Do It Yourself

I am having some PCBs made, and I have a 3.5" x 3.9" spot left empty on the panel. If anyone has a small board they want made, and it will fit within that spot (that size or smaller), I am happy to add it. Board will be 2oz copper and RoHS if that matters. Cost is Free. The only complication is that I am sending the order in late Sunday, or possibly very early Monday, so I'd need the files before then. I guess the other complication is that if you did not do the board in Eagle, there is no guarantee it will work. We'll see.

Well, I'm looking at finalizing a project board that is currently 6.17" x 7.3". The 6.17" needs to be the width of the case, and the 7.3" needs to be the depth. I've looked at a few vendors, as I'm trying to find a width that will accommodate a few of the Hammond 1455 type cases. The Hammond unfortunately is too shallow. I looked at Context Engineering and notice they have one that supports a 6" card width, that might be able to work, with a 8.5" standard depth. I poked around a bit at Teko as well. Anyways, I know a few of you have gone through this and was wondering if you might have a few suggestions? The main deal is I need to finalize the size of the board…

Anyone here built a Faraday cage? Strikes me as pretty easy. I've got some sort of RF source in my vicinity here at work, and am tempted to build one for my audio equipment. Basically, it needs to be (a) made of conducting metal, ( continuous (all conducting materials must touch each other) and © ventilated (so heat doesn't build up). Does it need to be grounded? I am not sure I understand why if it does.

So I am getting ready to order a Hakko 936 as my cheap-o irons have pretty much had it. Which soldering tips do you guys recommend? I'm not real big on single use tools, so which tip would you consider the swiss army knife for the Hakko? I will be soldering my first SMD parts so something that runs the gammut would be great. Thanks

We have lots of info on good parts, but I can't seem to find good tools. I don't mean multimeters and soldering irons, I mean the guys that do the hard work but go unnoticed, like helping hands and wire strippers. In my experience, the standard helping hands thing from PartsExpress is a little flimsier than I'd like, and I don't know how to determine a good wire stripper since I only have the one from a group buy with not enough sizes. Feel free to throw in whatever cool tools you like too, because what is a man without his tools?

after all these years we have finally found a solution for the power supply modules at a rational price. which means we can make a transportable electrostatic amplifier. similar to srmxh,srm252,srm270 etc. 3 times the power, +/-400v power supplys, no obsolete components etc. designed to be mounted to the bottom as a heatsink with silicone thermal sheet in between. should be about $250 in parts unless you go nuts with the volume pot. not sure of casing yet.

Got a couple pictures last night at last. It's been running for a few weeks now, I kept tinkering with it, but it's pretty much done for now. Built mostly from parts on hand, plus an old scsi drive chassis. I did buy a few resistors once I had settled on working values, if only to replace a couple series and parallel conglomerations. Obligatory off and on shots... Started with this lumber and chassis... [ATTACH=CONFIG]3086[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]3087[/ATTACH] There is another thread (dead bug psu) that shows some other pics along the way. The amp is derivation of the mapletree design; it has higher operating voltage, similar to his super, though t…

i have the next 3 weeks to kill before school starts again. id like to do something productive with my time. i dont know anything about electronics (well i know a little but assuming that i dont know even that will probably be safer for me). i would like to start working on either an amp or a dac that is fairly easy to build. cost is a slight issue so the whole thing should be less than $100 including tools. i already have a soldering iron but no solder. also, i dont know how to read a schematic, much less know how to plan out the layout of the build, so step by step instructions would be highly appreciated. pictures would go a long way too. lastly, id like to build s…

This is the story of a very sick little Firstwatt F5 that needs some TLC. This is hopefully the last chapter in a rather sad story involving our Scottish Lord of Drink. Dough bought it from some scammer on DIYAudio which not only botched every facotr of building the amp but couldn't even be bothered to ship it properly. To fast forward a bit I had expressed my intention to build an F5 here and Doug offered to send me this amp to do with as I pleased. I took this a good chance to tinker with an F5 and help a friend out since this amp will be returned to Scotland in fully working condition later on. Now onto what awaited me in that 13kg box from Scotland. Parts …

So the optical in on my north star broke. The little plastic piece that swings up when you plug in the optical cable snapped off at the NYC Meet and I can't find it. So now when I plug in an optical cable, there's a lot of play in the jack. It works, but the cable can come loose very easily. What a stupid design. Has anyone had this problem before? Any suggestions how to fix it? In the alternative, if I decide to use the Coax input on the north star, I'd need something like the M-Audio transit to convert the optical out from my iMac, correct?

Anyone's got experience with this multimeter? I'm getting into DIY and I have the possibility to acquire a used unit in mint condition for 135$. From what I've read, Fluke dmm are generally a safe bet, but I was wondering if anyone had some feedback to give about this particular model.

Some of you will remember my first turning on my new lathe that Vicki affectionately dubbed the Peppermill. Well the Peppermill has been repurposed, or should I say purposed. It's now part of a headphone stand for a Head-Fier that wanted a 4 phone stand. It's not finished yet, it still needs a few more coats of lacquer. I thought I'd post it though because it's rather unique looking.

