GK-1 Picture......

AKSA · « **on:** 10 Jan 2003, 02:13 am »

Hi Folks,

Yesterday Darren K. visited with his newly complete Stage 1 GK-1 metal and wood work. He asked me to wire it up.

It took about three hours, a long time because of the difficulties working with teflon CAT5E wire. A bitch to strip - you need a Stanley knife for every connection. But the result is pleasing, you see the sort of approach I used with the wiring layout, and the sound is wonderful. It's impossible to tell the difference after only a short time between Darren's GK-1 and my own.

Here's the picture:

Note the wonderful use of laser-cut stainless steel on the outside, hardwood on the inside. Volume control (cermet) is at front left; its wiring is plaited. The AC inputs come into one side of the board, and signal inputs/outputs on the other. Rear 2 x 3 RCAs are set up with two central sockets for input, left and right pairs are paralleled for dual outputs.

Very nicely made box, Darren. I was very impressed with the quality. Darren used plastic standoffs, actually hole anchors for use in brick and stone, to raise the analog board close to the lid, which is also stainless steel.

Cheers,

Hugh

rwalton · « **Reply #1 on:** 10 Jan 2003, 02:31 am »

Hi Hugh,

Don't know if it's just me or not, but the image in this post above does not display in my browser (IE 5.5). Does it work for everyone else?

Rick

EchiDna · « **Reply #2 on:** 10 Jan 2003, 02:50 am »

Quote from: AKSA

He asked me to wire it up.

It took about three hours, a long time because of the difficulties working with teflon CAT5E wire. A bitch to strip - you need a Stanley knife for every connection. But the result is pleasing, you see the sort of approach I used with the wiring layout, and the sound is wonderful.

EchiDna's secret wire strippers for teflon cat 5... much faster, much cleaner and easy.... what are they?? my TEETH! just don't tell my dentist

PS- love the chassis... mine is slowly coming along *sigh*

AKSA · « **Reply #3 on:** 10 Jan 2003, 02:51 am »

Hi Rick,

JohnR, the Borg, has just fixed it, and it should be fine now.

My server at aksaonline is UNIX, so case on file tails is VERY important. Turns out I had .jpg instead of .JPG, and this kills the transfer stone dead.

I dunno. Idiot savant machines. Why can't the damned things think for once????

Cheers,

Hugh

Al Garay · « **Reply #4 on:** 10 Jan 2003, 02:54 am »

Is the bottom and top made of wood?

Al

AKSA · « **Reply #5 on:** 10 Jan 2003, 03:03 am »

Hi Al,

No, base is 3/4" MDF, while top is 2.5mm stainless steel, with two cut-outs for the tubes.

Looks very spoofy.........

Cheers,

Hugh

SamL · « **Reply #6 on:** 10 Jan 2003, 03:29 am »

OK! Well this will be a dump question.
If this is a preamp with remote, where is the infrared receiver?

Sam

SamL · « **Reply #7 on:** 10 Jan 2003, 03:45 am »

Sorry... should read the post before asking question.
I'll stop typing...

Sam

Rocket · « **Reply #8 on:** 10 Jan 2003, 03:54 am »

hello hugh,

did darren make the case or did he have it made to his specifications? i'm interested in the faceplate it looks very professional.

regards

rod

Al Garay · « **Reply #9 on:** 10 Jan 2003, 04:46 am »

I'll keep asking more questions:

Q1. Is the PCB connected (with screw mounts) directly to the MDF?

Q2. What are the approximate dimensions?

Q3. What is the thickness of the front and back SS plates?

Q4. Describe the middle plate? Looks like 2 SS plates, thinner than front/back plates, connected somehow together, that leaves a gap at the bottom so wiring can go underneath.

This looks like a frugal, effective and attractive solution for my TLP that I could use for the GK1.

Thanks,

Al

AKSA · « **Reply #10 on:** 10 Jan 2003, 09:23 am »

Rod,

The case metal work was cut to Darren's specs. He did all the woodwork himself, and the fitting and drilling.

