Construction of metal boxes

[Rigel]

A few weeks ago, I published a long thread on a Spanish forum about some of the work I did some time ago, as a distraction to make the quarantine more bearable.
I have decided to post it here if you like. I suppose someone will be distracted for a while, if only by looking at the photos. There are things that may seem interesting to you.
I have copied and pasted a lot of translator text and adjusted formats, I hope I am wrong as little as possible.

The original thread is Spanish is here:

http://www.auriculares.org/foro/index.php/topic,19560.0.html


And it started like this .....



First of all, I wish to encourage everyone affected by the pandemic and express my appreciation for the efforts of so many people to combat it. I hope that at least as much suffering will help us to be better prepared from now on.

That said, for all those who have nothing better to do right now and want to entertain themselves with something, I am going to show you some photos of the things I have been doing for a while.
I will also explain how I have built them with a lot of photos. Not in detail because it would be a lot to explain and I don't have photos of everything either. I have tried with variations of the same assembly, welding aluminum, I have come to encapsulate a transformer, disassemble some R-core, apply varnish to the metal with results that I did not like, modify power supplies, equipment, tests, etc. But more or less with the photos that I will put, you can make one a general idea.

Rather out of enjoyment than necessity, since I was little I liked to build, dismantle or repair, things related to the theme that I was interested in at the time and although it may seem absurd, I feel a certain affinity, attachment ... I would not know how to express it, with almost any device, because I value the work that its design and construction have, however humble it is.
I remember as a young man, how some friends broke a walkman with blows to the ground ... and everyone laughed except me

Lately as I am interested with home audio, I have always been really together with music, I decided to build what I teach you now. They are three aluminum boxes to mount a digital source that incorporates a PC, a digital converter, several USB conditioners that I have been testing, power supplies for all of them, including amplifier and DAC and a lot of low noise voltage regulators.
I have been putting all these components together for a while and decided to sort them in some way with these boxes.

Currently much of the utility of the entire system is relative. I mean, in some DACs it may or may not be convenient to use, for example, a digital converter, if the USB input is not up to the rest of the inputs of our DAC and we use a PC as a digital source, as in my case. As an example are the NAD M51 whose USB input is one of the worst of its inputs and for which I assembled all this shed and the other example is a Topping D90, much more modern , to which only any cheap USB cable that we have thrown around the house is enough for it, to even surpass the M51 with a certain amount of ease with all this mounted shed. Awesome. I hope to talk about it in another thread.

Beyond the greater or lesser real utility and the work and effort involved in doing it by hand, it has compensated me because it is something that I like, deep down I think that in part, it is an excuse ... The case is that it entertains me and I take it as a challenge to do this or that thing or detail that I imagine and being able to achieve it is a satisfaction. Although that does not always happen, my imagination is always ahead of my ability or means and sometimes it can be frustrating not to achieve it as one wants things to stay.
I think that it is not necessary to explain in detail everything related to food, it is really what I have found most difficult to configure given the good number of elements, fed at different voltages, different consumption needs and isolate some elements from others as much as possible as far as food is concerned.

As for the data, seeing more or less the elements, you can get an idea. Some of them are more or less irrelevant to the final result, but the fact is that since I have been accumulating them, at least it is the combination that has convinced me the most.

I think that after all, if not everything, at least almost all the advantages that I have seen with this montage regarding sound quality, have to do with the correct power supply and the reduction of the leak loops and not so much for the data itself or the Jitter. Except for the use of the USB / AES-EBU converter with a much more modern XMOS USB transceiver and something else.

A PC, with its digital electronics with its sudden variations in voltage, current and at such high frequencies, processors, memory, etc. They can be a good generator of electrical noise of different types. And perhaps the least important, because it is the easiest to limit, is the electrical noise in the direct voltage of the USB outputs.

