Making An Amplifier Case From Raw Aluminum

John Heisz - Speakers and Audio Projects

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I'm building a 4 channel amplifier and this is the chassis / case for it. Or at least most of it - I still have to make the front and back panels, but those are significantly easier.
I used thick aluminum for two reasons: first, I had a piece of it left over from a job I did years ago, so we can call it free material. The second reason is heat conduction. The case itself will act as one large heatsink helping to cool the amplifier.
And I guess a third reason would be that thick aluminum is a premium quality material to build with, unlike thin sheet metal.
The finished amplifier will be 17-1/2" wide x 15-1/2" deep and 3-1/5" tall.
You can help support the work I do in making these videos:
Project plans for sale: ibuildit.ca/plans/
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Website: ibuildit.ca/
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Опубликовано:

1 янв 2022

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Комментарии : 115

@IBuildIt 2 года назад

@ronjlwhite8058 2 года назад

Love the vent hole layout!!! Awesome job!!!

@albertkelly7129 2 года назад

@@ronjlwhite8058 yeah this. the hole layout and the frosted finish look superb

@ronjlwhite8058 2 года назад

@@albertkelly7129 When he sprayed the clear and i said "game over"!!!

@MandoFettOG 2 года назад

I love seeing you fabricate with metal. You alway have a keen eye for design. Gives me ideas for my own projects

@shaunbarrickman6339 2 года назад

I really like the vent pattern design

@danhorton6182 2 года назад

I subbed to your channel years ago as I too am a wood enthusiast and maker. Never in my wildest dreams did I think you’d venture into amplifier and speaker making which are my first passion (well my daughters and then DIY audio). This is so awesome, there are so few channels that go into this.

@DEtchells 2 года назад

I loved your concept for fastening the ribs by edge-screwing them. It’s a great idea that I’ve tucked away in my mind for future reference!

@KyleMerl 2 года назад

Clever idea for mounting the dividers. And that cnc pattern looks damn good.

@shogunai 2 года назад

You have the absolute perfect balance of left and right brain man. You're like a craft artist, the way all these different skills just come to you with such precision & ease is pretty special tbh. You've been a big inspiration to me. Though I don't have the skills, tools or experience you do, I've managed to transform my studio acoustics and aesthetics, along with building my studio desk from scratch, a massive case for my modular synth, and a bunch of other bits and bobs. I've picked up so many skills and tips from your channel for all my projects, so thank you John! Over the last few weeks I had been dreaming about building my own MIDI master keyboard with an Aluminum case, and once again you have come through with the inspiration & insight to get it done. Cheers, looking forward to seeing what you've got planned in the future!

@IBuildIt 2 года назад

Thanks! Great to hear :)

@gvanvoor 2 года назад

Looking great. I’ve never cut aluminium with wood tools yet but love the tips you gave should I ever need to. Cutting angle aluminium with a miter saw (even a “cold cut” one) requires respect of safety aspects as small cut offs have the annoying tendency to fly off at great speed if they catch on the teeth of the blade

@saintapoc4031 Год назад

that dado+screw technique was mind blowing in how simple yet effective it is - excellent work

@JimDockrellWatertone 2 года назад

Pretty cool the way you figured that out. Interesting methods.

@leviharker 2 года назад

Really enjoying this type of content I tend to flip back and forth between woodworking and electronics/DIY HiFi every 5 or 6 years, and I think I am about to flip back to DIY audio. Following this build very closely, I appreciate the effort you put into these.

@murphymmc 2 года назад

I have cut aluminum with woodworking blades and with a blade designed for aluminum. Everything you said is absolutely correct. I never thought of lubricating the blade, great tip. Working with aluminum is "galling". ;-)

@wileecoyoti 2 года назад

Beautifully done! One thing that might be a good idea is to use a small rubber or foam pad on the aluminum piece holding down the caps: they do change size over time and wouldn't want them putting extra stress on the caps. Of course they might be springy enough as is. Really really like that pattern you cut in the top, super classy!

@enewhuis 3 месяца назад

I've a smaller project. I've been looking for box fab techniques to give a new home to some vintage Neve recording console components. Your presentation here is supurb and inspiring! I've been trying to come up with a way to build the box with six flat panels but maybe it is time for me to get a brake. Your result is solid.

