[fos]

g'day all,

Any thoughts on using sheet acrylic inside amplifiers, it does accumulate static electricity i have noted.

thinking of an internal redesign of my GK1r, involving replacement of the sheet metal analog board support with a bent acrylic version.

I figure that a thicker plastic sheet will have better damping than the current sheet metal version and should not induce magnetic fields to the same extent as steel. The power supplies will still be in their own metal box and the outer case is steel so i figure there should be little interference from outside.

[EchiDna]

you could stick some cork sheet or similar material to your metal one to improve the dampening...

[Tinker]

Any thoughts on using sheet acrylic inside amplifiers, it does accumulate static electricity i have noted.

thinking of an internal redesign of my GK1r, involving replacement of the sheet metal analog board support with a bent acrylic version.

I figure that a thicker plastic sheet will have better damping than the current sheet metal version and should not induce magnetic fields to the same extent as steel. The power supplies will still be in their own metal box and the outer case is steel so i figure there should be little interference from outside.

You can put a bolt through the acrylic with say a 3-5M resistor to ground to bleed off any static, if you went with the acrylic option. The multimegaohm resistor makes for vanishingly small currents.

If you are just dampening, cork is good as EchiDna suggests, but also consider neoprene (old mouse mats) or even SoundCote(TM) which is a self-adhesive vinyl polymer that you can order from places like the Parts Connexion. It used to be cheap, don't know if it still is. All these materials have worked well for me in damping CD players.

Cheers,
T.

[kyrill]

Does a sheet of plastic damp? I rather think it will resonate easy and adds vibration of its own . To damp you use heavy materials, the heavier and more mass the better.  So a shead of lead will help
The most expensive Marantz cd player over 10.000 US dollars has as solid red copper base plate of half an inch thick.
Or you do not choose mass but something sticky
I use a 3mm thick heavy black rubber like matt and heat it with a flame.It becomes soft, hot and very sticky. Then I press it to the metal housing. When it is cold you cannot peel it off anymore then by knife and force.

With my wooden enclosures I use  a different road: silikonen out of a big tube which people use who are buiding kitchens and bathrooms.
You smear it like thick butter over the whole side. When it start to dry you can finish it with a finger made wet in water and vinegar mixture. Completely dried it stays flexible and rubber like and absorbs the case resonances. It is very cheap.

[Malcolm Fear]

I am a fan of Corian shelving and half inflated innertubes.
I heard a huge difference in mounting my Rega Planet 2000 cd player on a Corian shelf as opposed to an mdf or granite shelf.
All of these were in turn mounted on a 16 inch half inflated innertube.
The Corian difference was as big as Eichmann bullets.

I now mount my AKSA gear on Corian shelves on top of half inflated innertubes. I must admit I haven't compared, but am guided by the difference with the Rega.