[creyc]

No. Surprisingly this thread has nothing to do with "burnouts" in the electrical sense!

I've been working on some large power amplifiers now for several months. I went away on a completely technology-free vacation for a month and am returning to the hectic digital world now with a bit of reluctance. I see my piles of components and spreadsheets of parts left to accrue and I really am burnt out on the whole project.

I have a considerable investment into this project, both monetarily and my time and I've not even fired up the new Hako soldering station I purchased just for this project. I'm not in a mood to let $2000 in parts go to waste but I need some sort of motivation.

Anyone else face project-based burnout or just lose steam midway through a large build? Any tips for keeping the faith would be appreciated.

Idk anymore.....

 

[cire]

yeah i know how you feel. i just don't feel like building stuff anymore.

 

[[AK]Zip]

What are you building?

 

[mb3k]

Currently I don't feel like finding parts and building BOM's for hours on end... and the painful measurements for casing!

EDIT:
BTW, what are we doing up on Head-fi at 2am?! I guess we still have it.

 

[creyc]

yes...I suppose there's a little bit of the fire still going, as it IS 2 AM. lol

I'm building 2 stereo Super Leach amps.

Plitron 1500VA torroids, OnSemi ThermalTrak transistors, 60,000uF in supplies, all blackgate caps on the board, 1% tolerance resistors, professionally-built-custom-designed case, cardas gold plated RCA jacks and output terminals.

Right now I'm stuck on VU meters and case design. I'm debating between a nice traditional meter or perhaps something digital. I don't like the LED VU meters as I find them distracting and "jumpy" but perhaps an LCD solution would be good middle ground.

Then of course its the matter of case styling. I want to go with anodized black aluminum, which should look good in any circumstances. I'll have it laser engraved for all text for durability sake. Circuit board layout is being done by someone with far greater knowledge and skill in that trade, which I'm grateful for.

I need to make everything fit in a standard sized case, should I go with rack mounting in the future. I have 3D CAD files drawn up to lay out the heatsinks, transformer, caps and circuit board but it will of course have to be realized in aluminum and screws. Eesh, and this is just a power amp.

 

[adolphe]

Don't worry about the burnout. Sometimes a bit of a break is good, or atleast from my experience. I took a few months off in the spring from my designs, and now I'm probably more into it than I was before. It gives you a chance to step back and look at the project as well. Make sure you haven't missed anything, or find a way you can do something better/different.

Maybe people can post some pics of their finished amps and that will help

 

[n_maher]

I'm right there with the original OP, I've been suffering from a lack of motivation (not to mention time) this summer. I found that what helped was actually finishing something, or at least coming close. So I finally cased up my PPA, got my Millett up and running and into a temporary case and got at least some of my source issues squared away. Being able to actually sit and listen to the rig makes a world of difference.

Now figuring out what I'm going to build next, that's a big hurdle

.

Nate

 

[thrice]

Yeah I hear ya. I've got some boards coming from a group by and I'm actually dreading their arrival. I just can't handle it now. Too much going on.

Breaks are good though. It's funny, I've been scaling back on the DIY and at first I thought, well now what do I do with my free-time. I'm the kind of person who's always moving and I have a hard time relaxing sometimes.

But the other day I was outside in my Hammock listening to my maxed out PIMETA and my iPod and E500. Oh yeah, I build amps to LISTEN to them

Sometimes I need to be reminded of that

Breaks are good, when you're ready you'll dig in again with renewed purpose, and if you never dig in again? Well you can sell those Blackgates at a profit since they are no longer making them anymore

 

[vixr]

how about staying around for those of us that need your experience... its nice to be able to consult you guys. please dont go away.

 

[Garbz]

If you are burnt out put it asside. Do something that interests you. In a few days/weeks/months you will come back and say there is an unfinished project and will spend days and nights doing BOMs, assembly, case mesurments etc. I am just Mr Organised so I hate to have an unfinished project.

 

[Seaside]

Well... its not exactly burnt out, but last year, I felt like "what do i do with all those headphone amps?" So I took 6 month break doing other things.
Then, one day I opened my drawer, saw bunch of Cmoys and A47s that I made before laying arround. I opened the case, flipped board arround, and then I realized how bulky they are and how poor my technique was. That soldering and jumpers are as ugly as it can get. I was like "WTH? I made this with my butt or what?"
So I took them apart, and remade them with better parts tried to make them look better for my own satisfacion. That makes me feel alright about them, however, that also gives me a bag of parts to worry about.
Anyway, that's when I decided to go back to this hobby.

 

[meat01]

I never finished my Leach amp. I kept burning stuff up and it was a pain wiring all of the damn transistors. I gave up and built a couple of Gainclones. I guess that is not much motivation. Check out DIYaudio.com and see other peoples builds. Take a break and maybe organize your work area and do a little bit at a time.

 

[69CamaroSS396]

I haven't been into DIY but just a few months, but I can understand the "burn out". The mind definitely has to be allowed to recharge by getting away once in a while. I have several different "hobbies", so that helps. I also have found that if I limit my DIY "sessions", it's more enjoyable. For example, I went to my shop this evening and built one cable. I had my mind set, so when I was finished with the one cable, I came in the house and watched the Reds baseball game. I suppose it's possible you can have diverse interests and still suffer burnout with one. I'm sure it happens.

 

[amb]

I could certainly relate to this. I started my DIY turntable project some twelve years ago, spent a good year designing the thing and started fabricating the parts. Many months later it was starting to take shape, except I ran into some (at the time) insurmountable difficulties with getting some of the parts made right, and also had unsatisfactory suspension balancing issues. Frustrated, I shelved everything and decided to take a break from the project. Well, that break turned into a eight-year hiatus.

In fact I had completely forgotten about the project. It wasn't until I was cleaning out my storage space that I discovered the partially-made turntable, and suddenly I regained the motivation. I managed to solve all the issues and completed it about two years ago. The result is, as you can see, well worth it. While demo'ing it at mini-meets that I host at my place, I raised quite a few eyebrows playing well-recorded vinyl for those who grew up in the "digital age".

For various reasons we suffer from DIY burn-outs, but the allure of building your own gear do and will come back to bite ya. Even if it takes years. It's all good.

 

[rellik]

my dynahi has been 2 years in the works....

its currently finished but uncased, but casework, ug, i have no tools...