@jameshoverson7686 2 года назад

Looks awesome so far man!

@TheFilletingfish Год назад

Impressive. Your techniques are brilliant.

@jasonyandow3145 2 месяца назад

Excellent job and video!

@dew-drop 2 года назад

Looks really great. I've liked all the case builds you've done on your channels throughout the years. I think it's funny that with relatively basic woodworking tools you're able to make stunning cases for audio equipment/pc's; whereas a channel like Linus Tech Tips has a shop with all the fancy tools and their stuff doesn't come out half as good as yours!

@cannibalholocaust3015 10 месяцев назад

No amount of fancy tooling can be substitute for skill and experience.

@davidbailey6350 2 года назад

All I can say is, Wow, very very nice…!

@crimsonghost6454 2 года назад

Wow that is going to look great. Excellent video and tips.

@vinylcabasse Год назад

this is incredible craftsmanship across multiple areas of expertise. i woul love to do something like this myself one day.

@RumpusTime89 Год назад

John, you’re incredible dude. I hope to hone my skills to this level someday.

@SMKreitzer1968 2 года назад

Wow, that looks great!

@LeJimster 2 года назад

Very impressive. Aluminum is easy to work with. But at the same time difficult to get a high quality finish with things like the ventilation cuts. I'm impressed to say the least. Enjoying the build as it takes me back to the kind of work I was doing as a kid.

@troyladoux1953 2 года назад

Great video. You make it look so easy.

@Acoustic-Lab 2 года назад

I wish i had skill and tools like this.. great work sir..

@daifeichu 2 года назад

Those sides would have broke on me knowing how things go around here. Just like your other projects using wood, this one is turning out 1st class.

@Guishan_Lingyou 6 месяцев назад

Looks awesome

@GregsGarage 2 года назад

That looks so damn good John! I put a .007" micro bevel on the edges of all my holes on the CNC. It's amazing how much that little detail will dress up a hole (unsolicited tip there...) I also just use a spritz of wd40 when cutting. It keeps the tools cutting a nicer surface finish and it cleans up easily. I'm going to have to steal your route and fold technique. It looks like that worked really well.

@IBuildIt 2 года назад

Actually been chamfering things for quite a while, Greg, but thanks for the tip anyway :) In fact I had the chamfering tool path ready to run after the cut, but somehow the stock moved a very small amount while running the main cut. I discovered that when I tried to make a cleanup pass and wound up with slots that are bigger than I originally planned and holes that are elongated on one side. Took a total of nearly 6 hours machine run time (plus a couple of hours with me going back and forth to generate new gcode) to get it to where it is now. So yeah, I'm happy with it as it is :)

@GregsGarage 2 года назад

@@IBuildIt I should have known you'd be 2 steps ahead of me!!! I know I already said this, but it looks AWESOME!!!

@dugaldhutchings404 2 года назад

Absolutely beautiful.

@stephenbird9714 2 года назад

Nice work John

@Enginemount 2 года назад

Absolutely 💯 percent God mode 🙌. Do you know that? What skills Jhon. You never fail to amaze . Learning so much fro you .

@misterwireless5700 Год назад

Impressive!

@VerticalVertex 2 года назад

wow. master at work.

@gopalakrishnanbhaibhai4730 2 года назад

Good job

@williamnaman3570 2 года назад

You make it look easy.

@sandor78toth Год назад

Bravo!!!

@polkupyorapoika 2 года назад

@ProjectFarm, can you do a head to head of thermal transfer compounds to polyurethane construction adhesive?

@albertkelly7129 2 года назад

lol wrong channel bud

@hms1688 Год назад

Good work!!! We also have rich experience in sheet metal fab, we are a strong manufacturer in China, with high quality and competitive price.

@WillowDailyShorts 2 года назад

Happy new year!!

@IBuildIt 2 года назад

Happy new year!!

@jdfmovil 2 года назад

Awesome.

