A Range of cases for our own Projects

[Andrew]

Hi Peter and co,

I dislike metal bashing.....

A range of cases, perhaps blanks of the amps you intend to produce, that can be used for our own designes, would, from my point of view, be a real winner.

cheers,

-- Andrew

[NickW]

Originally Posted by Andrew

A range of cases, perhaps blanks of the amps you intend to produce, that can be used for our own designes, would, from my point of view, be a real winner.

I agree too. WAD started to do this, but they soon ran out of stock....

But we will have to allow WD to produce some amps before they have blank cases to offer....

... and I'm sure that every self-builder will have totally different requirements as to what size and where the 'pre-drilled holes' should be? Maybe just an IEC on the back panel, but even that might not suit someone who wants to use the case for a passive-pre, external crossover, amplifier with offboard PSU, etc.

Maybe some hole-punch sets to be sold as a sideline?

[Tony Moore]

After my experience with the Schaeffer Front Panel software and creating my own front and back panels I could see that perhaps a way forward would be to design a case that is modular.

There could be a small range of sub-chassis/side panels (perhaps nice wood?) of set sizes that would allow front, back and top panels to be either bought with "standard" holes and engraving or CNC machined to the user's exact requirements by someone like Schaeffer. These panels could be set sizes and blend in with the rest of the case.

It is reasonably priced to get aluminium CNC front and back panels done, the price starts to climb when building the entire case from machined "front panels". I would've liked to create just the front, back and perhaps top for my DAC but I didn't have the tools or materials to make a professional job of side and base panels. Schaeffer do purport to selling extruded rails for side panels but since it's all in German I was at a loss. Their "Front Panel Designer" free CAD package is great for laying out front panels but doesn't handle actual enclosures.

So if WD created a range of cases that looked great and had modular front/top/back panels then I think it would be far more flexible than bent steel. Building kits would certainly be easier of you could mount all the bases and things on a flat panel rather than inside a cramped steel chassis.

Just a few thoughts...

Tony

[Les Reed]

Hi Tony

I'm currently planning a phono stage and have ordered 4 panels from Schaeffer ie. top, base, front & rear plates. I have two nice pieces of oak to use as the side supports. I agree it can get a bit expensive to use a large number of panels to create a box and I could dispense with the base plate and just have it open. However, the unit has to fit in a fairly narrow space so I needed to drop the valves inside the box to reduce the overall height, thus the need for the aluminium base plate. I can just about cut hardwood squarely enough and to required length with a mitre saw, but any complicated jointing etc. to create a plinth is beyond me. So if the final unit looks attractive enough I'll probably use this system for all future projects.

I probably wouldn't use a standard case, but none of the negative vote options are appropriate for my situation. I also think that the WAD style boxes for the preamps etc. are only really suitable with the valve holders mounted on a PCB.

[Black Stuart]

Check out the Taiwanese co. - www.thl.com they are a very reliable co. with good prices, I've never been stung by C&E here in Spain.

Black Stuart

Stuart,

Your link brings up a strange 'Search Engine' site. I guess it was meant to be a 'bespoke chassis' site in the East?

I do think that there is a point when 'modular' becomes 'one off', and I can't see how any kit company can compete directly with local (let alone international) metalwork suppliers and still have a profit margin.

[Paul Welsby]

To have this made by emachine shop was going to cost me $265 for one. To have 100 made would be $70.48 each.

That was 4 sides (top/bottom/front/back) of a case (the other sides was going to be wood) which was going to be plenty big anouth to hold my dac.

Thats 5 mm laser cut aluminium with a few drilled holes.

Thanks

Paul

P.S. Do you like my air vents on the bottom!!

I guess this is the proper link from Stuart
http://www.thlaudio.com/indexE.htm

[Black Stuart]

sonDinak - correct, I was just going to make the correction myself.

If there's something you want,which does'nt show in their range of products, specify and they may well oblige.

They take credit cards (I don't like getting involved with Paypal) and add 2% - that's fair enough.

I believe Greg will or has approached them about CDPro2.

Blcak Stuart