The ground points, chassis, the masses and the power supply phase and neutral, are also contaminated with this generated noise and in these cases, it is no longer so easy to eliminate.
If we add to this that each equipment generates its own earth leakage currents, DAC, amplifier, etc. When we connect them between them with the audio signal cables, especially if it is not balanced wiring for example, this signal can be affected by these currents that circulate between components, through the masses of the signal cables themselves.

Ideally, the taps / ground points would be a perfect "drain" to drain all these currents. And the ground points, perfect voltage reference points for the correct operation of the rest of the analog and digital electronics, but in reality this is not the case and there may even be quite large voltage differences between different points of ground in a building for example or if they are defective. In non domestic installations, I have personally suffered significant shocks when connecting a simple HDMI cable.
Depending on which audio components, equipment chassis, ground points, and power and signal masses, may be linked in some way. The case of the M51 for example. Normally there shouldn't be too many problems, but sometimes and in the worst cases, it could worsen the audio quality or generate perfectly audible noises.

Let's go there, I'm going to roll up ... I start with the box with the transformers. The copper plates are the secondary outputs, two for each transformer. 2 of 15V, 2 of 18V, 24V and 12V seems to me to remember. The entrances are on the inside.

In this box is the digital converter and part of the USB and ethernet network. Also various power supplies and voltage regulators.

The front of the PC case with the power buttons, reset and the power and activity LEDs of the SSD.

Back of the same box. You can see the back of the motherboard, ethernet connections and power inputs and outputs for for example the HDVD800 headphone amp that requires + -18Vcc.

Part of the set under test. The switched mode power supplies of the M51 and HDVD800 are unmounted and I supplied them with DC power. I also have photos of the process, perhaps later I will explain these modifications as well.

The montage has always been changing in one way or another. You may see things in photos that you do not see in others, even if they belong to the same box.

This is a photo of the first test assembly and very happy with the result.

Although they do not have to do with audio, I also put a photo of a liquid cooling block for computers, to which I was dedicated some time many years ago. I was setting up a system to measure temperatures, flow, pressure, etc. With that I enjoyed, learned and have good memories of that time. I'm surprised that the web, http://www.devilmaster.org/, remain active after almost 20 years.

This is a photo of a waterblock that I built back then.

I will leave you some more links below all this.
My Nick in forums at the time was dnkroz and you can read an article about its construction here:

http://www.devilmaster.org/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=18

You can see a gallery with more photos through this link:

http://www.devilmaster.org/modules.php?name=coppermine&file=thumbnails&album=65


And the start of the thread before its construction here:

http://www.devilmaster.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=94&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0


Here another gallery of another block that I also made at the time
http://www.devilmaster.org/modules.php?name=coppermine&file=thumbnails&album=23



There are things that you find interesting to know about liquid cooling for computers. Processor temperature measurements in real time, through the reading of the internal diode of the internal core. Temperature variations of several degrees in msec, specific temperature patterns in time for each program executed, that is, just by looking at the temperature graph, it is possible to know what program that processor has executed.

Also measurements of flow, pressure in different points, air and water temperature at 7 different points with a resolution of 0.01ºC ... Anyway, a study of the operation of a refrigeration system to see for example how X watts a processor generates or the water pump itself, dissipate in it and in turn into the air. Influence of flow, static pressure, pressure differences throughout the circuit, variations in pressure related to the rotation of the pump, calculation of the energy dissipated by friction, etc.
I learned and really enjoyed it all.
The pity is that the second part with practical examples, I never got to finish it. I ended up reluctantly reading what was said in some forums at the time regarding this topic ... Anyway.

Data acquisition and liquid cooling. Part I

http://www.devilmaster.org/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=44


And the start of the thread in the forum:

http://www.devilmaster.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=472

 

[Rigel]

Now, I will tell you about the construction process of the three aluminum boxes and before continuing, recommend the use of gloves and protective glasses for our hands and especially our eyes to avoid accidents that can cost us dearly. Especially if we work with power tools such as grinders, Dremel tools etc. Or not to use them if we are not fluent in their handling. They can be very dangerous.

