DIY Ground Box Thread

[Jake2]

Your killing me Jake ... l've not long finished the tungsten mod on my R26... But it has got me curious...as if it has a positive effect on a clock, l could try out on my LB.

Sorry dude did you put a tunsten block on the R26's K2 clock synthesiser and/or the FPGA chip for the R2R ladder?

 

[Stellabagpuss]

Sorry dude did you put a tunsten block on the R26's K2 clock synthesiser and/or the FPGA chip for the R2R ladder?

Yes tungsten on the K2 only, l preferred damping on the FPGA.
More of a Joke really on my behalf... l seem to be taking the unit apart every weekend

 

[agisthos]

Imagine your wife comes home and a bunch of audiophiles are sitting round a table with lines of white powder and plastic gram bags, talking giddily about the increased transparency.

 

[Stellabagpuss]

If only you could get high off it
I'll wait on cdacosta to discover that one!

 

[kenincalgary]

With all the junction locations in my house treated I thought I had reached peak salt. Wrong! I wrapped 8 grams around the cable coming out of the panel that feeds the system upstairs that significantly cleaned things up that I didn't know needed fixing.

 

[Jake2]

Imagine your wife comes home and a bunch of audiophiles are sitting round a table with lines of white powder and plastic gram bags, talking giddily about the increased transparency.

It’s funny you say this, as I was already searching for tinted plastic bags for this very reason…

With all the junction locations in my house treated I thought I had reached peak salt. Wrong! I wrapped 8 grams around the cable coming out of the panel that feeds the system upstairs that significantly cleaned things up that I didn't know needed fixing.

"Peak salt" - love it, would make no sense at all to anyone not on this thread.

 

[cdacosta]

With all the junction locations in my house treated I thought I had reached peak salt. Wrong! I wrapped 8 grams around the cable coming out of the panel that feeds the system upstairs that significantly cleaned things up that I didn't know needed fixing.

The gift that keeps on giving…

 

[cdacosta]

@Jake2
In my research, graphite is used by the US and other countries scientists to absorb many forms of EMF. Mainly in space and nuclear facilities. Have you tried wrapping the 3mm graphite foam around signal cables?

 

[Jake2]

@Jake2
In my research, graphite is used by the US and other countries scientists to absorb many forms of EMF. Mainly in space and nuclear facilities. Have you tried wrapping the 3mm graphite foam around signal cables?

That's my research too CDA, including this pretty interesting preso by an Aus defence scientist:



Great minds re wrapping cables, I have thought of doing this but not yet. I'm just in the process of reassembling my main system per my sig, replacing the KEF LS50w's (which have been singing like never before with all these noise reduction tweaks), and doing a spring clean in the process. Will do so once back up and running.

It occurred to me the graphite felt could act like a cosmetic shroud - with (acoustic) benefits - for the Rochelle Salt bags, as it sorta absorbs light too and dissapears into the shadows.

 

[cdacosta]

That's my research too CDA, including this pretty interesting preso by an Aus defence scientist:



Great minds re wrapping cables, I have thought of doing this but not yet. I'm just in the process of reassembling my main system per my sig, replacing the KEF LS50w's (which have been singing like never before with all these noise reduction tweaks), and doing a spring clean in the process. Will do so once back up and running.

It occurred to me the graphite felt could act like a cosmetic shroud - with (acoustic) benefits - for the Rochelle Salt bags, as it sorta absorbs light too and dissapears into the shadows.

No worries, I have a few ideas for the graphite foam and sheets. Also have something else I will be working on. Just waiting for all the parts to get in my hands to try. Will take some time to experiment, nothing is just straight forward and simple.

 

[kingoftown1]

If you're considering wrapping graphite around cables, I'd strongly recommend trying Techflex's Flexo Anti-Stat. It's a carbon-infused jacket, and brings a lot of positives on AC & DC cabling. There are a decent number of manufacturers using this -- Triode Wire Labs & CommonGround Cables off the top of my head.

 

[cdacosta]

If you're considering wrapping graphite around cables, I'd strongly recommend trying Techflex's Flexo Anti-Stat. It's a carbon-infused jacket, and brings a lot of positives on AC & DC cabling.