@anonymous.youtuber Год назад

Respect. 🙏🏻

@zombieryder 2 года назад

i was holding my breath during the bending ""its gonna snap gonna snap""

@duroxkilo Год назад

that's a great looking case. i have no idea what temps the transistors are going to experience and you have lots of surface area + mass, i'd be surprised if you have a cooling issue. but those heatsinks glued, i didn't like that. for whoever is interested: on CPUs (those heatsinks look v similar to older AMD coolers) the thermal compound is critical. adhesives end up behaving more like insulators when dry. many yrs ago that was our overclocking limiting factor, the heat, so we tried all kinds of approaches. anyways, best heat transfer is between two smooth surfaces (1000 grit sandpaper figure 8 honing) , as little thermal paste as possible to fill in the minuscule gaps.

@andydelle4509 Год назад

Agreed, I was going to mention this as well.

@geographyinaction7814 2 года назад

WOW!

@yzmoto80 2 года назад

I’ve cut soft metals quite a few times on my expensive wood shop equipment, and I can say this for sure, NOT ANY MORE ! The time I’ve spent cleaning out metal dust and shavings from metal to metal bearing surfaces the few times I’ve done it, is just not worth the time savings of using the wood shop equipment for metal. The shavings weld themselves to the close tolerance bearing surfaces, and anything else that needs to have clean smooth movements. Sometimes it actually takes a day or two for the metal shavings to rear their ugly head’s, and that’s AFTER you think you have it “all cleaned up, and out of the picture. No offense intended here John. I’ve seen many many of your videos, and I think you are a very talented guy. I’m just forwarding some of my extensive knowledge in the field to give others a head’s up as to what they can expect after doing some metal milling on their wood machines. 😎

@KravchenkoAudioPerth 2 года назад

Nice case John. I like your fancy top bend. Kind of classy. PL on a heat sink is a new one for me. You have me scratching my head on that one. The rest is brilliant. I had seen that thread into a cut trick on some main frame stuff I salvaged years ago. Totally forgot about it until I watched you to this.

@IBuildIt 2 года назад

Figured I'd get a bunch of comments on the glue, and sure enough you all didn't let me down :) Like most everything else that comes up like this, it's a matter of how you are perceiving it. You see the glue as an insulator - something that will block the passage of heat. And that would be true if it was thick enough. But it isn't thick. It's actually less than the thickness of a sheet of paper, and you can test right now how well a sheet of paper blocks heat by using it as an oven mitt. Thermal grease mainly fills any gap between the parts. It doesn't have any magical properties that make it significantly better at transferring heat than any other grease, other than it doesn't melt and drip out the bottom of the amp. It's the air gap that's the real insulator. Anything that fills it will be an orders of magnitude improvement.

@KravchenkoAudioPerth 2 года назад

@@IBuildIt I agree. The thickness is minuscule. The proof will be in the operation. And I am sure you will have an amp that functions well. Good to make me scratch my head from time to time!

@baconsoda 2 года назад

This is not my thing but that was brilliant!

@IBuildIt 2 года назад

Thanks :)

@SteveC38 2 года назад

Very nice.

@IBuildIt 2 года назад

Thank you !

@gudjonjonsson4272 2 года назад

Happy new year

@IBuildIt 2 года назад

Same to you

@sierraecho884 Год назад

Nice project, well done. Just my 2 cents. 1. Instead of screwing right into the divider piece you could have used a slit and place a nut there instead. Would have been a sturdier connection. 2. Why glue the heat sinks with an isulator glue, you could have soldered them into place or clamp with screws, they would have cold welded together if the surface was sanded real quick, for better heat transfer. 3. You had difficulty bending the piece. It´s understandable because it is a thick piece of AL. However I think you material was pretty hard, you could and probably should have annealed it prior to bending to make it soft an pliable. This way the material also does not tear and brake. It would have hardened by itself after a while after this.

@andydelle4509 Год назад

Harbor Freight sell two sizes of a sheet metal brake for less than $80 for the big one. It's a bit difficult to setup and you also need two or more good C clamps (don't buy those at HF). It's not a $1000 model but I think it's a bit cleaner bend than the old board trick.

@saldogdave 2 года назад

Aluminum "work hardens", so bending it must be done in one quick action. The bend radius is typically several times the thickness, but the relief cuts John did here effectively reduced the thickness, allowing a small radius. John is a careful craftsman and pulled it off here, but this kind of bend would never be accepted in industrial design. The result is a very weak corner. But it looks great in the end, mainly because it's John doing it.