Al, to answer your questions:

Q1. Is the PCB connected (with screw mounts) directly to the MDF?

No. There is a short screw (1/2" long) from bottom securing the standoff, then another, same length, securing the pcb to the standoff from the other end. Thus it's all well damped plastic holding up the pcb.

Q2. What are the approximate dimensions?

Only guessing: About 320mm (12 5/8") deep, and about 89mm (3 1/2") tall, and about 350mm (14") wide. Pretty close to a 3U, actually.

Q3. What is the thickness of the front and back SS plates?

I would guess about 1/8", or 3.2mm.

Q4. Describe the middle plate? Looks like 2 SS plates, thinner than front/back plates, connected somehow together, that leaves a gap at the bottom so wiring can go underneath.

Two pieces of galvanized iron, perforated, held apart with a wood spacer.

It is certainly frugal, effective and attractive. The stainless is most appealing........

Cheers,

Hugh

John H · « **Reply #11 on:** 10 Jan 2003, 06:30 pm »

Hi:

I am using a budget Radio Shack wire-stripper tool to strip CAT5 wire (Part 64-2129 @ $2.99) and it works like a charm. You have to adjust the tool by trial and error so that it strips without cutting or nicking the copper and this takes quite a few tries which is why mine is now dedicated to CAT5 only.

DSK · « **Reply #12 on:** 11 Jan 2003, 01:28 am »

Hi everyone,
First of all a HUGE thanks to Hugh for all of his assistance in this project. I had heard the TLP early last year and knew that the GK-1 had great potential, so I have watched its progress over most of last year with great anticipation. I had not attempted DIY before and hounded poor Hugh with many questions along the way. I must say Hugh is a man of great patience

Thanks also to Darl who advised me to run the PCB front to back in order to maximise distance between AC and signal wires. The transformers are about 13cm apart and each is about 13cm from the PCB.

In short, it was all worth it. I love my BAT VK-30 (NOS tubes) pre-amp, but I have to admit that the GK-1, even after only a few hours burn in, beats it in virtually every respect. I will delay a full evaluation until full burn in, but even my wife made comments on several areas of improvement within the first minute or two of casually listening ....totally unprompted by me.

All the laser cut stainless steel panels are 2mm thick, the hardwood sides are 19mm Tasmanian Oak and have 2mm stainless steel plates on the outside like a skin. Only stainless steel is visible from the outside. The base is 12mm MDF, recessed into the bottom of the chassis and screwed into 12mm square Tasmanian Oak quad. As Hugh said, the two shielding plates are galvanised steel, about 1mm or so thick screwed into 12mm quad which in turn is screwed into the base. They stop about 2mm below the top plate and about 5mm from the front and back plates.

To rigidly suspend the PCB, I screwed 3 pieces of the 12mm quad into the base, then a 6mm MDF panel (same size as PCB) into those, then the red 50mm plastic wall plugs (shortened to 48mm) into the MDF panel, then the PCB into the top of the wall plugs. It is very rigid. All screws in the GK-1 are stainless steel (non-magnetic). The bottom of the base is totally clean (no screw or bolt heads come through) except for the 4 screw-in rubber feet which protect it when it is not sitting on the Symposium Rollerblocks. The top of the tube sockets sit about 1mm below the top of the top plate. I used Estapol to seal all woodwork.

There is about 50mm space between the PCB and the left side, in case I ever went berserk and installed a ladder stepped attenuator. There is also space on the transformer side in case I ever decided I couldn't live without remote volume control and wanted to install a small PCB to drive a motorised pot. I don't know if it makes a sonic difference, but I used Vampire OFC RCA jacks (US$20/pair). As Hugh said, I have run parallel outputs ....just in case I bi-amp with 2 AKSA 100w Nirvanas in the future

The chassis body is 356mm wide, 307mm deep and 90mm high. The face plate extends 5mm beyond the chassis body at each edge.

