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DIY Tube cage.

pads

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Annoyingly Audio Note does not supply a tube cage for their Cobra series, being somewhat paranoid and having grandkids I decided to give building one a shot after all, how hard could it be?.... Let's just say I learned a lot along the way however the upside was that I could use my own aesthetics and create what I wanted, although not perfect, I had fun. Done in brass in a quasi abstract, Arts and Crafts style.

cage.jpg
 

egellings

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That cage looks like it may not keep inquiring little fingers out of it.
 

LearningToSmile

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Looks nice, but as a clumsy person I'd worry about snagging my sleeve or something on the ends of those crossing bars and sending the whole thing flying.
 

egellings

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The cage looks good, though. It's just that I think it will not do what you think it will. It needs better coverage, with openings too small for inquiring little fingers to fit through. It's possible that a child could fit a hand through the cage, touch a hot tube, and then recoil in pain and possibly cut or scratch the hand on the ends of the cage's 'wires'.
 
OP
pads

pads

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You are of course, right however as I did with my kids when they were young, they'll get a lesson in all things audio, the bits you're allowed to touch and the ones you definitely stay away from. I must have done something right as my son is is slowly putting together his own kit and my daughter just thinks we're weird.....

Brat.
 

Blumlein 88

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If you wanted to keep little fingers out, you could bend a thin polycarbonate sheet to fit the top side of your cage while leaving the sides open. That would still provide plenty of ventilation.

C-J used a perfed metal cover you could remove or leave on. Even with this much covered area the amps stay cool even with the cover on them.

1615339275510.png
 
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pads

pads

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Since I had fun doing this I was thinking of doing a couple more, I noticed that Home Depot carries a small selection of decorative metal sheets which could be used to keep kiddie fingers safe. Just a matter of how to combine everything without going overboard with tooling etc. For the time being this was more an aesthetic exercise to see if I could do it, the next one will be completely child proof for use when the the boys are over, running rampant through the house.
 

Blumlein 88

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Those decorative metal sheets came immediately to mind upon reading the OP. I assumed from your design you wanted to keep the tubes more visible.
 

egellings

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It looks nice, but it doesn't look like it will keep prying little fingers away from the hot tubes. If it's just to add ornamental effect to the amplifier, it works well.
 
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