Chasis plate

[John Roman]

I'm thinking about replacing the chassis plate on my EFP3 and Paramounts. More to rearrange some components than anything. I'd like to change it enough to have the RCA's and power cord on a "back" panel. That panel would essentially become a part of an "L" shaped chassis plate that would still allow removal of the wood base for inspection, repairs or changes. I can't seem to remember the name of the place that does this type of work??? Panel express maybe?? lol  I'd also like to eliminate the holes drilled in the plate for mounting all the components. I can't say I'm familiar with a way to do that... any ideas? I'm not sure this will happen but I'd at least like to explore the idea.

[Jim R.]

John,

The place is calld Front Panel Express.

For mounting components without through holes you need to use bonded fasteners.  Though not cheap, dragonplate.com makes some nice ones, but they are limited to half-inch length and either a #6 or #8 thread, which should be fine for most things in a BH amp.  Use the tan color 3m epoxy, prepare the bonding surface well, and they should do really well.

I will probably use these myself on my next BH project, but I'm still trying to figure out what that will be  Maybe a Smack.

-- Jim

[John Roman]

Hey Jim,
I just checked out Dragon Plate and their fasteners look good. Not cheap as you say but it sure would make the chassis plate a nice finished look. Hey , what about a carbon fiber chassis plate. A custom copper ground circuit wouldn't be to difficult ..... hummmm

[Jim R.]

John,

I looked int using a CF plate, and a CF/birch ply sandwich, but the working temp of 140 F is just a bit too low to safely use on tube audio gear.

-- Jim

[John Roman]

Jim,
What working temp would you consider safe?

[Paul Joppa]

Jim,
What working temp would you consider safe?

For what it's worth, out power transformers are built for 155 degrees C (311F). They run less than 100C, but I like this amount of safety margin.

[corndog71]

John,

I looked int using a CF plate, and a CF/birch ply sandwich, but the working temp of 140 F is just a bit too low to safely use on tube audio gear.

-- Jim

I've considered this myself.  The quickie generates no heat. (:

[Lee Hankins]

John, a Quickie wooden top plate works quite well due to the lack of high temperatures.  Don't know if I would try to use one with any other Bottlehead build since they do produce alot of heat.  Pictures of my wooden top plated Quickie can be seen here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/108890459358226980635/DropBox?authkey=Gv1sRgCN3SpJLgy6uvoAE&feat=directlink

[John Roman]

Damn dude, it seems you're in the catbirds seat. You must have access to some great woodworking tools, not to mention the skill to back it up. What other gear have you got? Pic's?  Great looking stuff!!

[Lee Hankins]

John, I have a small wookworking and machine shop.  In the Gallery section there is a Custom Crack and Custom Quickie topic plus somewhere on this site are pictures of my FPIII/Seduction Combo and Paramour builds.  Also have pictures on Diytube.com.

[Paul Birkeland]

To get a top panel without mounting hardware visible (easily at least), I would use two top plates.  The first would be basically identical to the stock top plate with the exception of having countersunk screw holes for all the chassis hardware.

The second top plate would mount on top of the first, using items like the power transformer, potentiometers, RCA jacks, speaker posts, etc. to clamp the two together.

You can do a bent panel for the FP-III, but it's worth considering what the rest of the chassis will look like first.  For some of my own projects, I have just used two individual plates mounted together at a 90 degree angle. 

-PB

[2wo]

Design the new plate to fit right over the old one. leave the stuff you want out of sight attached. Tubes can stick up through holes, transformers can be moved up top. Add the "L" piece as  to be flush with the back outside surface of the wood base. Cut a U shape out of the base from the top and you can still lift the whole thing off, back connections and all...John     

[John Roman]

Clean and simple is what I'm after. An "L" shaped top plate basically. I could still use the stock base with some mods to the rear section. Only components on the back would be the IEC socket and the RCA's. If the Paramount's were done similarly that would eliminate all the interconnects and the power cord and would really clean the deck so to speak.