I would also advise using a mask to avoid breathing aluminum powder when we are sanding or polishing surfaces. I have sanded in a shower, for example, in almost all processes of at least the finishes. We avoid breathing dust and having a cleaner work area.

The three boxes are very similar, except for the logical differences in machining required due to their different function from one to the other. I also didn't want the screws to be very visible.

The reason for building the boxes and not buying them made are several:

The first because they had to be physically adapted to a rack with specific measures, which have also conditioned the internal assembly to a great extent, posing a problem in several cases. Both for the height and the interior space.

The other reason is because I wanted to have them to my liking and not have the typical square metal panel boxes. The problem is the time involved in its construction, since where I usually live, I cannot do the vast majority of machining.

And the third and essential reason, simply because I enjoy building things.

The tools I have used are mostly basic and not very expensive. The most bulky and expensive thing I've ever used has been a cheap column drill and band saw. In addition, also a grinder, hand drill, strawberries, bits, sandpaper, files, scouring pad, etc.

Aluminum can be purchased either in metal warehouses or in large DIY areas, where you can get aluminum plates and profiles in different ways.

The biggest problem that you can have and that I have had, has been simply having a suitable place where you can make noise without disturbing, dirtying, having junk etc. Normally I have had to work on it on weekends, since in the place where I usually reside, it is not possible to do certain machining due to what I have said.

As I said, I didn't want to have the typical square panel box, so I decided to use a 50mm wide 3mm thick aluminum deck to make the front and sides in one piece, as well as the rear connection wall. Both the floor and the lid of the boxes are also made of 3mm aluminum.

One of the important problems when making manual cuts to mount the walls of the boxes, is the time it takes to get a good final fit between the sides and the covers, so I decided to buy a plate already cut with those dimensions 50mm wide by 3mm thick. In this way the cut and dimensions are already uniform throughout its length. The problem is that I only have that 50mm size available and I have had height problems to place the motherboard, a transformer and some other apparatus inside and I have had to mount them on a kind of double floor.

The plate acts as a continuous wall for the front and sides and a second plate for the rear area with the connectors. For the support between the floor and the sides, I have used aluminum profiles of different shapes.

For the connection I have used both screws for everything that is the basic structure that supports the effort, as well as epoxy to glue, for example, the second plate / wall to fit the covers.

Something important regarding aesthetics if it is something we give importance to. Finishes, termination etc.

Metals in general and especially the softer ones such as aluminum and copper, for example, are very easy to scratch or mark when we are machining them. And depending on the depth of those marks, it can be very difficult to remove them later with subsequent sanding. So as it is better to prevent, it is advisable to protect with tape, rags, etc., the tool that we are going to use to hold the pieces when working with them or simply to protect them from scratches and bumps when we are assembling or working with they.

In this photo, for example, you can see that I made some aluminum protectors so as not to make marks with the steel vice. Obviously much harder. If aluminum is not enough, we can put rags, etc. According to the case.

And here, tape protecting a side that has already been sanded and finished. It would only protect you from friction and not from blows for example

TRANSFORMER BOX, FIRST VERSION.



This box only contains the transformers from which the voltages for the respective power supplies will depart, the highest voltages and the need for the chassis to be grounded for safety, I wanted to leave it independently of the rest of the electronics.

I made a first version with 5 R-Core transformers and a toroidal that did not finish (the first photos). I chose this type of transformer, in principle for its better noise filtering and the second version, all with toroidal transformers, with a better size / power ratio.

In total there are 6 transformers with two secondary each and I did not want the wiring to be seen too much. It can be a major tangle of cables with both transformer and secondary involved. So as you can see, use some spacers where in between, the wiring of the connection would go.

The inputs of these 6 transformers are in turn connected to the output of a balanced isolation transformer.

This is a photo of the first version and that I did not finish. With hidden wiring and accessible phase, neutral, ground and voltage outputs, so that changes can be made if necessary, such as connecting two secondary in parallel or series if necessary.

