C3g ADAPTER TUTORIAL FOR LITTLE DOT MK3 AMP
First of all many thanks to Troll Dragon for helping me out with this project and for the schematic .
*ATTEMPT THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK*
My advice to you is that pictures #1 and #2 should be on your screen or printed out as you will reference them often during build. Have fun.
REMEMBER ON 7 PIN SOCKETS PINS ARE INVERTED (FOR EXAMPLE PIN #7 ON PICTURE TOP VIEW BECOMES PIN#1 WHEN SOCKET IS FLIPPED OVER) READ BELOW.
#5
MAKING PINS FOR YOUR 7 PIN SOCKETS
What I did is buy a roll of 1/32¨or 1 mm diameter copper wire that I straightened out with a drill and a vise or a pair of vise grips as shown in this video.
Of course you will need to make 14 - 7/8¨ long pins (22.22 mm), once cut you will need to remove the burrs on both sides of the pins with a piece of sandpaper, its better than a file. Next insert your pins into the sockets using a pair of long nose pliers your fingers will thank you for it . That was fun right, yes patience is a virtue.
Next make sure you already had at least 2 coffees before attempting this because you will need to be fast lol. Its hot glue time. This is the way I do it. First you separate pin straightener from 7 pin socket like on picture, position the socket assembly between your fingers in a way that you can rotate the whole assembly 360 degrees when applying hot glue around the whole piece, then you squish the 2 pieces together holding them there for a minute or so or till glue hardens. Remember you gotta be fast! Then trim off the excess glue.
CUTTING COPPER CASING
This piece is referred to as a copper reducer 1¨ to 1/2¨ actual sizes are approx 1.025¨ x 5/8¨ inch or 26 mm x 15.8 mm approx. Luckily the only operation that is required to do on the copper reducer is to shorten the length, once cut our piece should be around 1 3/16¨ (about 30 mm) tall. The main thing is to try and cut the piece straight. You can use a saw but more than likely it will cut crooked you will have to use a file to straighten the piece out. What I tried is this, I found a socket extender that fits into the smaller diameter of the piece. It was a bit loose so I put a small piece of electrical tape around it so now the socket extender fits snugly into the copper casing. Then I wrap the 2 pieces with more electrical tape so they don't separate. Then I insert the square part into the drill chuck and tighten. That part of it is solved.
Next what I use is a grinder with a cutting disk. To hold down the drill i used my adjustable work bench. I taped the speed button on the drill so I don't have to press on it myself . If you have a reversible drill make sure it turns in the opposite direction of your grinder as it will cut better. BE CAREFUL WHEN DOING THIS! ALWAYS 2 HANDS ON THE GRINDER!
SOLDERING WIRES TO 7 PIN SOCKET
Cut your 14 - 28 gauge wires 11/8¨ long and apply solder to each end of wires as it will be easier to solder them to lugs on the sockets. Always check the connection you've just soldered with your multimeter. When your finished connecting them all or after each wire is soldered and tested, I slide a piece of shrink wrap over each wire and use the soldering iron to shrink the tubing. Now it is possibly best to twist heater wires #4 and #5 and WRAP THEM IN A FOIL to isolate them and hopefully prevent hum. REMEMBER WHEN LOOKING UNDER THE SOCKET POSITIONS ARE INVERTED, refer to picture #2.
CONNECTING YOUR 7 PIN SOCKET TO THE LOCTAL SOCKET
I use a PanaVise to hold the assembly, I like this vise it swivels and is very versatile. You might also need was is called a Third Hand as this to can be very useful to hold the small parts like in picture #5
Your multimeter will be very handy for the next step. Insert 7 pin socket in copper casing and put in your vise, then you will need to find with your tester the wire you want to solder, refer to picture #1 and #2. Before soldering insert a piece of shrink wrap on the wire and push it up the wire, not doing so will shrink the tubing in the wrong place when you solder the wire to the lug. If you cannot use shrink wrap, use electrical tape to isolate each wire from one another. After soldering the wires to the lugs, tape around all the wires to isolate them from the copper pipe. Once finished prepare a batch of JBweld epoxy resin apply to lenght of socket then push the socket into the pipe and tape it in place.let dry Then retest all the connections to make sure everything is ok. To finish the adapter i use 1 3/16¨or 30 mm dia.(3:1) shrink wrap with glue already inside the membrane. This will cover the upper part of copper pipe and overlap the loctal socket without covering the pin holes. To cover the 7 pin sockets use 3/4¨ inch shrink wrap with glue inside if you cannot find wrap with glue, you can always use contact cement The shrink wrap should keep the sockets in place . What i do to shrink the wrap is use my soldering iron this way adapter does not heat up to much . To finish this tutorial i would recommend against removing the C3G tube to often from adapter as the Loctal socket might come apart from copper casing .I noticed tube is very hard to remove so if removing make shure you hold on to socket .
So this is the finish product if you need any information or clarifications on how to make this adapter dont hesitate to contact me .Thanks guys . Michel (MIKELAP)