@GWAIHIRKV 2 года назад

Nice one John. Might be worth trying some home anodising? It’s not that difficult and the finish is as hard as ruby😬

@IBuildIt 2 года назад

Might not be difficult for small parts, but not for something as big as this cover. Rather not add in something else that could turn hours of work into so much scrap metal.

@jakematic 2 года назад

Nice ! The only thing worse than aluminum chips is plastic chips... still finding them 5 years later...

@phonebackup8132 2 года назад

You need to rotate the heat sinks such that natural convection from bottom to top.

@anonymousonlineuser6543 2 года назад

Wow

@KSCPMark6742 2 года назад

If you'd made three dashes instead of two in between the two groups of three dots it'd have been SOS in morse code Very nice work as always 🙂

@Fritschge128 2 года назад

the vent hole design is very sexy!

@Enginemount 2 года назад

John, one question for you. Since heatsinks are glued and then screwed on, isn't it possible to use heat sink paste . That would transmit the heat better. Also. I like your front panel of your old 6 channel amplifier wooden facia. Would you permit me to make one for my personal use,I am making my self one amplifier. Its a request.

@necrojoe 2 года назад

That was my thought, too. Rather than the construction adhesive, which I assume is an insulator, would it be better to use a thermal pad, or CPU paste. That said, these aren't exactly cooling a CPU, so maybe it would simply be way way overkill, and even with the construction adhesive, it's more than sufficient.

@irakopilow9223 2 года назад

Fantastic project. I would make more of a comment, but am literally speechless.

@jerryfankhauser2959 2 года назад

After sanding, try soaking the aluminum in a lye solution for a little while. Then rinse and apply lacquer. Its a different looking finish.

@russellanderson746 2 года назад

This sounds interesting Jerry. Where do you get your lye and what solution do you use?

@jerryfankhauser2959 2 года назад

@@russellanderson746 Red Devil lye "drain cleaner" at a hardware store I never actually set a concentration, just dissolved some in warm water enough to cover the piece of Al I was working with. It etches the Al.

@russellanderson746 2 года назад

@@jerryfankhauser2959 Would granular Drano work? I have a couple of vintage receivers that I intend to make new covers for. I'm going to have to check this out!

@TheLukemcdaniel 2 года назад

I'm not sure of the heat transfer capabilities of pu glue... I'm also not certain of how much heat transfer you really need for that. would it be worth it to grab a cheap tube of thermal grease used with cpu coolers?

@HipocratesAG 2 года назад

Extraordinary use of polyurethane adhesive.

@JoeJ-8282 2 года назад

That's some very beautiful craftsmanship there! I really wish I had all of those tools that you used to do this, especially the CNC machine, because that top looks really cool with that design in the vent holes! I also didn't know that polyeurethane (sp?) glue is thermally conductive? What brand do you use and where did you get it? I've been looking for something like that to fix an amp I have where a few of the smaller heatsinks were just glued onto a couple of the ICs per channel and they all have fallen off over the decades, therefore now it can't even be turned on without those ICs immediately getting too hot to touch.

@GrulbGL 2 года назад

i use those cheap thermal glue that you can find cheal in eletronic store, you shhould give it a try, it is not fisically resistent as SP but it is glue and it is thermally conductive.

@JoeJ-8282 2 года назад

@@GrulbGL Hmm, ok, I'll have to keep looking for it then, because I've never seen anything like that in any of the electronic (parts) stores in my town. (There's only 1 electronic store now where I live, now that Radio Shack went out of business, but they don't have any thermally conductive glue.) What brand of glue do you use and where exactly do you buy it? (I need specific names so I can also find it myself.)

@ericschulze5641 Год назад

How about making one from a salvaged xfr. And power supply From a broken unit and then maybe, some new boards ect.

@maximemineault8117 2 года назад

Do you think cutting copper the way you did is as safe as aluminium ?

@allluckyseven 2 года назад

I understand that you'd have polyurethane adhesive at hand and that you would prefer gluing the heatsinks rather than screwing them in place (or with a bracket or something), and I assume you won't touch it ever again, but you might have glued just the sides and used thermal paste or a thermal adhesive on the underside. Although that might not be critical as using it on a computer.

@IBuildIt 2 года назад

All that non-conductive thermal grease does is fill the gap between the parts, so anything that does that will be nearly as effective. And when I say "nearly as" I mean maybe 5% less effective. It's getting rid of that air gap that's important.

