Big Nickel in da House!

The friendly neighborhood UPS man dropped this on my steps while I was out getting dog food this afternoon.  Inside each of those boxes is 25 pounds of big nickel lamination.  !/2 of it is 49% and the other half is 80%.  The 49% makes a wonderful full range 8W output transformer for say a 300B and the 80% will do a glorious full range 3W for say a 2A43, 45 or 50!

In order to keep my limited space under control I try to keep it so when something new comes in, something old needs to go out.  Since I have been craving this big nickle for about 5 years, some hard choices needed to be made.

100+ pounds by Large Flat Rate Box.

~70 pounds by padded envelope

 

I still needed another 80 pounds and realizing I  Also have another 30 pounds of small 80% on the way made my decision doubly tough.   Should I use the box or padded envelope approach?

 

Since I believe the USPS has pretty strict rules about shipping Jedi warriors, the padded evvelope approach wins... Now where did I but those contractor bags?

More Metal...

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Props for all of this go to Jude, Patrick, Curtis, and Jeff... dudes, amazing work... thank you for understanding and respecting the art.. pouring the passion...

Logophobia....

As you might have noticed, I have never properly chosen a logo. I have always just side stepped the issue by using a classic script and saying that was close enough. Well, it is time, folks. I want to have some proper badges made. You know - brass, bronze, etc.. something riveted on...

But I am afraid. It is too personal. I feel like I am getting a tattoo - something that will be with me for life! I have looked at *way* too many the last few weeks and I honestly think I am just going to put it up to a vote (with presidential veto). Pick two.. or three... or come up with your own, I certainly don't mind... twist some of the ideas below into something better than what they are.. I am open.. and whoever comes up with the the winner will get something out of the stash.. tubes or iron or maybe just some vinyl (that is best anyway, right?)

Send it to me privately... but if you think it merits discussion, do for it...

experiencemusic a t hotmail d o t com

Thanks for the help!

Peace,
Me

Pipe Bomb

 This is essentially a proof of concept.  In order to complete it I bought a metal lathe and a sandblaster.  Luckily I already had the copper plating setup and know someone who is OK at winding transformers.  The end result is a pair of very well shielded 1:20 SUT's for an Ortophon A90.   Dimensions are 4" X 7"


dave

Subtle Cultural Differences...

In my near forty years I have only seen paper clips in one shape. I know, I know. I should get out more. When this triangular fellow came in a box of imported parts, I just sat trying to figure out which was the better design.


The verdict? I should have spent the few minutes doing something more productive.

Peace,
Me

Damn Squirrels.

Jeffrey and I always talk about the squirrels. Those pesky rodents create havoc and make yellodog bark.


The one thing I needed to do last saturday was copper plate a few parts and the minute the bath came up to the needed 27C the click of my power going out was a reality.





Luckily, the plating was not critical and more of a cosmetic thing so I grabbed a battery and after melting the first clip lead (50+ amps tends to do that) things worked out OK.




The funny thing (and title of the post) relates to the conversation I had with the power guy as I drove by. I asked "him how long?" and he said "Shouldn't be long, It was only one fuse and I found the squirrel."

As I drove away I had wo wonder if it was the kind of squirrel that shows up when you use a 437A or the kind that drives yellowdog nuts.

From the Stash... England's LP2...

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Hey kids... here's another one for you that is well off the map. This a small globe beauty from England. It is a directly heated triode, and fairly high transconductance for a DHT. Mu is neither high nor low, at about 15. However, you can easily load it with iron as the plate resistance stays below 5k at typical currents.

With those specifications, it is also like the Sparton 485 in that it does not have an obvious place in a typical audio chain. It needs a bit more gain to be a driver tube. It needs a bit lower plate resistance to be a line stage tube. But it sounds so good that it can often find a home in either of those places. I loved it as position two in a phono stage. At the moment it is happily sending signal from my vintage strain gauge to my volume control. DHT strain gauge is quite nice!

Unfortunately, it is one of those that you have to by more than a few to get a matched pair. I do not believe it was made in even moderate quantity as they only show every other month or so on eBay.

so, here are some photos:





(If anyone has any they want to barter, I am open.. else build with them!)

Peace,
Me

Propoganda

Catalog PDF

Havin' a Blast

The next step in my experiment with currie temperature is the whole sandblasting aspect. I called all of the usual suspects to get things cleaned up and the best deal I could get was $100 and a 50 mile drive each way. Downhill with a tailwind the family truckster gets 20mpg so 200 miles and 8 hours of time to travel gave me a crazy thought.... Why not buy a sandblaster?

Craigslist and patience to the rescue. Within two days I found a local compressor for $100 that would do 7 cfm/minute @ 90psi which is on the bottom end of what you need so I snagged it. I immeditely dropped antother $30 at TSC for a blaster and some media. That got me close but it was tedious. A little more patience turned up a pressure pot for $50 and things were better. Airflow was still a bit low so I added in my other compressor to up the cfm/min by an additional 3 (every little bit helps) and things are working well.

Even though this is a work in progress, I'll leave you with a quick:

before

and after

New Found Land.

Proper Title = I learned something new today.

We have a friend in India and time zones for communication can often be difficult. This one threw me for a bit.

30-50-80

About a month ago I needed some 49% nickel in a smallish size to do some prototypes for JC. I called my supplier and he only had a small amount in stock. He tried to sample it to me but alas I am barely a minnow in the nickel pond. He sensed my need and shipped the stock and everything was fine until the balance of the minimum order showed up a few weeks later. I now have an endless supply of something I don't really have a need for.

Yesterday the man in the big brown truck dropped a box of brass channels on my doorstep for this very size and my mind started wandering.



As some of you may know, I got into nickel by hearing a Nature Sound nickel PS choke many years ago and ever since I have been craving/using nickel as the last PS choke in my filters. I'll be 100% honest with you that I have no idea why nickel sounds so good in that position and I will not put forth any of my hairbrained possibilities and say you just have to hear it. This got me thinking about how these little buggers would fare as an economical solution in this position so I wound up and measured a few. Like all of my stuff the gaps are user adjustable and for the pictures below, the test conditions are 5vac@120hz.




If nothing else, the pics above show a nice relationship between DCR inductance and current for a given sized core. Make the core bigger (read more$$) and you can get lower DCR for a given L vs. I selection.

Metal on the Scene...

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OK. I can't stand it. I have to share the chassis drawings that we have been working on. I am super, duper excited. I have not abandoned wood, as the components will be mounted on maple slabs placed inside. The steel will also help shield, but will not be close enough to components to interfere with magnetics. And then there is style. I am loving where we are headed. I hope you guys (and girls) agree.








Peace,
Me