Nelson Pass F5 build, Part Trois...

[westend]

Originally Posted by specialidiot

Well done Lance. My inspiration came from ejfud's Tim Rawson built F5. Of course I gushed over it and Gary pointed me to the cviller boards on diyaudio.com. The rest, as they say, is history.

My thought was to have two blue LED's on my faceplate too, but I just don't have the gumption to drill the plate. Mine is gold anodized, and I'm uber worried about a sloppy job.

I think the best way to drill the anodized plate would be to establish the through hole and then chamfer the hole with a larger bit. Any hole you put in it is going to show a slight silver color, in the hole, and, possibly, on the edge. Make it a feature, so to speak. The other way to tackle that would be to use an LED holder that has a small flange to cover the hole:LED holder I have a few of them if you want to do it that way. Lemme know.

Originally Posted by ejfud

Wow, wow I mean wow Lance! That is beautiful. Excellent work.

What did you use to polish the front so nicely?

Glad you like it. Mine just never leaves my system, no matter what speaker I have in their. Yep, it's that good with just about anything.

Thanks, Gary, a compliment from a craftsman means a lot.

The faceplate polish goes like this: wet sand using successively finer grits, 220, 320, 420, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000 (sounds daunting but it is actually pretty painless with a palm sander, spending only a few minutes with each sheet). After sanding I used :Number 7 rubbing compound-first cut, Turtle Wax Polishing Compound-final cut. I applied these with a car buffer. There are better choices of metal polishes, I used the ones I had on hand.

The sound is incredibly sweet. All the adages and reports about the F5 are totally true but it wasn't until I had it hooked up, that I could appreciate the special character of the design. What my couriosity is , now, are all Class A amps this nice or is it just the F5?

[scootter31]

When you started this thread, I said "great start".

Now I must say, Great Finnish! ( pun intended ) The rack handles look fantastic!

just
Scott

[westend]

Originally Posted by scootter31

When you started this thread, I said "great start".

Now I must say, Great Finnish! ( pun intended ) The rack handles look fantastic!

just
Scott

Thanks, Scott, or...kiitos paljon!

[qboneus]

Awesome work my friend!!!!

enjoy

Originally Posted by specialidiot

My thought was to have two blue LED's on my faceplate too, but I just don't have the gumption to drill the plate. Mine is gold anodized, and I'm uber worried about a sloppy job.

I was initially only going to do one because of concerns like yours, but those bright blue LED's are so nice looking in 'stereo' on the front panel that,.... next thing I knew there was, my faceplate clamped down to a drill press me drilling holes thinking to myself "i'm probably going to regret this"
Haven't yet, love those bright blue leds on the front of my f5!
Mine have built in shrouds that allow for a 'little' error.




cheers
tal

[DENNYDOG]

Can't wait to hear this when I come up after Thanksgiving. That baby looks SWEET! I love the polishing you did on the aluminum.

[EchoWars]

Great job guys!! Beautiful work!

Suggestion when firing it up with the dim-bulb tester. Yes, it steals most voltage as the amp sucks more current, so...as you discovered...you cannot rely on ANY voltage measurement when it is connected. The purpose is simply to confirm that nothing self-destructs.

When you first fire it up (with, say, a 100W bulb as your dim-bulb), you should check the bias on both channels. Confirm that changing the pot changes the bias current on each channel, then turn the bias down to near-minimum! Then you know that it is totally safe to power up the amp and start cranking up the bias to the recommended levels, and don't have to worry about clockwise or counter-clockwise.

Anyway, great job. Wish I had time to tackle such a project.

[specialidiot]

Originally Posted by qboneus

I was initially only going to do one because of concerns like yours, but those bright blue LED's are so nice looking in 'stereo' on the front panel that,.... next thing I knew there was, my faceplate clamped down to a drill press me drilling holes thinking to myself "i'm probably going to regret this"
Haven't yet, love those bright blue leds on the front of my f5!
Mine have built in shrouds that allow for a 'little' error.

Tal, any chance you have a source for those LEDs for me?

[Russellc]

Originally Posted by MrIgotNomoney

Guys
Good info about the pot orientation, I have got my boards and and I am starting to plan out my build.
The biggest hassle is getting heatsinks and a chassis together, Im thinking to save money the best bet is to build my own chassis. Im still reeling over the cost and shipping for a pair of Conrad heatsinks.
I have a bunch of Nichicon 10000uf@50v I was thinking about using 10k uf and going with a 600va transformer for the ps. anyone using CVillers rectifier boards ?
The small parts and silicon, are pretty reasonable from TechDiy

bob

I'm using the Daniels boards, including the power supply as well as rectifier boards, which use MUR 30 amp ultra high speed rectifiers. Probably very similar.

russellc

[qboneus]

Originally Posted by specialidiot

Tal, any chance you have a source for those LEDs for me?

Abso-friggin-lutely!
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/Dk...me=679-1745-ND
they have many variants and price ranges I just liked the size, features, and especially brightness of these!

Wish Glenn had time to build one in his schedule so we could observe his skills in action

cheers,
tal

[EchoWars]

The electrical stuff is easy...the case is not. I don't think I could duplicate your's or Westend's efforts there.

[specialidiot]

Originally Posted by qboneus

Abso-friggin-lutely!
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/Dk...me=679-1745-ND
they have many variants and price ranges I just liked the size, features, and especially brightness of these!

thanks a bunch Tal.... I have two 16mm's on the way. I have also built a little amp platform out of mdf and painted it with some rattle can flat black. When I get the lamps going I'll post pictures in my thread.