rebuilding my amp with some upgrades

[Hornet900]

Hi all
I'm rebuilding my amp with some upgrades i  bought since long from buying the amp so thought I'd try post so pictures this time from insdie and outside bell and transformer ..hope you can see .them and  if you see anything wrong please say
This my second time building an amp or anything to do with soldering  I took my time even more  6 days I think now  few long hours  a day
I changed the  oututcaps for mundorf  evo oils from mcaps    I aslo fitted a tkd volume wbt  rca jacks audio note tube sockets ,
I turned round the IEC inlet socket so I  could use my power cable fitted with a FURUTECH FI-12L-G ( these new iec sockets are nice but it was just rubbing on the side of the transformer and marking it if removed and plugged in alot
http://www.furutech.com/2015/07/21/11440/ fur, painted the bell  transformer and installed a neutrik headphone jack

I cant wait to listen to it now  :-* I've not had the amp running over a week now and miss it  :-*  I'm just waiting for the cable tie mounts now for the caps

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[Hornet900]

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[Hornet900]

one thing I'm a little worried about  is on the speedball boards  a / b  boards ....two of the little round solder ring tabs  where you solder the wires in on top  fell off ( The I and G wire solder connections on B board) I hope the wires make a good connection , I didnt have enough speedball wire left over so used the bigger gauge wire , this didnt damage it , one fell off when I was having the trouble with the mj350 ! remember that!
and the other when I was desoldering this time ,  they must of got week from before so much when i had the trouble

anyway I hope it works i had a fun  building it

i love the smell of cardas solder now   is that bad for you  :-\

 

[aragorn723]

The solder fumes aren't the best thing in the world for you, I try to keep 2 windows open to get cross-circulation in the room when soldering.  Nice build btw, is that a TKD pot?

Dave

 

[Hornet900]

yes  TKD 2CP2511  100k  ebay  I paid £55  from a nice guy in Vietnam  diyaudio  he shippedfast and lowered the import fees ... I've not used it yet tho!

I  love the smell of  solder and  I was thinking it must be bad for me but couldn't resist it sometimes  :-*  last time  when I used cardas  it smelt stronger though i still have some old stuff but got some new this time from different ebayer , I think this ones better ,  last one had way more flux i think

I've just been planning the install of the big caps and omg there mm of distance if I want to connect the leads from the caps to the terminals without fly leads
have to wait for tomorrow till i get the mounts i've ordered 3 different sizes

;D

 

[Hornet900]

can you connect the cap leads mundorf wire leads directly to the tube socket instead of connecting  them to terminals 7 and 9,  the leads are a little short and its going to be a  job connecting  them to the terminals like i wanted to without more wires ,    terminals 6 and 3 on the tube socket

I maybe able to connect both leads thru the lower terminal holes but its really tight

there mundorf evo oil 100uf 350 big caps much bigger than the mcaps

if i could connect the leads to the tube socket it maybe easier , I'm sure i've seen people do this , is this a bad way idea

I still going to try connecting them to the lower terminal holes tho as its be easy then no making hooks with these big gauge wire  ..just slide then in a solder but its really tight with one lead this way

am I just being anal ocd and just use a little fly lead

cheers

edit
I found picture  with the cap lead connected to the tube socket,  Is this good

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[Hornet900]

thinking it may be a bad idea now connecting the big thick leads thru the socket hole as the lead a so thick a ridged wouldnt plugging in tubes in and out moves the terminal a little a may weaken the solder connection with the ridged wire ?...I'm thinking 

 

[Hornet900]

nearly there now  ;D

I'm going to connect the cap leads to the bottom holes terminal on the terminal strip,  it  fits with only mm spare !!  my old cable tie mounts are perfect fit 

I just drilled the holes for the mounts and putting it all together now pictures later  :-*

 

[Hornet900]

whoohoo finished! woohoo!  ;D  well I've not checked thoe volts yet but all the red leds are on I'll check later now gonna take a break


mounting those big caps was a challenge but it worked out ok i think  ,  I drilled and mounted the cable tie mounts this time as they are heavy more so than the mcap's  :-*  the cap leads were just long enough I didnt even  trim the cap leads  worked out perfect  ;D

I'll post another picture with the amp on with glowing tubes later  :-*  Hopefully!!  I did start the volt test on 1 side but got interrupted so had to stop but checks were bang on

This little tool was a god send this time building the map ....made working so much more easier http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261090443387?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT  brilliant pliers


finish later

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[Hornet900]

done

tried getting some nice photos in the dark but couldn't with a mobile phone sorry
She sounds ace  ;D

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[JamieMcC]

Hey Austin your Crack looks great  : and you made some nice choices for those upgraded components the caps look like they where a bit of a squeeze but do fit in nicely. I like idea to go with the dome head nuts for the bolts for securing the caps cable tie bases as well. Its good to have the piece of mind they wont come loose over time like they can do when relying just on the self adhesive glue of the pads.

Enjoy your tunes.

 

[Hornet900]

hello Jamie 

yeah I was always worried with the caps falling off last time
tho if you rough up the surface and clean it well its ok I think I used super glue aswell 

I got the little dome head nuts from B&Q ...  I was in there for an hour looking at screws 

i  ordered some other tie mounts and am waiting for them but last night I starting playing about and found the old ones fit perfect  any higher the base would have to be higher

was fun and stressful again but totally worth it 

the amp sounds really good  and is silent thats what I'm always worried about  :-*

thanks mate

guys I just tried my old sennheiser hd595 and It sounds amazing i cant believe i never used them ...

they must be 120ohm version the old 1st version that came out as the hd595 i have now I bought on ebay few years ago as my old pair was sent to sennheiser for repair and they sent me hd598 which I didnt like , this was years ago and after i lost my old hd595 i searched high and low for the old 120ohm version, when i bought these i just tested quickly they worked and put them away!
i use the hd600 mostly but now these hd595 sound amazing,  most hd595 are 50ohms

modify that the hd600 do sound better  :-[