[elmer_dudd]

i think it's a cool idea, but you're spending so much time to make an awesome case-- it would be ashame to ignore the layout of the circuit, esp. since it's going to be plexiglas..

ooh!Q what about a plexiglas component holder on the inside? like a thin sheet of it with predrilled holes for the leads or something. that'd be cool.

 

[tomb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by velmeran42 None taken, I would definitely classify this as an unusual project. My projects tend to be fairly out there, but that's the point. I'm trying to use this project to showcase some of my skills that a company might find useful above and beyond my basic mechanical engineering ones, since I'm graduating this quarter. I view this project as a sort of "portfolio piece". I'm also building an Alien DAC as soon as the board shows up (not nearly so ambitious really, only hard part is the main IC), it too will receive a nice aluminum home assuming shop time permits.

Well, it's certainly a useful skill as an ME, I can attest to that. I would've thought Boeing sucked up all the ME's in your area, though.

 

[Nordic]

So when do we get to see it...?

 

[laxx]

at least 6 more days as he said he won't be able to do it for at least a week. =T that was yesterday.

 

[Nordic]

Dang, I like pictures... I have nearly completed an amp overnight... a 60 watt per channel LM4780, just drew the reference PCB on some offcut... and started soldering an hour or 2 later... tommorrow I will get materials and finish the case....

 

[velmeran42]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nordic tommorrow I will get materials and finish the case....

Not sure why you're talking about a gainclone in this thread of all places (I guess I mentioned mine somewhere up above), but since you say you like pictueres, here's a pic of my snubberized LM3875 case.

 

[Nordic]

Just keeping the lad motivated...


Love the light wood...

 

[quicksilver96]

Sorry to threadjack, but I WANT that wood. Quilted maple? Lemme know, I'm curious.

 

[velmeran42]

Quote:

Originally Posted by quicksilver96 Sorry to threadjack, but I WANT that wood. Quilted maple? Lemme know, I'm curious.

Good eye man, it is indeed quilted maple. I picked it up locally at woodcraft. I still have some smallish chunks laying around if you'd be interested in them (I'll have to find them though).

 

[velmeran42]

Alright, it's been some time since my last update. I finally managed to get some time in the shop today. My schedule this quarter really doesn't allow me to make it into the shop very well, on top of that this last week was midterms and midterm projects / papers. Toss on top of that a few job interviews and follow up interviews (and a few job offers to sort through now....

).... Anyhow I've been BUSY to no end for the last several days.

Today I spent about two hours in the shop cutting out my stock, squaring it up, cutting it to size and doing some bulk material removal. Not nearly as far along as I'd like to be (although we don't even officially start the project until next week)

. So just to show I haven't completely forgotten about the project, here's two shiny, shelled out chunks of Al.



Not much to look at yet, but hey, I only had two hours to set up, cut, and clean up my mess.

 

[labmat]

Nice! Looking Good

 

[threepointone]

just wondering, where did you get that lipo+protection board from? how does it charge / is it also regulated? How will it turn itself off when the li-ion batteries reach a critical low voltage?
LiPos can become very, very scary if you don't use them properly

 

[ATAT]

Interesting toolpath you used.. is that a 1 inch centercutting EM? also, did you do a finish pass?

Or did you do that on a manual mill, in which case I salute you =p

 

[velmeran42]

Quote:

Originally Posted by threepointone just wondering, where did you get that lipo+protection board from? how does it charge / is it also regulated? How will it turn itself off when the li-ion batteries reach a critical low voltage? LiPos can become very, very scary if you don't use them properly

The pack was purchased from Batteryspace with the protection already wired up. It is charged with an intelligent charger. The connection I'm using is a 2.5mm mono jack with a sleeve shunt and plug (rated at 1A @ 12V, I'm only pushing .5A). The protection PCB will cut the cells at 7.8V (2.6V x 3). I agree LiPos are somewhat scary, in fact I'm thinking of putting an overpressure solution in my case (ok, just a through hole filled with some silicone hidden under the clip to prevent any high pressure build up in case of failure)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATAT Interesting toolpath you used.. is that a 1 inch centercutting EM? also, did you do a finish pass? Or did you do that on a manual mill, in which case I salute you =p

That was a 0.500" centercutting EM on the Trak 2 axis using the rectangular pocket feature. No finish pass on the pocket, in fact it wasn't even a climb cut (forget to tell it to go CCW, CW is default). The outside cuts were done with a 1" centercutting EM w/ attention to cutting direction and a 0.005" finish pass at 10ipm.

It's really nice having nice machines available to play with. I'll have to stop by the university every so often to say hi after I graduate.....

 

[velmeran42]

While we're on the machining aspect, anybody know where I can get a small EM with at least a 0.375" flute that is <0.125" diameter? I've been looking at http://www.harveytool.com and they seem to have some rather small carbide EMs (down to 0.055") that might fit the bill, but I don't know how good they are.