Hello everyone!
I've been a member of the diytube forum and a customer of Shannon's for about two years now. I began by building an ST-35 my last semester in college, and I am currently working on an all-Octal Ike. Over that time, I've been very pleased with the level of camaraderie, technical knowledge and everyone’s willingness to share conceptual and technical ideas with one another.
Since shortly after I built my ST-35, I’ve been toying with the idea of offering a few specific “supplemental” parts for Shannon’s products; namely, metal top plates that are pre-drilled for the all of the transformers and sockets. I’ve mentioned this once or twice before in other threads here in the forum, but never really sought input to figure out what people would want.
My idea for this comes from the fact that the metal working aspect of building these amplifiers seems to be the bottle-neck for many builders.
Of course, before I go charging head-long into making top panels there are several questions I thought I’d pose to everyone.
First: Is there a need? Would you, the builders, be interested in buying a pre-machined top panel for an ST-35 or Ike?
Second: What would be most useful for the builders that are interested:
(A) A panel that fits into an existing wooden frame like those offered on Welborn Labs.
(B) A panel that could be screwed onto the metal boxes offered by Hammond Mfg.
(C) A panel with the features centered in the panel so that it can be cut down to accommodates the largest variety of chassis options (wooden or metal).
Option C is the least appealing to be because it would require most builders to have to cut the panel down, and if they had that capability in the first place they probably wouldn’t want a panel made by someone else!
Third: What metal would people prefer: aluminum or steel? (I would probably have the panels cut from approximately 0.100” material so it wouldn’t bow under the weight of the transformers).
I would just offer plates for the current revision of each board. The Ike presents a unique problem because it can be build with all Octals or 3 Octals and a 9-pin. If the panel is equally popular for both types of builders I could conceivably have panels made up for both configurations. Otherwise, I’d just have all - Octal panels made up and the 9-pin builders would just have a larger-than-needed hole for the pre-amp tube.
If you're interested in what the final panels might resemble, here are pictures of the amplifiers I've worked on:
The ST-35 http://www.diytube.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=82
And the Ikes (links directly to pictures) http://jupiter.walagata.com/w/nineno/semi-assembled_001.jpg
http://jupiter.walagata.com/w/nineno/semi-assembled_004.jpg
The ST-35 board would be an all-metal top-plate. Not the hybrid metal/wood top that I ended up with. The Ike panels would be practically identical to the panels I've made for my own amplifier.
Finally, there is the issue of price. These parts, regardless of material, would be laid out with AutoCAD, and fabricated on a water jet (essentially a super-high-powered squirt gun that shoots water and abrasive grit through the metal sheet to cut out the desired shape). The cut-quality of this technique is far superior to traditional tools (drill bits and panel punches) and provides exact copies.
The cost of material and machine time would probably put the “retail” price of each panel around $40 (regardless of material because the steel is cheaper but requires more machining time and the aluminum is much more expensive, but can be cut quicker).
Therefore, a pair of plates for the Ikes would cost around $80 and a single plate for a ST-35 would cost about $40 (just to be very clear).
If any of you are interested in this, please let me know by replying to this message and giving opinions and feedback. Please feel free to make suggestions as to what features you might want to see, too (vent holes, transformer mounting dimentions, etc).
Thank you, and I look forward to everyone’s input!
drew*