And it started with the machining of the base. I reused this same base for the second version with the toroidal transformers.

The base of the box with the screws and the aluminum dividers. Between these spacers, all the connection wiring would go.

In these plates the R-Core would go. For the toroidal ones they would no longer be necessary.

The plates with the wiring entry and exit holes. You can also see the transformer housing that powers the PC.

If we need to make a hole and we do not have on hand a strawberry or crown saw of the necessary size, we can make holes until we cut the shape we want. It costs more work and the closer the holes are to each other, the less work we will find later on leaving it well finished, eliminating the excess.

At this time, I was folding the plate to make the walls of the box. If you want to give a uniform radius to the two front corners of the box, you should use another object as a mold, in this case, a steel equipment cover. The black plate that can be seen in the photo.

Depending on the alloy, bend radius, and sheet thickness, there are chances of cracks appearing on the outside of the bend, which would be the corners. Logical, if we consider that on the outside the material has to be stretched and on the inside to contract. And it is not convenient for it to occur in excess because the metal is weakened and aesthetically and depending on its depth, it can take a long time and work to eliminate those micro cracks or achieve a uniform finish.

To do this, I firmly held one end (essential), and while with one hand I folded the plate, with the other I hit the other end with a rubber hammer to avoid making marks. And of course, make the square fold, because otherwise the box would not fit.

The problem is that, if one makes mistakes taking distances doing the fold for the adjustment with the base, it can be complicated or not to be able to do the straightening and to double again. Something similar happens when we fold a paper, we can straighten it to make the fold elsewhere, but the mark remains.

To avoid this, it would be convenient to do the sides before the base and not the other way around, as it was not my case

For the transformer box due to its greater weight, about 15kg, use an L-profile to give the joint greater consistency.

It can also be seen in the photo, how the second wall glued with epoxy, creates a step so that the cover can be accommodated and remain so, flush with the walls. The advantage of doing it this way is that it looks better aesthetically and the finish is "perfect" since it does not have to be machined.

The only problem is that you have to refine a lot to make the folds again at the right distance.

Machining of the threads to screw the inner side wall of the box, to the plate which in turn is screwed to the floor of the box.

In the second photo you can see the second wall glued with epoxy. As I mentioned, to make a seat to the lid and also hide the fixing screws.

A little trick. Here you can see the lid of one of the boxes with marks of round head hammer blows, in its bottom so that they were not visible. I did it to expand the material, more or less 1mm, and thus make the precise adjustment in the places that were necessary between the same cover and the side walls. When the cuts are made by hand with the grinder, it is not easy to achieve the necessary precision and material can be removed by sanding or filing, but not adding.

Machining of the rear wall of the connections where it is convenient not to make mistakes with the measurements or the machining so as not to have to start all over again. It is not the box of the transformers, but I put it so that the procedure is seen.
When the holes are as close to each other as on the XLR connectors, you need to have some precision when drilling. A fine-tip pen and a granete help.

In this photo you can see the use of a granete. It is convenient to mark them this way, because the drill bit when making the hole will self-center if we leave the sheet slightly free with our hands.
If even more precision is needed. You can also use pins for example to mark lines and point, in the end, as each one manages.

Here you can see in yellow, a small milling cutter for countersinking the holes for housing the screw head. Also in this same case, if we use a drill press, as in my case, it is advisable to loosen the piece to be countersinked minimally with your hands so that the drill is centered in the hole and the countersink remains symmetrical. Eye with the hands in these operations if the part is blocked in the drill / tool and we hook our hands with the turn.

You have to wear suitable gloves and I do not recommend that they have threads, such as kevlar gloves for example, where the tool can get caught in the fabric and with it your hands.

 

[Rigel]

These side profiles with a small bevel, hide the fastening screws and part of the input wiring. They are removable and are fastened with 4 small U-shaped profiles.

This union, this part screwed and part glued also with epoxy. I wanted to leave this like that for aesthetics so that the screws were not seen and it was well attached at the same time. I don't just trust the epoxy's hold.
And as for the shape itself, also to protect the connections

To finish the connection between the side and rear walls, I used different tools.

