phase linear 400

[e30m3mon]

So much White Oak Porn out there! Looks great, Perry! Your years of working on military electronics are very impressive.
Raising the bar to a whole new standard

 

[WOPL Sniffer]

i am excited...

Here was one of my fav's........ I did 6 WOPLS at one time (4 Clair Bro's 700 II's and 2 700B's). That was a BIG job. I had to get all 6 done and shipped so I could move from Bama back to Az.

 

[WOPL Sniffer]

I also had fun with the 4 consecutive serial numbered Clairs with custom Powder Coat/Paint

 

[gene french]

so very nice sniff...you do classy work...i appreciate you sharing with me...
cool!!!

 

[gene french]

I also had fun with the 4 consecutive serial numbered Clairs with custom Powder Coat/Paint

View attachment 65453

isnt that my name on the blue tape on the second from left??
maybe you forgot my shipping address...
very nice...

 

[WOPL Sniffer]

There are threads of all the builders here, kill some time and look at some of these awesome builds. These amps will outlive some of us and it's cool to think that somebody down the road will be using them long after we are gone. Leaving our small mark on audio history.

 

[WOPL Sniffer]

isnt that my name on the blue tape on the second from left??
maybe you forgot my shipping address...
very nice...

Yes, they were all yours. I lost your address and passed them on to a couple gents up here in the US.

Besides, your CR customs office would have deemed these amps "Hazardous" and confiscated them. Gotta protect the public.

 

[gene french]

Yes, they were all yours. I lost your address and passed them on to a couple gents up here in the US.

Besides, your CR customs office would have deemed these amps "Hazardous" and confiscated them. Gotta protect the public.

hazard to your ears....lol

 

[Gepetto]

So much White Oak Porn out there! Looks great, Perry! Your years of working on military electronics are very impressive.
Raising the bar to a whole new standard

It really matters to the performance outcome that you can achieve
Your finished amp should be a work of art both inside and outside

 

[BlueCrab]

Just a couple of notes to Snif's soldering recommendations - all of which I agree.

1. Install components so you can read their values. I hate it when I have to stand on my head (or use a mirror) to see the value.
2. There are a bunch of how-to videos on soldering. Watch them.
3. Clean, clean, clean - particularly your soldering pad (sponge) - I know Snif said this too. It's so true & the videos say the same.

 

[George S.]

My one failure was a red bias wire burned through on power up while populating the outputs. My fault, knicked the strands stripping it, then further weakened it during assembly. I had Phoenix Contact Connectors only on the control board at that time. Tore the amp back down and ordered and installed another set on the backplanes.
They fit perfectly on the 400s. On my 700 Pro build they're a tight fit on the backplanes and the wiring benefits from dressing. They are also close to another component and fit better by bending the through hole legs some before soldering.

 

[WOPL Sniffer]

Just a couple of notes to Snif's soldering recommendations - all of which I agree.

1. Install components so you can read their values. I hate it when I have to stand on my head (or use a mirror) to see the value.
2. There are a bunch of how-to videos on soldering. Watch them.
3. Clean, clean, clean - particularly your soldering pad (sponge) - I know Snif said this too. It's so true & the videos say the same.

Good point, the sponge needs to be clean and damp and it functions as a Steam Cleaner for your tip in between every component connection. Don't forget to tin your tip with a blob of fresh solder in between jobs when your iron will be idle more than a half hour and turn the heat down to about 300. This will help save these expensive tips. I've used the same tip for over a year, possibly 2.

 

[ABebar]

Here was one of my fav's........ I did 6 WOPLS at one time (4 Clair Bro's 700 II's and 2 700B's). That was a BIG job. I had to get all 6 done and shipped so I could move from Bama back to Az.


View attachment 65452

Are those Cornscalas?

 

[WOPL Sniffer]

Likewise, although I did not really fight it.

I use Kester 44 rosin core for soldering those big brass standoffs into the PL400 cap boards after swaging them in with the arbor press. Those boards do not have any electrical components on them so cleaning is easy.

Rosin flux helps produce a beautiful solder connection so it was hard.

 

[WOPL Sniffer]

Are those Cornscalas?

Yep, built them in the garage and used them for many years. Sold them to a customer that has 7 of my amps. I want to build another set.