All that is left to do is source a nice champagne coloured volume knob (around 36mm diameter) which should look nice against the stainless steel, then have volume indicator marks laser etched into the face plate around the knob.

Then I'll get some digital pics taken and post them up. The look may be a little industrial or cold for some, but it is very clean looking, very compact, very strong and very heavy (I'm guessing 25lbs plus).

It is playing as I write this .....I cannot believe the emotional transfer and clarity of the GK-1 ....just awesome !!

Well, I'm off to listen.

Cheers,
Darren.

Rocket · « **Reply #13 on:** 11 Jan 2003, 04:35 am »

hello darren,

i'm really interested in how you produced such a nice looking chassis. did you have a company pre-cut the stainless steel for you? i'm after a professional looking faceplate for my aksa 100.

would an engineering company be able to make a faceplate like this?

regards

rod

U4EA · « **Reply #14 on:** 11 Jan 2003, 06:14 pm »

Ron ,
This place will cut anything you want....

http://www.onlinemetals.com

DSK · « **Reply #15 on:** 12 Jan 2003, 04:31 am »

Quote from: Rocket

hello darren,

i'm really interested in how you produced such a nice looking chassis. did you have a company pre-cut the stainless steel for you? i'm after a professional looking faceplate for my aksa 100.

would an engineering company be able to make a faceplate like this?

regards

rod

Hi Rod,
Yes, I used a company in Melbourne, Victoria called RC Laser. I just looked for an ad in the Yellow Pages that mentioned stainless steel and rang them. They prefer CAD file format but I don't have CAD software and sent them GIF's exported from MS PowerPoint. The diagrams showed all dimensions, including hole positions and diameters (they laser cut the holes not drill them). They laser cut the ss with a PVC backing on it to ensure no scratching. They are accurate to within 0.1mm. Everything fitted together so perfectly that it is basically seamless. All I needed to do was screw the ss to the wood sides and rig up the PCB suspension platform.

The only thing I would mention is to be a little careful handling the ss as the edges are a little sharp.

I imagine that there would be several places in each state that would offer similar services.

Cheers,
Darren.

Rocket · « **Reply #16 on:** 13 Jan 2003, 09:50 am »

hello darren/hugh,

thanks for the info i contacted a local laser cutting service in perth and they have given me a quote. i have decided to have a new stainless steel faceplate and top made as it only costs a little more to have this done.

i had to move the power switch on the faceplate which left a rather big hole for me to continually look at. the company is going to charge $110 which i'm pretty happy with, they are going to cut all the necessary holes in the faceplate and top.

i'll see how it looks and may even have them chromed. i'm a bit of a fanatic and like the look of chrome.

anway thank you hugh and darren for the help.

regards

rod

EchiDna · « **Reply #17 on:** 13 Jan 2003, 09:58 am »

Hey Rod,
if you do decide to Chrome, there is no value in paying the extra for stainless steel.... consider mild steel, copper, brass instead as the cost will be lower but the finish will be the same!

Cheers,

Propstuff · « **Reply #18 on:** 13 Jan 2003, 08:33 pm »

Quote

if you do decide to Chrome, there is no value in paying the extra for stainless steel.... consider mild steel, copper, brass instead as the cost will be lower but the finish will be the same!

Copper is a problem for laser cutting because of it's excelent heat-sinking.
Aluminium also (more problems than just that actually)
Brass -maybe so (?)
Mild steel -easy.

But remember: Chrome plating doesn't hide imperfections, it accentuates them. For a high quality chrome job, the bare metal must be almost polished itself!

cheers

Rocket · « **Reply #19 on:** 13 Jan 2003, 10:54 pm »

hello,

the cost of using stainless steel was pretty minimal, i think the major part is the time setting up of the laser.

the finish of the stainless steel is called "mirror finish" it looks like it doesn't have any imperfections do you think it would have to be polished prior to chroming?

thanks for the advice in advance.

regards

rod