Oh, the number of times I have mentioned how much I like Steve Blinn or Adona rack designs! Extruded aluminum exudes strength and elegance, gotta love those T-slots... but, the price, yikes! Well, in my never-ending quest to one day build myself something along those lines, I came across this little gem of a site: http://www.framexpert.com/ What's so special about it? A FREE download program that lets you build whatever you want using the t-slots. I've been playing with the erector set for about an hour now and it is pretty easy to use, especially given the fact that I have no experience with 3-D software whatsoever. It even provides a cost estimate of your build a…

heh, but seriously. If you only have room for a single jack, and want to support balanced (4-channel bridged) and single ended cans, what do you do? Two options as I see it. Use 4-pin jack and tie ground to the shell and/or case or use a 5-pin jack and have a dedicated pin for ground. If the first case, I'm not sure if there are 4-pin female jacks where the where the "shell connection" can be isolated from the case. If this isn't possible, then is 5-pin the only real option? I cannot believe this hasn't come up before. Thoughts?

Frigate

That was seriously misleading.. I thought it was the official release of FPE's Front panel designer 4.0, but instead it was a email from Front panel Expert for their software Cetina CAD 1.3.7 This was followed shortly by another email for a 25% off promotional offer this month. My order is still going to go to cam-expert since FPexpert doesn't offer plexi, but I'm curious to see how their service compares to FPexpress and cam-expert. They've been out for a while now from what I know, but I haven't heard any mention of them before.

I assume frontpanelexpress.com is who I want to use if I want a 3.5"x2" engraved faceplate made for my amp? I'm messing around with their software right now, any tips? Thanks

Any recommendations for one, used and cheap preferably? (I know, non-HC). I was looking at a couple of B&K 4011s or maybe an HP3311a? Other? Or am I better off using a PC with my mAudio box and a program (can't remember which one I have, but it isn't bad).

Recently I obtained a circa 1977 Technics SU-7300 integrated amp. The unit has several fuses (4), of which I have not been able to find the following: 3 Amp 125 Volt (Size 1.25" by 0.25") - need one 3.3 Amp 125 Volt (Size 1.25" by 0.25") - need two The closest I have found are: 3A 3AG FUSE | AllElectronics.com Would it work two replace the 3.3 amp fuse? Thanks.

I had the fuse in my Klipsch iFi subwoofer blow. It's a 2A 125V slow blow fuse. Went to a couple Radioshacks and they only carry a 2A 250V fuse. Is it okay use that as a replacement? At the first the lady said, "Probably, but I wouldn't bet my life on it." Second store guy said "You only have to worry about over-wattage." My concern is that if something hits say... 200V and the fuse doesn't blow, will I end up damaging other components downstream?

Well as Ti said it "the cat is out of the bag" so I thought I'd put it here: AMB and MisterX are working on the y2, an add-on board to the y1 that adds ASRC, WM8741/2 DAC to the y1) There is a thread about it on HF's DIY forum. Link

I will be ordering some front a back panels for a gamma 2, if anyone wants a pair, let me know, I can order and if we get to 5 there's 10% from FPE. The panels are for no digital outputs on the front panel, neither to have a mini out on the front panel for the y1 output. I can also share the FPE files for double checking or if you wish to order them yourself(if you're in the US, it might be cheaper) Here's a picture: ps: mods, if there is any problem with this, please remove it and let me know

Do-it-yourself-ers and MOTs: If someone had a mid-fi device that you knew nothing about, what would be your first recommendation? I'm fond of my X-Tone, but suspect it has cheap op-amps and/or caps in there -- any recommendations? I also have a MF X-24K that I suspect could be better. For that matter, I have a whole slew of X-tube stuff -- X-Pre, X-CANv2, X-LP2 -- I suspect the recommended mods for the X-Pre would be the same as the mods on the X-CANv2, neh? If anyone wants me to post pics of internal organs, let me know.

Hey y'all, I've lurked around here for a few years but now I'm planning on getting started building amps, and I could use a bit of assistance. I've never soldered anything and I've probably stripped a wire once, so I'm gonna need to ease into this. From what I've read here and on Innerfidelity the Bottlehead Crack or Torpedo would be good places to start, as they're simple builds and pair well with my HD650s. Any other suggestions? I read this plan on getting the Hakko FX-888 as my solder 'gun' and 63-37 eutectic solder. According to tangentsoft I need small screwdrivers, small cutters and pliers, and a wire stripper. Are any other supplies needed? After this…

Hi all, I`d like some advice on the helpfulness or futility of wearing gloves while soldering (some suggestions of gloves to get, if useful would also help). Also are there any practical solutions for newbie burn prevention while learning to solder ? My head will be behind a thick lense when soldering so goggles aren`t a concern and there will be a strong flow of air to remove fumes from my vicinity. The most likely soldering station I`ll buy is a Xytronic 369 the same apparent model is labeled as a 379 in America. Rapid Electronics - Auto-temp 369 soldering station