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Re: Here's what I found...

Posted by Triode_Kingdom (A) on March 11, 2007 at 11:56:02

In Reply to: Re: Here's what I found... posted by slowburn on March 10, 2007 at 17:30:11:

Maybe I was too hasty regarding the brand stamp. Even before I read your post, I was thinking that painting the chassis isn't such a big deal, and that the stamping could be filled if necessary. Too bad it prevents using it in a natural aluminum finish; I like that look for some projects. Incidentally, I do most of my own cutting using hand tools. I also have limited access to a small machine shop at work, so it might be possible to use a mill to clean up the welds and cut down the flanges on these cake pan chassis.

My main concern right now is whether the pans on Surfas' Web site are the same ones you're buying in the store. A thickness of .065" is great for preamps and small amplifiers, but for larger iron, .090" or more is needed. I have sent an e-mail asking them to confirm the thickness and brand of the pans, just to make sure I get the right ones.

I like your DIY'er of the month project - very inventive! Unless I missed one, Hagerman phono preamps are all 9-pin, so I assume you designed the octal version yourself. I use octals wherever possible, and particularly with octal output stages. Even where I don't use octals, I almost never mix the two types on the same chassis. Tubes like 6BQ5s generally get driven with EF86 / 12AX7 / 12AU7 / 7044 types, with 6SL7 / 6SN7 / 6BL7 octals (and 12V counterparts of the first two) reserved for use with 6V6s, EL34s, 7591s and large SETs. There are always exceptions, but this is how I generally attempt to keep a sense of order in the designs.

About the aluminum chassis, I am currently building a few guitar amplifiers. I have a fair amount of vintage hi-fi iron that's well suited to this purpose, but it's heavy. That's why I need to confirm that the chassis on Surfas' site are in fact 1/8". I have to say, I really don't understand what Hammond is thinking, making .040 and .050 chassis. Those boxes wouldn't last a week in a guitar amp. Even many of Hammond's own transformers would collapse their boxes. Could it really cost that much more to use .080"-.090" material?

Thanks for all your help and good ideas on this. If you come up with more info on the exact chassis your buying at Surfas, please let me know.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Kimber Kable

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