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I finally had a chance to get something done on this little amp project.
Friday night is date night for my wife and me, so we went to our local mall for some grub, then over to Home Depot for some metal, epoxy, and hardboard.
It feels really good to finally be able to tinker with something project-wise that isn't related to a 3-year old's educational needs!
Here are some pics:
I realized that I would not be able to hammer-bang this 12" x 12" of 16 ga. sheet metal into anything resembling a quality piece, so it was off to my favorite funny smelling tool store to purchase a small hand brake. It barely bent this sheet of 16 ga. and I had to use supplemental clamping measures in the form of some large hand screws, but I got it done. I was nervous though, I was sure it was going to break!
Then, I cut up two sections of 1/8" hardboard and glued them ugly side to ugly side and sanded, then epoxied them to the chassis with metal epoxy.
The face and rear plates are thinner aluminum which bend much easier, and much crisper too.
Those will be epoxied or probably contact cemented to the hardboard in approximately the positions they are in.
The sheet of black stuff with holes in it is alum with small and smaller holes punched in it for the top of the unit. I guess it's going to look like a radiator cover, but at least I'll have good ventilation. I cut and bent a piece of that to slide between the hardboard and the alum. It's tough to see, but there is a gap there that will allow the perforated stuff to slide right in there. The sides of light colored hardwood will bolt to the sides of the amp. If I take one side off, I will be able to slide out the top and work on it if the need arises.
I drilled a bunch of holes in the chassis to allow for airflow for the power supply and to mount the PS and amp. I then painted it flat black (walmart 97 cents a can) and it's down in the basement curing.
I wouldn't have been able to get nearly this far if I hadn't epoxied the front and rear boards to the metal frame. I can't remember who, but someone was building an amp -- real nice gainclone with glowing volume knob -- and they used high-strength metal epoxy to assemble part of their amp. Whoever you are, thanks for the idea!
Hopefully tomorrow I hope to glue on the front and back to the hardboard and start drilling holes for the switches, knobs, fuse holder, etc. First amp, but so far--so fun!
TomZ
Friday night is date night for my wife and me, so we went to our local mall for some grub, then over to Home Depot for some metal, epoxy, and hardboard.
It feels really good to finally be able to tinker with something project-wise that isn't related to a 3-year old's educational needs!
Here are some pics:
I realized that I would not be able to hammer-bang this 12" x 12" of 16 ga. sheet metal into anything resembling a quality piece, so it was off to my favorite funny smelling tool store to purchase a small hand brake. It barely bent this sheet of 16 ga. and I had to use supplemental clamping measures in the form of some large hand screws, but I got it done. I was nervous though, I was sure it was going to break!
Then, I cut up two sections of 1/8" hardboard and glued them ugly side to ugly side and sanded, then epoxied them to the chassis with metal epoxy.
The face and rear plates are thinner aluminum which bend much easier, and much crisper too.
Those will be epoxied or probably contact cemented to the hardboard in approximately the positions they are in.
The sheet of black stuff with holes in it is alum with small and smaller holes punched in it for the top of the unit. I guess it's going to look like a radiator cover, but at least I'll have good ventilation. I cut and bent a piece of that to slide between the hardboard and the alum. It's tough to see, but there is a gap there that will allow the perforated stuff to slide right in there. The sides of light colored hardwood will bolt to the sides of the amp. If I take one side off, I will be able to slide out the top and work on it if the need arises.
I drilled a bunch of holes in the chassis to allow for airflow for the power supply and to mount the PS and amp. I then painted it flat black (walmart 97 cents a can) and it's down in the basement curing.
I wouldn't have been able to get nearly this far if I hadn't epoxied the front and rear boards to the metal frame. I can't remember who, but someone was building an amp -- real nice gainclone with glowing volume knob -- and they used high-strength metal epoxy to assemble part of their amp. Whoever you are, thanks for the idea!
Hopefully tomorrow I hope to glue on the front and back to the hardboard and start drilling holes for the switches, knobs, fuse holder, etc. First amp, but so far--so fun!
TomZ
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