It is also very useful to use this sandpaper roller to remove material comfortably, quickly and more or less perpendicular to the base. As the sandpaper wears away, the effect will be like that of a drop in grain. We can also stick a sandpaper of less grain if we need it, a piece of scouring pad, etc.

Back cover area when I was shaping the walls.

The stainless steel "trims" that hide the wiring of the R-Core transformers For the bending I used a tube and to bend it, the vise itself.
All the stainless steel I have used has been reused from other things I had around the house. A corner of a bathroom with the one in this case or a steel trash can in the case of transformers.

Photos of one side of the box with different termination.
The final finish, I did it with a scouring pad, sponge sandpaper and water and if you want a finer finish, with finer grain sandpaper or polish. These last passes must be done in the same direction to achieve a uniform finish in sight. Let's say it's the scattering of light in the same direction, making it look more uniform to the eye. Even more important is if possible, if we progressively use sandpaper of different grain.

A metal cleaner or cleaner in general that has given me very good results with both aluminum and stainless steel, is one called Pierre Verte. It is clayey and must be applied with water and a sponge and then rinsed with plenty of water. It leaves a very good finish, the problem is that the finish is not very durable. Aluminum is immediately marked when we touch it with our hands if it has no protection, especially when we sand it and give it a fine finish and we plant our hands.

Recess to accommodate the central transformer.

 

[Rigel]

SECOND VERSION



Modified box to house the toroidal ones. The 220Vac wiring runs through the bottom of the box and the wiring from the transformer outputs, inside through the copper plates.
The encapsulated toroids, line it with stainless steel sheet from a wastebasket. More than anything for aesthetics.

To finish the transformers already lined and remove the excess of what would be the cover, the best for being faster and more effective is to use the same drill to rotate it and rub it with a file for burrs and fine sandpaper or scouring pad for finishing. Let's say the drill does the hard work.

The transformers already lined and finished.

The copper plates are enameled to prevent short circuits after cleaning and fine sanding. Besides, I have also used between the transformer and the plates, two layers of thick paper and epoxy to hold the plates and Kapton tape. The electrical connections of the plates are connectors used in model airplanes. The box's female connectors are insulated and wired to the rear panel XLRs.
That rear panel is attached to a very thick steel profile that is not seen in the photos.

Cutting the original plate that I bought from copper. I had I think I remember about 20 or 25mm and I left them at about 8mm so that there was room for the 4 conductors, at the full height of the transformer. After cutting them, I smoothed the sides of them, selected the ones with a similar width, sanded them, polished them and as I mentioned, I gave them several layers of metal enamel.

Lower connection panel where the 220Vac connections are.

A diode, a resistance and a led for the 220Vac power indication.

This is the bottom cap that covers the connections. With rivet nuts to fasten it to the same box.

 

[Rigel]

PC Case


Basically it is the same box except that in this, the height of the motherboard plus the processor fan, does not physically fit in the box, so I decided to make the motherboard a lower support than the floor of the box. It does not look aesthetically as it should, but I had to adjust to the height of 50mm. At least you have the advantage of better ventilation, which is not a small thing.
Otherwise, it only changes the machining of the rear connection and the front keypad for ignition and reset with their respective LEDs.

For the power of the motherboard, I used a 10 Amps and 12Vdc power supply. Which in turn feeds a 200w power supply that generates the missing voltages of 5Vdc and 3.3Vdc.

Glued with epoxy of the second side and front wall that I already mentioned for the transformer box.

The base, the sides and the back are already properly finished. As you can see in the photo, for the screw connection between the walls and the base, I used an 8mm square bar.

Machined rear holes. With power inputs and outputs. Here I had to improvise another take when I was already mounted.

So I marked the points to make the holes for the XLR, but on the inside, but the holes come out in inverted positions.

Here the sandpaper, the scouring pad and the polish had already passed. The finish is finer.