@circuitxxx 2 года назад

I love to see a test on that. In my mind the glue would isolate the heat

@IBuildIt 2 года назад

A test? Take a piece of plastic wrap (for food) and put it on the end of your finger. Then take that "isolated from the heat" finger and touch something hot, like the side of a pot of boiling water. Report back with your findings.

@Pete.across.the.street 10 месяцев назад

What kind of Caps are those?

@pkaaos 2 года назад

Heatsinks with small fins are meant for active cooling. Hope you have fans in there.

@IBuildIt 2 года назад

Heatsinks are about increasing surface area so that more metal contacts air. Just because these were designed for fans doesn't mean they won't work without them.

@rickhalverson2252 Год назад

Actually whole studies have been done on this. You get less cooling with your fins too close. Not more. It doesn't work that way. Now if your fins are close together you will get more cooling with forced air. A fan. If your fins are too close together, it will not self cool, then you have to have a fan. Like I said scientific studies. Laboratory studies all prove this. Read one, watch the temperature rise when someone uses fins too closely spaced together without a fan.

@plumbkow 2 года назад

Leverage

@fuzzy1dk 2 года назад

ethanol works like magic stopping aluminium sticking to the tools and it just evaporates leaving the parts and tools clean. With small tools on a cnc the difference its like night and day

@IBuildIt 2 года назад

I'd need a mister or a very slow drip for the CNC, since the cut took a total of 5-1/2 hours. I'd get that set up if I did more aluminum.

@fuzzy1dk 2 года назад

@@IBuildIt yes for long jobs using a spraybottle is not really an option.

@imqqmi 2 года назад

@@IBuildIt get some cooling liquid you can dillute 1:10 to 1:20 with water and put it in a squeeze bottle or spray. Put it directly on the alu plate. That alone will make a difference, no mister is needed and you don't need to babysit the cut. Also, use a smaller single flute endmill and cut the slot with 2 passes per depth of cut so chips can't get stuck.

@Likeaudio 2 года назад

Now wire up the speakers with CAT cable!!!

@PilgrimLad 2 года назад

I always thought Aluminum behaves like hard clay.

@drhfhs 2 года назад

have to use lube with drill bits or it makes my skin crawl XD

@ladronsiman1471 2 года назад

i would put more effort on the design of the electronics than in the box !

@anonymous.youtuber Год назад

ROFLOL you don’t know John. Rest assured he will give it all the design effort necessary. But he likes to make it gorgeous looking at well.

@rynait 2 года назад

you said you are using polyurethane adhesive to mount heat sinks [at 4.38]. and said using the whole aluminum cabinet as heat sink. eyeball boing!. polyurethane is known heat insulation material.

@IBuildIt 2 года назад

Try this: coat you hand with a layer of it a few microns thick and then remove a roasting pan from a hot oven. Should be okay, right? Let us know how that works out for you.

@rynait 2 года назад

@@IBuildIt interesting challenge that i am not willing to "experiment" with. I went eyeball boing as being surprised.

@IBuildIt 2 года назад

An air gap, even a very tiny one, is much more of a thermal isolator. It really doesn't matter what you fill the gap with, as long as it's filled and isn't large.

@sc0or 2 года назад

An isolator is not polyurethane itself, but air bubbles in a polyurethane foam

@AdrenalinnVapor Год назад

@@IBuildIt Why not use actual heatsink thermal paste? It's cheap and provides around 15 mw/k of heat transfer rather than Polyurethane's 0.5ish mw/k. If you put Polyurethane between a cpu and a heatsink, it wouldn't last 60 seconds without it thermal throttling and shutting down. Sorry but you couldn't be more wrong about "It doesn't matter what you fill the gap with". Having said that. Beautiful work. Really came together and looks nice.

@LBCAndrew Год назад

There is nothing more annoying for me than those burrs on freshly cut aluminum. If you look at them with a microscope, they look like fishing hooks with lots of extra barbs. With steel slivers, if one gets stuck in you the worst case is it rusts out in a couple days. Not so much with aluminum. Oh... and you should have used a thermal epoxy on the heatsinks instead of construction adhesive. It wont take much heat for that construction adhesive to turn to mush.