Metal Case Treatment

The nva thread has got me thinking about different things we experimented with in the old days (1980's) which may be valid to some of you who wish to experiment and play tweaky games.

One of the ones I remember is that back when we had screwed alluminium cases we discovered that humidity conditions seemed to affect an amplifiers performance. So we experimented with anhydrous fluids that had water rejection properties for coating the cases. The best and most effective believe it or not was WD40, but it did pong quite strongly. Curiously it was generally agreed amoungst our pet group of customer listening panel members that it improved clarity and dynamic definition what ever the weather.

I throw it out to you to experiment with, if you wish. I don't know anyone else who experimented with this.

It also made records sound pretty amazing for a few plays until the grooves gummed up!

Richard

PS this is not a wind up

 

This comment brought back memories of your record player, which you once demonstrated to me in Hatley St George. What happened to it? I reckon some of your (then) unfashionable design ideas are now widely accepted in the vinyl field!

Regards etc

S

 

What you need is a hyrophobic coating that will not evaporate like wd40. How about rain x, the windscreen treatment. This is slipery, hydrophobic,smelless, and long lasting. Does the case need to be sealed from the atmosphere ?

 

Time to get experi-*mental*

Richard

 

There were two types. The original one we only made 4 of. The final version we made about 30. The last one I sold to a guy who is going to create an analogue and turntable museum (may be jumping the gun a bit ) last year.

There is little to no chance of me producing it again. For a start it really wasn't just our turntable. Doug Hewitt operated a few miles away in Biggleswade and we used his bearing and a couple of other items, we scratched each others backs occasionally , so in some ways it was a modified Manticore.

Richard

 

WD40 on records really worked but if you used it then it meant you had to invest in the likes of a Moth record cleaning machine and clean after every couple of plays. By the way WD40 doesn't evaporate, only the propellant evaporates, it is a highly penetrating oil, which means it spreads everywhere. Put a squirt on your amplifier and in a couple of days it has spread over the whole surface and starting down the legs of the table. It spreads until it is one molecule thick. A big enough blob and it would spread around the planet in a few hundred years

Richard

 

...try making a case out of this!
http://www.pilkington.com/International+Products/Activ/default.htm

 

Glass as heatsink

At one point in time I wondered what it would be like to use glass for a heatsink. Although it will conduct heat, I think it probably would not be thermally conductive enough

Andrew

 

And glass is bad for the music's mojo (IMO)

 

I thought glass was meant to be a good insulator of heat?

 

It is in bulk, at about 1/250th the thermal conductivity of aluminium. List of common materials here

The problem is when glasss is used for windows since the panes are very thin, which leads to needing to double them up, fill the cavity with gases, explore clever coatings etc...

Unless formed into a bong... :MILD: