Suhr Badger 18 gutshots

[xtian]

I had not seen inside a Suhr amp. Very nice lead dress. I especially like the way the shields of the coax runs are grounded with an extra length of bare wire soldered to the shield. Double-sided, thru-hole plated PCB. London Power licensed scaling. Note epoxied components!

I hate to imagine the work required to change the e-caps.

[Structo]

Wow!

That is purdy!

I love well designed PCB boards.

Best way to ensure reliability and consistency.

What do you think is under the epoxy?

[VacuumVoodoo]

I hate to imagine the work required to change the e-caps.

Probability that you'll ever need to is very low. Even assuming tough working conditions - I don't think temperature inside Badger's chassis ever exceeds 50C - these Panasonic TS-UP caps will have a life time close to or more than 2000000 hrs.
This shows how to arrive at this figure and also how to correctly handle electrolytic caps.
http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/com ... 052705.pdf

[armillary]

What do you think is under the epoxy?

Some proprietary secret ingredient? I doubt it's for heat dissipation, except maybe as thermal insulation?

[rp]

these Panasonic TS-UP caps will have a life time close to or more than 2000000 hrs.

The Hifi guys always talk highly of panasonic caps, for many years too now too, I think it's the FM series, not sure what size those are. I had no idea about the crazy long life ones.

I want to move to radials, more choice, smaller, cheaper, easier to source, just don't know were to start with PTP builds. Next board in a nice sized chassis I do I must force myself to go radial.

Anyone know about snap-ins - is there a rivet/eyelet that works perfect? How does board thickness play in? If I manage to work out the snap in thing do I just solder to the cap tab. How do you snap out in the future? Have any of you turret board builders (non PCB) guys worked out a clever way to incorporate snap-ins?

[xtian]

I want to move to radials, more choice, smaller, cheaper, easier to source, just don't know were to start with PTP builds.

I've been trying to work them in, but still make their solder points available on the top of the board. This approach was pretty successful for the short, radial cans:

http://ampgarage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22152

[VacuumVoodoo]

these Panasonic TS-UP caps will have a life time close to or more than 2000000 hrs.

The Hifi guys always talk highly of panasonic caps, for many years too now too, I think it's the FM series, not sure what size those are. I had no idea about the crazy long life ones.

OOPS...I pressed the "0" key one too many times... it's only 2 hundred thousand hrs, not 2 million. Still, long enough. The 3000hrs stated in the datasheet pertain to operation at 85C at nominal working voltage and max specified ripple current. Operating conditions in an 18W amp are a lot less stressing on these caps.

Anyone know about snap-ins - is there a rivet/eyelet that works perfect? How does board thickness play in? If I manage to work out the snap in thing do I just solder to the cap tab. How do you snap out in the future? Have any of you turret board builders (non PCB) guys worked out a clever way to incorporate snap-ins?

I wouldn't use snap-in caps on anything other than a PCB.

[VacuumVoodoo]

I want to move to radials, more choice, smaller, cheaper, easier to source, just don't know were to start with PTP builds.

I've been trying to work them in, but still make their solder points available on the top of the board. This approach was pretty successful for the short, radial cans:

http://ampgarage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22152

The way you've bent leads on those caps puts mechanical stress on their internal structure. This can in worst case cause an internal short circuit. Next time bend them 5mm away from the base using round nose pliers. Please?

[xtian]

Please?

OK, thanks!

[rp]

Next time bend them 5mm away from the base using round nose pliers. Please?

I'll use radial for bypass sometimes, I bend the crapola out of them, get them nice and flat! Thanks for the warning.

Xtian terrific notched bored, but a pita to do, guessing you drilled out the holes then cut the board in half? Then you glued them down? I refuse to glue stuff, sometimes I'll do a long run of wire with a blob of hot glue, but I hate it.

[xtian]

Next time bend them 5mm away from the base using round nose pliers. Please?

I'll use radial for bypass sometimes, I bend the crapola out of them, get them nice and flat! Thanks for the warning.

Xtian terrific notched bored, but a pita to do, guessing you drilled out the holes then cut the board in half? Then you glued them down? I refuse to glue stuff, sometimes I'll do a long run of wire with a blob of hot glue, but I hate it.

No, I just drilled the holes where you see them, near the edge of the board, using my drill press. No slippage. No glue, either. If anyone wants a truly tour worthy amp from me, I'll get all milspec, but until then I'm not worried about it.

[husky]

I hate to imagine the work required to change the e-caps.

Actually piece of cake,
You lift that one shielded wire off the pot
Undo the Board screws and flip it over.
Being in the repair buis for so many years I always think of those situations.

[husky]

urg

[xtian]

Nice, John! Thanks for posting. And sorry about the PHP bug double-post thing. That's a patented feature of ampgarage.

[Phil_S]

I suppose you can't blame a guy for a bit of goop. At least his is tastefully applied. Any one of use could figure out what's on that board if we wanted to. <shrug>