 

[gene french]

Good point, the sponge needs to be clean and damp and it functions as a Steam Cleaner for your tip in between every component connection. Don't forget to tin your tip with a blob of fresh solder in between jobs when your iron will be idle more than a half hour and turn the heat down to about 300. This will help save these expensive tips. I've used the same tip for over a year, possibly 2.

my station has a sleep mode...never saw that before...when you pick up the handle to solder, it pops back on...

 

[WOPL Sniffer]

my station has a sleep mode...never saw that before...when you pick up the handle to solder, it pops back on...

Yep, mine idles back as well.

 

[ABebar]

Yep, built them in the garage and used them for many years. Sold them to a customer that has 7 of my amps. I want to build another set.

I want a set! Those are my next speaker purchase. I'm probably going to purchase from Bob assembled... My woodworking is worse than my soldering :-/

 

[gene french]

getting all of my ducks in a row...

 

[MusicSteve]

Any tips on soldering the Dual sided WOB Control boards? and back pane board?

Too many variables, i.e tip size, wattage of iron, the persons experience soldering etc..... The tip size, should match the pad width, too much heat will F%$# up some boards. 80 watt iron MINIMUM for doing back planes..... Using 800 degrees is needed for the Pem nuts. And remember, those old PL boards were junk BEFORE they were brazed together by the old ladies at the factory. Get a piggy bank and save for your WOPL upgrades boys..... Take your time and be methodical. They also make practice solder boards, that's where you want to hone your skills and also using the correct materials makes the job easier. I soldered about 1000 boards before they turned me loose on fighter jet stuff. You just can't hurry it.

Don't worry about the component side of the board. If you are getting good flow, a proper meniscus/fillet, nice shiny joints on the solder side, skip the added heat required to get perfect joints on both sides. Technically, when soldering, the leads should be trimmed to 1 width of the component lead off the board before making the solder joint (For several reasons). We were graded (Military School) on the solder side. You cannot always get full flow through to the component side of the board because some ground planes or wider power busses tend to wick a fair amount of heat away from the joint. If you stay on the solder connection longer that about 3 seconds, you will run the risk of putting too much heat to the components. Look at a computer board which has been Wave Soldered, the component side are sometimes bare of solder. If the solder side of the board has a nice fillet, your mechanical connection is fine. Now, using heat sinks (like little Joe's), you can work on the joint a little longer but it takes experience to get it right and get it past the inspectors who passed or failed our work. Overheated solder is just as bad as a cold solder joint. As you solder, adjust your temp up or down to get the desired results. Many of us here can tell how bad the solder joints look on the solder side, just by looking at the mess on the component side. If you are working both sides of the board trying to get perfect joints, you may be putting too much heat on your components and while they may act fine, heat is our enemy and kills the component over time and may not last as long as a component soldered correctly. Some of us could set our irons on 800 and not cause any harm as we are on and off the connection in about 2-3 seconds but this takes experience. Many say I have a piss poor attitude for critiquing some of the solder jobs on these very pages but some of the shoddy soldering pings Joe's reputation as a top shelf Engineer. Some should have paid the extra cash to buy assembled boards. Joe spent years getting these boards perfected and one guy pissing and moaning about mr attitude blasting their terrible WELDING techniques can have lasting repercussions. If the solder joints look like they were done with "Big Bertha" (used for soldering generators on aircraft), I'll say something. If the dudes bad workmanship causes failures/issues (and it does), people see that and talk down the quality of the kits which is wrong. First thing Joe or Lee will ask for when helping troubleshoot one of those abortions is "WE NEED GOOD PICS". You can see in 2 seconds where to look with the overheated/solder balls/dirty boards/no attention to detail or directions and if yer asking for help from these guys, who are very busy, you need to be prepared to hear what you don't want to hear. I do just like my instructors/inspectors did to us in school..... I'll say "tear it apart and start over". Our solder techniques reflect on White Oak (at least in my book) and if it's butchered, I have no issues sayin so. This isn't directed at anybody, before school, my soldering was called "Micro-Welding" with the bigger the blob, the better the job....... Our solder jobs should make Joe proud. He spent the time to do it right, so should we. Sorry for the blah blah blah.

Thanks, I done a lot of soldering, But its good to no what works on this board, must be a solid board to use 800 degrees , I don't know if my can go up that High . The back plane I can use one of my old soldering irons, I have to many of them but tips that another story . I really like my Soldering Iron tip cleaner w this I never use a damp sponge.