Copper top plate for mainline

sbelyo · 1146

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Offline sbelyo

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on: September 23, 2021, 09:00:44 AM
I'm going to build the mainline and I wanted to try a copper top plate.  I see that Front Panel Express will machine copper plate and that online metals has copper plate.  I read in some other crack threads that people were ordering plates with an invoice number.  Is it possible to have a copper top plate made by FPE?


Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #1 on: September 23, 2021, 10:22:56 AM
The cost breakdown would look like:
$243 for a copper plate from Online Metals
$60 for machining from FPE
$100 at least for shipping the plate to you from Online Metals, then to FPE, then back to you.

Is a copper plate worth $400?  You could take the plate we provide to a powder coater and get a copper color applied for less than half that, and it won't constantly try to oxidize on you!

About ten years ago I worked for FPE and had something setup so people could custom order Crack plates.  The boss there wasn't exactly super happy about it, and nothing like this ever existed for the Mainline.

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man

Offline Thermioniclife

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Reply #2 on: September 23, 2021, 10:27:42 AM
Yeah, I built a Morgan regenerative radio and amp in one chassis and used a copper plate in the bottom as a ground plane and in a short time the copper looked like hell.

Lee R.

Offline sbelyo

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Reply #3 on: September 23, 2021, 12:05:17 PM
That's a good point, I never thought about the oxidation.  I would rather put the $ into caps and wire


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