USB connector for PCI Express communication with the other box. The small card to outsource the port using a USB cable.

This is a plug that I made to cover a hole but I was going to use it. It is a piece of sheet metal that I glued to a screw and shaped and finished in the column drill with files initially and then sandpaper of different grain.

Taking measurements for the back wall with the base plate attached.

Keypad construction.

I could have already bought the buttons made, but I also wanted to make them myself. Here you have photos of the whole process.

Making the buttons. These are for turning on and resetting the PC. The touch when pressing it came out great and they flex just enough, 1mm at the point of contact, as to have a certain elastic point without bending to support repeatability. Aluminum is not ideal for this type of work.

With a file I left the lateral edges straight longitudinally and perpendicular to the base. The curvatures too.

An aluminum L profile I used to support the buttons and switches.

These are the microswitches for reset and ignition.

Fine sanding of one of the screws that hold the power and reset buttons to give it a better finish. With a dremel / drill and fine sandpaper, it is done in no time.

The assembly of the set.

Also on this bracket are the LEDs that indicate power on and activation of the hard drive.

The wiring of the buttons goes to the connection panel of the motherboard.

 

[Rigel]

USB / AES-EBU Converter Box


In this box you will find part of the USB signal processing and the USB to AES / EBU converter which is the connection that I have been using to connect to the NAD M51, which USB input is the worst of them all. And as you can see, I included a lot of what I've been putting together for quite some time. Some components are more useful than others, such as the one that has given me the best result, has nothing to do with USB Audio. It is a "simple" USB extender via ethernet. I blame the result on galvanic isolation of the PC must be done during the conversion.

There are also a few power supplies and regulators. As I mentioned, more than the construction of the three boxes, because it does not take time to make them, it has been more difficult to find the necessary voltages and currents to supply all the equipment, ranging from 1Vdc to 18Vdc and try to isolate them as much as possible from each other.
I remember that currently I also have a much more modern DAC, which does not need, at least for the time being I have tried, any USB conditioners to sound great.

Likewise, more or less the only differences correspond to the rear connection. The output holes of the Singxer SU-1 digital converter can be seen.

This small bar is the one I used to join base and walls with screws.

Parts almost completed.

Modification of the Singxer SU-1.


For the sake of testing, I changed the PWM regulators for more efficient LT3045. Both for the oscillators and the integrated XMOS.

I also have an iFi micro iUSB 3.0 and that to connect this with the SU-1's USB input, I had to take a cable out of the metal box to connect with each other, since the SU-1's output is in the same wall of the box where the DAC would connect. To avoid that that would be a bit seedy and also shorten the length of the USB connection, I unsoldered the type B female of the SU-1 board and soldered part of a male Uptone AB adapter, in such a way that the USB connection between the two, it would be carried out internally. In the following photo you can see it more clearly.

You can see that the USB connector you see in the photo does not make sense because it is not a female but a male, this male is soldered where the USB female would be. This male who stands out in the photo is connected to the female type A of the iFi micro iUSB 3.0.

This is the Uptone Audio adapter, it has the same connection as that of a cable maintaining its impedance, but if the inconveniences of a cable such as its length. I desold him the female, turn the male and probe him where the female should go on board in the SU-1

This is another one modified because you need one angled one for internal connections.

Then then, the union of the SU-1 and the iFi micro remains such that after doing the corresponding operation tests. I also used the iFi micro's very low-noise 5V output to power some components of the SU-1.

 

[Rigel]

Here you can see the USB adapter that connects the two components. The little blue circuit board.

This is an external Matrix USB card, which is plugged into an external PCI Express port on the PC. In its holder for inside the box and with an LT3045 regulator that feeds the card.

I also made a modification of a USB extender over ethernet.

This is an LT3045 regulator with really good low noise characteristics. There are 0.5 and 1A models and can be connected in parallel if needed.
The output voltage can be adjusted by changing the value of an SMD resistor.

https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/LT3045.pdf

Here you can see another LT3045 in the background, with a connected micro USB connector that powers an iDefender.

