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Amp techs, what's on your bench?
- Thread starter two fingers
- Start date
The comment about MDF was quite funny.
A chassis cradle is a useful tool and the fact that you can build it yourself is a big plus.
A chassis cradle is a useful tool and the fact that you can build it yourself is a big plus.
Thanks. Enjoyed the cartoon.
I've seen some nice metal ones that were designed to hold circuit boards and other ones for amp chassis. Being metal, they can be made smaller.
Good idea. I have a friend with a machine shop and I program / setup / run lathes & mills for a living.
The gears, they turn!
Those cradles are pretty much all awesome. I think my dad and I have a project for father's day. (Currently, his wood shop exists and mine doesn't.)
Yeah, provided I can get ahold of it for personal projects. I'm going to try some antique brass reverse tuners, bridges, pickguards, and pickup & bridge covers, too. So many projects, so little everything else...
Yeah, same problem here. I have lots of tools, but no shop. Dad has one but it's in North Carolina and I'm in Minnesota. Rather long drive. I long for the day when I have an acre to spare and a building permit. I'll have 2 new ~800 sq ft shops and a shed.
I started off apprenticing in a metal shop. Technology and automation has changed things but a lot of shops are still the same using great old equipment. The way things are going though, all you'll need is a 3D printer connected to a computer. You could do the parts for a cradle today. In time, perhaps they'll be able to print instrument hardware that will be as strong and look as good as the metal ones used today.
Luckily my dad, his shop, and my sorry butt are ALL in NC. I can get there in about an hour.
I'm really curious as to where those 3D printers are going. We have two at school. They are pretty freaking amazing. All they have to perfect is getting the process of using more and different kinds of material with which to print. These days it is only a few kinds of resins. But once they can't print steel and other materials, game on! I know that seems crazy, but it will only be a matter of time before they figure out how to use metals.
Mr. Foxen
Commercial User
3D printing with metal has existed for a while, laser sintering and such, its just expensive. All the media fuss about 3d printing was just because it go cheap enough to make tacky plastic stuff.
On a more on topic note, I have a REALLY cool project I'm working on. Not only am I going to mod the heck out of my old PA100 (just play around with frequency response and gain structure a little bit) and recap/clean my Magnavox era V4 this summer........
I get to rebuild a Gates SA39B compressor! It is for a trouble shooting class at school. I told my instructor I wanted a challenge project to work on. He brought it in and said to get started. Of course, I'm new at this, so he will be over my shoulder the whole time. And, yes, I have taken dozens of before pics and pages of notes. The only thing I have done so far is remove the pots and meter. That way Monday I can clean it out (it is NASTY) and not worry about getting any liquids in parts where it doesn't belong. It is pretty much like the one in this forum thread.
http://www.groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=36432.0
I have the benefit of all the school's equipment and two really good instructors' wisdom during the whole deal. Who would have thought rebuilding a Gates compressor would be the very first tube project I work on? By the way, I got the architectural department to print out the schematic BLUE PRINT size. Man, that is cool to have. They made me two of them so I can make notes on one and leave the other clean. That is going to spoil me. I may have to scope around for an old used architectural roll printer so I can make big schematics when I want to. I'm a big margin writer even in books and magazine articles. And I like to highlight things too.
Wish me luck!
I get to rebuild a Gates SA39B compressor! It is for a trouble shooting class at school. I told my instructor I wanted a challenge project to work on. He brought it in and said to get started. Of course, I'm new at this, so he will be over my shoulder the whole time. And, yes, I have taken dozens of before pics and pages of notes. The only thing I have done so far is remove the pots and meter. That way Monday I can clean it out (it is NASTY) and not worry about getting any liquids in parts where it doesn't belong. It is pretty much like the one in this forum thread.
http://www.groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=36432.0
I have the benefit of all the school's equipment and two really good instructors' wisdom during the whole deal. Who would have thought rebuilding a Gates compressor would be the very first tube project I work on? By the way, I got the architectural department to print out the schematic BLUE PRINT size. Man, that is cool to have. They made me two of them so I can make notes on one and leave the other clean. That is going to spoil me. I may have to scope around for an old used architectural roll printer so I can make big schematics when I want to. I'm a big margin writer even in books and magazine articles. And I like to highlight things too.
Wish me luck!
Funny you should mention that. I went to a community development meeting not long ago. The keynote speaker gave a speech about dragging southern cities into the future. He spent a little time on 3D printing. Two of the goals in mind for those things are printing human parts using your own cells and printing food.
I've seen jewelry printed that looked metallic. I assumed that it was a resin with metal embedded into it.
I think that it would be neat to print a chassis for an amp. Even better if it could get a chrome layer and lettering printed on the outer surface. Being able to custom build one without having to drill holes for the pots, jacks, and transformers and having mounts for the boards would be incredible.
Printing a wrench when I can't find the one that I'm looking for would be nice as well.
Great project. Hope that you post some progress pics. Old studio equipment is such a pleasure to work on. Remember, the number one rule is do no harm. The piece of equipment has survived for decades without it being mucked up by someone. Take your time, do your homework.
One mistake a lot of people make it that they assume that all caps are alike. They aren't. They have more specs than the working voltage, temperature, and the capacitance. Things like ripple current capacity and operating frequency are important in power supplies. Check out the specs for industrial quality caps such as Invalid Link Removed. Of course, caps don't sound alike either. I hate seeing equipment where just anything that a tech has in stock is thrown into the circuit as a replacement part.
The nice thing about pieces of equipment like that is that you can learn a lot from how it was built and the layout. How to do things and how not to do things.
If you like studio gear, check out what they are selling [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]. The STA-Level compressor was developed by Gates. It is interesting to see the transformers that they use for these modern builds. Sowter makes a good product and they have a number of reissue products for vintage studio gear. Jensen and Cinemag sell some nice transformers as well. While your there, check out the Fairchild 670 compressor board that they sell. Every bass player should have at least one.
Nice to have access to a large format printer. I've bought blueprint tubes at a local blueprint shop but art stores sell them. It's nice to stick a large schematic on the wall.
Awesome. That needs its own thread for sure.
For ot, what stuff you have for the work?