I tried that before years ago on signal/interconnect cables and did not like what it did. Do not remember trying on power of any kind. I also ordered real carbon fiber cloth like material to experiment with. Lets see how flexible graphite of different densities effect different cabling types first. I have not tried using graphite like this before. I have tried different absorbing material and shielding material with signal and digital cabling and almost always there are negatives, so lets wait and see.

 

[cdacosta]

Based on how spectacular the Rochelle salt removing EMI worked across the AC home wiring, this is one area I want to try and improve. Also for ground boxes, components and system cabling. Goal is to absorb noise to improve performance, “without” negatively affecting performance. So this would mean no adding of shields. The reflective nature of shielding for what I am trying to accomplish would introduce negative side effects. Thanks to @Jake2 for the graphite idea. Also through research I have a few other ideas to try.
Any and all ideas are welcomed and appreciated!

 

[kingoftown1]

I tried that before years ago on signal/interconnect cables and did not like what it did. Do not remember trying on power of any kind. I also ordered real carbon fiber cloth like material to experiment with. Lets see how flexible graphite of different densities effect different cabling types first. I have not tried using graphite like this before. I have tried different absorbing material and shielding material with signal and digital cabling and almost always there are negatives, so lets wait and see.

Yeah, I haven't tried it on analog signals but it's been recommended against. Very different story on power. It's improved all the usual suspects for DC (neotech, Gotham/Ghent, Mundorf SGW, VH Audio Cu21) & AC (Furutech S55N, DPS-4.1, Neotech 3003/3002/3001, Supra, DH Labs, etc)

___

On another note, for those of you who have LHY switches, what's your preferred connection point for a ground box?

 

[Jake2]

No worries, I have a few ideas for the graphite foam and sheets. Also have something else I will be working on. Just waiting for all the parts to get in my hands to try. Will take some time to experiment, nothing is just straight forward and simple.

I think the graphite felt (you can call it a foam, but it doesn’t feel like a foam matrix, more a web of fibres) on its own is better than the foil, but the two together are better than the felt alone in most locations. What I don’t know yet, because I don’t have additional layers of the felt to experiment with, is whether a felt/foil mix > 2 layers of felt. Suspect it will depend on the mix of emitted vs received RFI from the component or cable in question, with thicker felt beating felt + foil in most cases.

Re the felt, I postulate, based on both its much less dense /more porous structure, and how it sounds (fewer if any negatives so far vs the foil which had some in some cases, particularly for the thinner 0.5mm foil) that the felt has a higher ratio of RF absorption:reflection than the foil, which is in turn surely higher than copper sheeting.

I am going to experiment with the felt as internal RFI absorber in some components. One idea is to encapsulate it in a large ziplock bag and lay it directly over a circuit board, though I’d have to be comfortable with the temp of any caps etc first not melting through the plastic to expose the conductive graphite felt. Good test to see if my FLIR phone IR camera accessory still works…

Probably safer to use some of this really tough ‘polycro’ plastic film I have lying around - used as window insulator film (3M or Duck brand on Amazon) and a ground cloth by ultralight hikers. Shrinks/contracts rather than melts with high heat from the likes of a hair dryer on high temp up close. Very strong and hard to pierce or tear with anything short of a knife’s cutting edge or tip’s sharpness. It’s a form of cross linked polyeolefin/polyethylene (XLPE) also used as insulation for high voltage cables with a dielectric constant only fractionally higher than PTFE. Am planning to use it with a heat sealer to make really strong fully sealed bags of RS (and other stuff) in tailored shapes and sizes.

If you're considering wrapping graphite around cables, I'd strongly recommend trying Techflex's Flexo Anti-Stat. It's a carbon-infused jacket, and brings a lot of positives on AC & DC cabling. There are a decent number of manufacturers using this -- Triode Wire Labs & CommonGround Cables off the top of my head.

Thanks again for the tip. Will look into this further, consider trying some, certainly with its woven, flexible braid it’ll be much neater and easier fit on cables vs the stiff felt which can really only bend in one plane… into a cylinder, but nothing easily beyond that, though some selective scoring could maybe help it fit to a cable arc via a series of short straight sections.