In principle, I can only think of commenting. If I remember anything worthwhile, I will do so later.
If any of you at least has been entertained with all this roll, I am happy.

 

[McFly]

Wow.

 

[Habu]

Incredible !

 

[ZolaIII]

Meh analogue to this world be a killing the fly with a hammer. Where wait isn't crucial use steel, where it is use aluminium. You don't need oversized box. Applying thin shielding over crucial component & interconnects increasesing their EMI rejection rate will do a trick. My suggestion for shielding material goes to graphite (powder, spray or sheets) or steel plates when possible. You can use an old PC or VCR tower/box if it fits the size of what you want to fit in. For mechanical noise isolation you can use good old rubber.

 

[Rigel]

Hi ZolaIII. Thanks for comment.

The initial philosophy was to try to have grouped in boxes, everything I was gathering and testing for a while, not much more. It is not the result of a previous careful study of electromagnetic, magnetic shielding, resonance, etc.
I've been improvising constantly from the beginning and you can perceive it with the montage. When drilling etc.

It's just a hobby, sometimes the end is just the means to have fun because it's something I like to do and the initial idea was to build things myself. I built a keypad for the PC because I wanted, for example, instead of buying the buttons made.

I am not dedicated to this either and I lack many tools that they would have in any metal workshop. Folders, milling machines, lathes, welding machines and more specialized tool etc. And I bought the metals in hardware stores.
I have only been able to work on it, practically on weekends and not all.

I prefer to use aluminum because it is much easier to work with compared to steel, it has good finishes and it is light.
I have to bend the metal sheets by hand or hammer.
Only I like stainless steel more than aluminum from the aesthetic point of view and resistance, but it is more expensive, difficult to work with and to obtain.

The entire assembly becomes a digital audio source, plus power for a NAD M51, an HDVD800 amplifier and the PC.

The rest of the USB connections and digital converter ... because currently part of that assembly does not make sense if I use the DAC that I currently have, a Topping D90. Its USB input, I would say that it is abnormally excellent and has surprised me in that regard.

 

[ZolaIII]

@Rigel I mean it's nice looking & all with great craftsmanship and all. I usually focus on more practical application and that it's easy to do. Steel is a good shielding material, actually one of the best when it comes to low frequency EMI.

Best regards.

 

[renaudrenaud]

Well, it is a huge and very impressive project. I respect every word.

I've shown your thread to my wife (aerospace engineer with great mechanic knowledge) and it is a source of debate for us.

Excuse me for these words, but in certain parts of your work, for me, it seems you are creating constraints and then their solutions.

Anyway, the projet, the explanations, the pictures, the amount of job etc... Everything is more than impressive and I am stuck. I will have to rewrite ten times to understand as far as I can.

It's really and incredible result and I specifically really love your part for liquid cooling, for me it is an artistic creation. Maybe the explanation is here: an incredible artistic production.

Thanks a lot for sharing.

 

[ZolaIII]

I am very interested in new materials and compounds such as NiTi, ZiTi, Graphen... But when it comes to commercial designs you choose good cheap ones that are widely available & direct approach & application.

See you, been nice talking to you.

 

[SIY]

I am... in awe. I wish I lived closer so I could try to pick up a few of your machining skills.

 

[Rigel]

McFly, Habu, ZolaIII, renaudrenaud, SIY. Thanks to you for your comments. I'm glad you like it and it serves as a distraction.

 

[oldsysop]

Awesome !!!
Congratulations.

 

[Doodski]

Wowowowowzerz!!! Somebody has gone all arts and crafts and made some realllly nice cabinets by hand. Congrats on a successful build.

 

[Rigel]

Thank you oldsysop and Doodski. I'm glad you like it

 

[Eetu]

Beautiful craftmanship! Overwhelming amount of info (especially for a non-diyer like myself) but can't help but admire all the attention to detail. Thanks for sharing your work.