 🙂 thankfully, I completed a couple of different speakers earlier in my DIY life. A lovely set of cloned Abby's and a lsk TL6. Both great and different. And they allow different types of Amps to be built as well, as their needs are quite different.
Don't get me started on my (aborted) Sub woofer planning... 🙂
That's cool. Good speakers are a must!
I seem to be better at soldering, so I hope the subs don't fail.
My first speaker left me with some very high efficient drivers. Just sayin' maybe someday I could build a tube amp for them. Then I could try open baffle or something?
At the moment my mains are LXminis designed by Sigfried Linkwitz. They're genius design, love them. The sub add on will integrate perfectly long as I don't cut off my fingers or foul the box.
I can only spend x on hifi per month. Many months are just spent saving, and trying to figure out how to save a buck. But I'm kinda patting myself on the back for being more mature and patient in recent years. I started this speakers/bi-amp/Balanced-preamp+DAC vision a couple years ago it seems. Now that I'm about done, I too like the process so much that I'm going to start building stuff to give away as birthday gifts to family and whatnot. Frugalhorns for wife's parents will be next.
Cheers.
I seem to be better at soldering, so I hope the subs don't fail.
My first speaker left me with some very high efficient drivers. Just sayin' maybe someday I could build a tube amp for them. Then I could try open baffle or something?
At the moment my mains are LXminis designed by Sigfried Linkwitz. They're genius design, love them. The sub add on will integrate perfectly long as I don't cut off my fingers or foul the box.
I can only spend x on hifi per month. Many months are just spent saving, and trying to figure out how to save a buck. But I'm kinda patting myself on the back for being more mature and patient in recent years. I started this speakers/bi-amp/Balanced-preamp+DAC vision a couple years ago it seems. Now that I'm about done, I too like the process so much that I'm going to start building stuff to give away as birthday gifts to family and whatnot. Frugalhorns for wife's parents will be next.
Cheers.
my story [in the making 😛 ] :
one fine day around a year back i 'decided' that i will build a class A amplifier. started reading online and finalized on Jean Hiraga Super Class A 30W version.
-ordered PCB off ebay
-was hovering over mouser, elements14 portals for well over few months deciding on the components. also i was asking for suggestions on the Hiraga thread here.
-in the meantime started looking for suitable heat sinks and the capacitors : luckily found them locally.
-i finally decided to order the amplifier 'kit' with all required/matched transistors from ebay
-it's been a year and in this time frame and i even bought parts and built a pre-amplifier [Kuartlotron buffer and i'm loving it!]
now, i've almost all the difficult to obtain stuffs with me. i've been working on prepping the heat sink - anodizing, drilling and tapping, heat spreader surface preparation etc. next i'll build PSU and later amp baord [assembling]. building/getting chassis will be the final step. of course i plan to build a BR BS speaker [based on Alpair 10M] immediately after this build!
luckily, i've not run out of enthusiasm. one look at those classic amps and speakers that a few fortunate own is enough to rekindle the interest.
🙂
one fine day around a year back i 'decided' that i will build a class A amplifier. started reading online and finalized on Jean Hiraga Super Class A 30W version.
-ordered PCB off ebay
-was hovering over mouser, elements14 portals for well over few months deciding on the components. also i was asking for suggestions on the Hiraga thread here.
-in the meantime started looking for suitable heat sinks and the capacitors : luckily found them locally.
-i finally decided to order the amplifier 'kit' with all required/matched transistors from ebay
-it's been a year and in this time frame and i even bought parts and built a pre-amplifier [Kuartlotron buffer and i'm loving it!]
now, i've almost all the difficult to obtain stuffs with me. i've been working on prepping the heat sink - anodizing, drilling and tapping, heat spreader surface preparation etc. next i'll build PSU and later amp baord [assembling]. building/getting chassis will be the final step. of course i plan to build a BR BS speaker [based on Alpair 10M] immediately after this build!
luckily, i've not run out of enthusiasm. one look at those classic amps and speakers that a few fortunate own is enough to rekindle the interest.
🙂
My projects tend to follow a similar pattern. average time from starting to think about it to completion is probably about 6 years 😉
I think a large part of my problem is fear of failure. The stupid thing is, when I finally finish it and it is good I think "why the hell didn't I do this more quickly!"
The one project that I did in two weeks from start to finish was my p2p LM3886 amp. It was only supposed to be for speaker testing, so I wasn't fussing /obsessing / worrying about it not being good. It's currently in daily use as the high pass amp for my speakers... The amp that is supposed to replace it (BA3) I have boards and fets for and that is as far as it has gone.. I think I got the boards in 2011...
I have a bunch of 80V 10,000uF caps for redoing the powersupply in my other amp (which has cheap PSU caps that are around 30 years old. I purchased those in 2010. I designed the circuit board for the new supply, bought the pcb material but that is as far as it got...
I have a DAC that I have everything I need to build it, case transformer and all parts, haven't started it. I think I got that in 2012.
I want to design and build new cabinets for my vifa M26-WR-09-08's... been thinking about that since I finished the MTM's in 2010 (I started those in 2004).
I want to do a small amp for my Daughter to go with the little 4" computer speakers we built about 3 years ago.
I think the other problem is not going to bed early enough... I suspect if I went to bed earlier I'd be less tired and actually have enough engergy to do some stuff in the evenings! 😉
Tony.
I think a large part of my problem is fear of failure. The stupid thing is, when I finally finish it and it is good I think "why the hell didn't I do this more quickly!"
The one project that I did in two weeks from start to finish was my p2p LM3886 amp. It was only supposed to be for speaker testing, so I wasn't fussing /obsessing / worrying about it not being good. It's currently in daily use as the high pass amp for my speakers... The amp that is supposed to replace it (BA3) I have boards and fets for and that is as far as it has gone.. I think I got the boards in 2011...
I have a bunch of 80V 10,000uF caps for redoing the powersupply in my other amp (which has cheap PSU caps that are around 30 years old. I purchased those in 2010. I designed the circuit board for the new supply, bought the pcb material but that is as far as it got...
I have a DAC that I have everything I need to build it, case transformer and all parts, haven't started it. I think I got that in 2012.
I want to design and build new cabinets for my vifa M26-WR-09-08's... been thinking about that since I finished the MTM's in 2010 (I started those in 2004).
I want to do a small amp for my Daughter to go with the little 4" computer speakers we built about 3 years ago.
I think the other problem is not going to bed early enough... I suspect if I went to bed earlier I'd be less tired and actually have enough engergy to do some stuff in the evenings! 😉
Tony.
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