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DIY case out of epoxy putty, hotglue, or heatshrink?

post #1 of 16
3/15/10 at 5:17pm
Thread Starter 
I have been wanting to convert my bantam dac, which is in a standard configuration (mini b jack in the middle of the board) into a bantam cable dac. However, I don't want to use a little plastic box if I don't have to. What kind of heat dissipation does it need? Could I mold epoxy putty around the whole thing? Coat the entire thing with hotglue? Buy some big heatshrink(Headphonia USB Dac does this)? I'd say polymer clay as well, but I don't know if the Dac can withstand 275F for 15-20minutes.

On a side note, if I want to shield my plastic hobby boxes a little bit from interference would lining it with tin foil actually help? I seem to be getting a tiny bit more noise from my DAC now that it hangs down below my desk, closer to my computer and all the power cords.
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post #2 of 16
3/15/10 at 7:35pm
WAT.
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post #3 of 16
3/15/10 at 9:58pm
A plastic box sounds like it would look and work better than coating it. Plus you can do maintenance if need be.

You could line it with foil, and connect the foil to the shield of the usb cable.

Or you could use an aluminum box and do away with foil altogether.
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post #4 of 16
3/15/10 at 10:01pm
Just do the little box then epoxy around the ends of the box to get it the shape you want.
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post #5 of 16
3/16/10 at 7:23pm
Thread Starter 
yeah, i didn't think it would be a good idea which is why i checked i get too lost trying to be creative or different sometimes.
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post #6 of 16
3/16/10 at 8:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fitz View Post
WAT.
Woke up this morning still giggling from this response

A small box would be a better idea... If anything ever goes belly up you can repair it without dissecting a ball of hot glue.
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post #7 of 16
3/18/10 at 10:17am
Aluminium has the same shielding properties as air.
An earthed steel/iron box is far better - or a considerable air gap.
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post #8 of 16
3/19/10 at 1:32am
Get it working first, then heatshrink. Brushless ESC's used in RC cars/planes are built like this. example:
HobbyKing Online R/C Hobby Store : Hobbyking SS Heli Series 70-80A ESC w/UBEC $20.41
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post #9 of 16
3/19/10 at 2:04am
Have you considered ERS paper? I've seen an enthusiastic user around these parts.
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post #10 of 16
3/19/10 at 7:11pm
Although you said you don't want it, I recommend the standard hammond box, it's really small - with the usb and coax cables attached to the pcb, it is a tight fit and it looks really neat.
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post #11 of 16
3/19/10 at 9:11pm
I might be fabricating stax lambda cups out of epoxy putty, along the lines of the 4070 if I can figure out what they did
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post #12 of 16
3/20/10 at 3:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by smeggy View Post
I might be fabricating stax lambda cups out of epoxy putty, along the lines of the 4070 if I can figure out what they did
why not take a cast of an original cup with pinksil and make a replica with casting resin?
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post #13 of 16
3/20/10 at 3:23am
don't have 4070 cups, or any clue of it's internal structure
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post #14 of 16
3/22/10 at 12:34pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by basb View Post
Although you said you don't want it, I recommend the standard hammond box, it's really small - with the usb and coax cables attached to the pcb, it is a tight fit and it looks really neat.
I just made a input/output switcher that has a little extra room in it. I may just slot the Bantam in there with some ERS fabric scraps I got from a fellow Headfier wrapped around it. This takes a couple solder joints and connections out of the chain in addition to having the dac further away from all my power cords.
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post #15 of 16
3/22/10 at 12:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fitz View Post
WAT.
Strangely enough, that was my first thought as well.
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