A WOPL "Frankenstein"

[jbeckva]

Anything worth doing is worth doing well...

Quotin' Joe up here, that was a good reminder hehe.

Got everything almost lined up here, for Frankey.. And I think when this one's done, that'll be Frank Sinatra to yoozes LOL.

This one's mine, and I have some crazy ideas (and lack of meters hehe)..

So first of all, created this circuit here to be the meters. Pretty neat stuff.. found a contract pcb builder with their own board design proggie..



Now.. LED's sure, put em in a cheap plastic setting they'll look the part. But the centerpiece of Frankey will be a faceplate, CNC'd to spec out of this here friggin' slab o alum.. Now picture inset teenie holes for the round led's, to where all you see aside from the shiny face are the tops of the led bulbs. Will make it where the two channels offset i.e. left goes left, right goes right.

Since it's going to head to the CNC shop, I got me some "options" and cool ideas here.. inset "bezels".. industrial.. hmmm..

 

[Northwinds]

Looking forward to watching this one get built Jer!!!!

 

[derek92994]

Instead of making the neighbor across the road's picture frames fall off the walls, you're gonna be doing it to people a WHOLE BLOCK away
Can't wait to see this build!! What are the proposed power ratings and other data?

 

[jbeckva]

Instead of making the neighbor across the road's picture frames fall off the walls, you're gonna be doing it to people a WHOLE BLOCK away
Can't wait to see this build!! What are the proposed power ratings and other data?

Won't know til it's built, D2 but inside it'll be all WOPL .. only different on the "look". It'll be cool.. hehe.

 

[gadget73]

so LED meters, sort-of like the Series II display ?

 

[jbeckva]

so LED meters, sort-of like the Series II display ?

Somewhat.. but tri color with green yellow and red. Got the engineered boards on order - should be first week of Jan when they come in.

In the meantime, gotta get going on the WO backplanes and driver PCB's. Probably this evening.

 

[Northwinds]

Sounds like your going for a look like the dbx 3bx?

 

[jbeckva]

Sounds like your going for a look like the dbx 3bx?

Not quite. Picture all shiny silver, with the LED's looking like they grew out of it with holes for each, BUT.. thinking of a way to "inset" them so that the surrounding metal of the plate also acts as a lense or concave mirror... All silver.. no black showing.

Also thinking.. the LED's if I were to place them direct on the boards would spread only about 2 inches wide, max. So instead what I might do is first "mount" them with a wider spread, and run small gauge wire from each to the board. That also makes it easy to "reverse" the left ch led's, so that both originate their display from the center out instead of both reading left to right.

 

[laatsch55]

How wide a spread are you shooting for?

 

[jbeckva]

How wide a spread are you shooting for?

Thinking 5 inches wide for each channel, minimum. The PCB's 3.8" wide total, so just a wee bit. Might be able to make up for it, if the leads on the LED's are long enough to spread them at angles from the PCB.

 

[laatsch55]

Even if they aren't a little point to point would take care of that. And this is a good thing Jer, meters are getting rare and will only get rarer...

 

[laatsch55]

Have you seen these?? http://www.ampslab.com/vumeter.htm I've thought about em...but I like your idea better...

 

[jbeckva]

Have you seen these?? http://www.ampslab.com/vumeter.htm I've thought about em...but I like your idea better...

Yep, I didn't want a solid strip or "block" being the meter, but incorporate it in the faceplate so that it's the all metal look with just glass bulb tops showing .

 

[laatsch55]

It'll be cool to see how it turns out...what do you left for machining on the plate?

 

[Northwinds]

Have you seen these?? http://www.ampslab.com/vumeter.htm I've thought about em...but I like your idea better...

That place has some pretty cool stuff, did you see the C300 Class A/B amp? Pretty cool if that could put in a Toshiba SC 335!!!

 

[laatsch55]

Yeah, they do have some cool stuff. I think Joe's is better engineered, but as far as DIY goes they're pretty inclusive...

 

[jbeckva]

And it begins

Ah, driver board.. we meet again.. hehe..

Been awhile, like slippin' on an old overcoat, oddly comfortin'..

 

[laatsch55]

My favorite part...

 

[NavLinear]

I looking forward to seeing your face plate design with the LED's - this will be cool.

Nice - a new LED driver board design. What IC are you using to drive the LED's?

 

[jbeckva]

I looking forward to seeing your face plate design with the LED's - this will be cool.

Nice - a new LED driver board design. What IC are you using to drive the LED's?

LM3914 - 10 segments per IC, and they can be daisy chained for more (hmmm!)..

Welp, the 14's done.. backplanes I'll save for next week..