[Toonartist]

Hey everyone,

Long time audio enthusiast but ZERO experience building electronics, soldering, etc. I have a lot more free time in my life now and looking for some hobbies I've had an interest in but never pursued. Learning more about audio and building a kit has been on my list. A few weeks ago I ordered a Bottlehead Crack (still waiting on it to ship). I found this thread in the ZMF amp thread (Atrium owner) and VERY intrigued with this project. I'm curious for those who have built these and others, if you truly feel a true beginner can do it justice? I bought a soldering practice kit from a local electronics store plus a cheesy DIY bluetooth radio from Amazon. I was going to do these before the Crack so I lessen the chance of me F'n it up.

What say you? Give it a go? The smartest thing is probably for me to see how the Crack goes first but I'll admit that I'm tempted to start ordering parts for the Aegis knowing some have longer lead times.

@L0rdGwyn - so freakin' amazing the work you put into this and then to openly share it. Need more people like you on this earth. Kudos!

Thanks!
Mike

I'd soldered RCA & XLR wires before the Aegis build but I had zero experience in the amp building department. The manual etc are excellent and it really does contain everything you need to know. You just need to build a little confidence first in using the soldering iron.

As @mattiastomas mentioned, look at buying a practice kit or two. I bought a couple from Amazon that had small components in it and another that had a load of tiny LEDs. It turns out that those small LEDs were good practice for the Elma switch. It meant I had a chance to use a normal soldering head and one of the very fine ones. If you get to the end of the practice kit build and it works... great. If not, nothing lost. Buy another and try again. They're cheap to buy!

I think one crucial thing is to add a few good tools to the build price as it does make life a lot easier. A good third hand, soldering iron that has a base and a dial to set the temperature etc. Using a drill or electric screwdriver to make the twisted wiring makes life so much easier. Having a good light and maybe a magnifying glass as well.

I read each section until and I worked it out and was confident of what I needed to do and that I didn't have any questions left. If I was unsure, I would read back until I was comfortable with it. It meant that come the build I was able to focus more on what I was doing rather than trying to work stuff out. I also found it way more relaxing when I broke it down into smaller groups and complete one smaller group at a time before calling it a day and then repeat the next day. It just meant I had a load of time to focus on a smaller amount rather than rushing through.

In the end I really enjoyed it and found it very relaxing... good luck and let us know how you get along!

 

[AnyDave]

Hey everyone,

Long time audio enthusiast but ZERO experience building electronics, soldering, etc. I have a lot more free time in my life now and looking for some hobbies I've had an interest in but never pursued. Learning more about audio and building a kit has been on my list. A few weeks ago I ordered a Bottlehead Crack (still waiting on it to ship). I found this thread in the ZMF amp thread (Atrium owner) and VERY intrigued with this project. I'm curious for those who have built these and others, if you truly feel a true beginner can do it justice? I bought a soldering practice kit from a local electronics store plus a cheesy DIY bluetooth radio from Amazon. I was going to do these before the Crack so I lessen the chance of me F'n it up.

What say you? Give it a go? The smartest thing is probably for me to see how the Crack goes first but I'll admit that I'm tempted to start ordering parts for the Aegis knowing some have longer lead times.

@L0rdGwyn - so freakin' amazing the work you put into this and then to openly share it. Need more people like you on this earth. Kudos!

Thanks!
Mike

I would say practice on the smaller practice kits first and then build the crack and see how you feel.
Overall I felt that the Aegis wasn’t too hard to build but there were some trickier parts (the Elma switch for one).

One thing to note as well that LordGwym and ZMF are collaborating to sell built units of the Aegis sometime next year.

I haven't finished my build, but I've started (and I've got quite a lot of soldering experience).

My thoughts:

1.) Definitely agree to build some other kits first.
2.) Also agree that Elma switch might be trickier for some. I found it fairly straightforward, but I also have a microscope and very fine soldering tips. I could've done it without the microscope, but it wouldn't have been as clean with a larger tip.

So, at the very least, I would make sure you have a good soldering station and a selection of soldering tips. Practice on other things might not be the worst idea either. If your sole issue is the Elma, you could probably find somebody to help with that.

 

[AnyDave]

I read each section until and I worked it out and was confident of what I needed to do and that I didn't have any questions left. If I was unsure, I would read back until I was comfortable with it. It meant that come the build I was able to focus more on what I was doing rather than trying to work stuff out. I also found it way more relaxing when I broke it down into smaller groups and complete one smaller group at a time before calling it a day and then repeat the next day. It just meant I had a load of time to focus on a smaller amount rather than rushing through.

My biggest challenge is fighting the urge to say "yeah, yeah, I know what to do here" and skipping ahead. Your approach is much smarter, and more likely to lead to positive results.

 

[DenverW]

Even small things like reading the steps twice to not speed through and ‘solder’ instead of ‘attach.’ I made that mistake at least twice with the crack.

Slow and steady wins the race.

 

[Aleh]

I haven't finished my build, but I've started (and I've got quite a lot of soldering experience).

My thoughts:

1.) Definitely agree to build some other kits first.
2.) Also agree that Elma switch might be trickier for some. I found it fairly straightforward, but I also have a microscope and very fine soldering tips. I could've done it without the microscope, but it wouldn't have been as clean with a larger tip.

So, at the very least, I would make sure you have a good soldering station and a selection of soldering tips. Practice on other things might not be the worst idea either. If your sole issue is the Elma, you could probably find somebody to help with that.

@EtyDave could you please elaborate a bit more on which tip did you use for soldering Elma switch? I have a nice JBC soldering station which has a huge selection of different tip shapes/sizes. So I'm thinking which one to pick up better for this type of application.

 

[AnyDave]

@EtyDave could you please elaborate a bit more on which tip did you use for soldering Elma switch? I have a nice JBC soldering station which has a huge selection of different tip shapes/sizes. So I'm thinking which one to pick up better for this type of application.

Yeah, I used a Metcal tip with a 0.4mm tip. It's got a long reach as well, which helped. It's this one:

https://store.metcal.com/en-us/shop/cartridges-tips/SFP-CNL04

JBC soldering stations are amazing. If I didn't already have a lot invested in a Metcal Soldering/Rework station, I'd consider a JBC. They make some very small, precise tips as well.

 

[Aleh]

Yeah, I used a Metcal tip with a 0.4mm tip. It's got a long reach as well, which helped. It's this one:

https://store.metcal.com/en-us/shop/cartridges-tips/SFP-CNL04

JBC soldering stations are amazing. If I didn't already have a lot invested in a Metcal Soldering/Rework station, I'd consider a JBC. They make some very small, precise tips as well.

Yeah, I can pick up something similar from the JBC cartridges range. Thank you!

 

[DenverW]

Yeah, I can pick up something similar from the JBC cartridges range. Thank you!

It also helped for me to heat the pin itself as well as the ring and have the solder flow around it to fill in. Especially the back row.

 

[AnyDave]

Yeah, I can pick up something similar from the JBC cartridges range. Thank you!

Sure thing, happy to help.

I also found I liked the thinner 0.015" solder as well. But my relatively thicker 0.025" solder worked fine as well.

 

[AnyDave]

It also helped for me to heat the pin itself as well as the ring and have the solder flow around it to fill in. Especially the back row.

That can work, but with that thin JBC he's going to get, it's possible to actually run the iron in-between the pins and solder at the base.

 

[mattiastomas]

Haha. Soldering the Elma switch was definitely nervous but fun.

 

[martelanc24]

Yeah, I used a Metcal tip with a 0.4mm tip. It's got a long reach as well, which helped. It's this one:

https://store.metcal.com/en-us/shop/cartridges-tips/SFP-CNL04

JBC soldering stations are amazing. If I didn't already have a lot invested in a Metcal Soldering/Rework station, I'd consider a JBC. They make some very small, precise tips as well.

I can second that. I have been using JBC for the past 6 years at work and the cartridges are by far the best I have tried. They last months or even years with daily ab use. Downside, the stations and cartridges are not cheap. My experience is do not go too thin, as the lower mass of a thin tip will cool quickly and you could get a cold solder joint.

My two favourite JBC cartridges for rework and soldering SMD components down to 0402 or even LQFP-100 packages:
- C245903 conical 1,0mm
- C245935 conical bent 0,8mm

 

[AnyDave]

I can second that. I have been using JBC for the past 6 years at work and the cartridges are by far the best I have tried. They last months or even years with daily ab use. Downside, the stations and cartridges are not cheap. My experience is do not go too thin, as the lower mass of a thin tip will cool quickly and you could get a cold solder joint.

My two favourite JBC cartridges for rework and soldering SMD components down to 0402 or even LQFP-100 packages:
- C245903 conical 1,0mm
- C245935 conical bent 0,8mm

For most things, I use soldering cartridges similar to those. For this, the thinner tip does help a bit with reach and there really isn't an issue with thermal mass of the tip. The pins aren't connected to a ground plane or anything, so they are fairly easy to solder to.

 

[dietrdeb]

Hey everyone,

Long time audio enthusiast but ZERO experience building electronics, soldering, etc. I have a lot more free time in my life now and looking for some hobbies I've had an interest in but never pursued. Learning more about audio and building a kit has been on my list. A few weeks ago I ordered a Bottlehead Crack (still waiting on it to ship). I found this thread in the ZMF amp thread (Atrium owner) and VERY intrigued with this project. I'm curious for those who have built these and others, if you truly feel a true beginner can do it justice? I bought a soldering practice kit from a local electronics store plus a cheesy DIY bluetooth radio from Amazon. I was going to do these before the Crack so I lessen the chance of me F'n it up.

What say you? Give it a go? The smartest thing is probably for me to see how the Crack goes first but I'll admit that I'm tempted to start ordering parts for the Aegis knowing some have longer lead times.

@L0rdGwyn - so freakin' amazing the work you put into this and then to openly share it. Need more people like you on this earth. Kudos!

Thanks!
Mike

I don't have that much experience with soldering or building electronics, a few VERY small projects. It went VERY well for me. The instructions are very clear and concise.

 

[Toonartist]

I finally got round to putting the forever feet on the Aegis. I used some small IsoAcustic pucks which were not designed to take the weight of the Aegis. So, in is a trio of IsoAcustic Orea Indigo feet. One front and two at the back. Very stable isolation!

To carry on the theme a little, swapped the volume dial for a chrome one and broke out the a few metalwork tools to upgrade my EL38 & EL39 adapters so they have stainless steel base and blue paracord wire covers … idea courtesy of @L0rdGwyn new amp! Can’t help but tweak