Help - Sub Rack Enclosures - for use with DIY Mixer design!

Rather than mess up my other thread I would liek to start this one...
Can somebody help me out here - I am tearing my hair out...
Remember I am a newbie...

I plan to put lots of these Group DIY projects onto Eurocards (where applicable)
I would then like to mount into a 3 unit rack (as advised in another thread on card frames)
The idea being to have two types of rack
one for tracking - different mic pre amps, limiter, pad, M&S decoders, phase switches etc... (output going to the recorder)
a couple of other racks for mixing - eq, compressors, summing amps, penny and giles faders (input from recorder - output to stereo recorder and monitor)
I was planning on building a smaller 1 unit rack to hold VU meters or something like that as well...
I also plan to build a plate reverb as well...
What the hell - go for the whole hog - I am thinking years for this by the way!!!
These can then be bolted into a rack frame built into a wooden desk (hey - I have just built a mixer)
There will be no inputs on the front of the units - only blank panels or user switches (eq buttons, gain etc... where applicable)
For the back panels I am planning to use XLR inputs/outputs to a patch bay
For the time being I will just concentrate on getting the hardware right - I will come back to the electronics later (obviously there will be some need to get some current into the cards)

So starting with Bo's DI box (start small - think big!) - and I don't need a PSU - as I can test it with my current mixers

Is my thinking right on how these card frames work...
If I buy this 3 Unit Card Frame for £30...
http://www.distel.co.uk/asps/details.asp?ID=21803CB89&AP=55.28&CY=USD&ER=0.5427

I assume that some sort of guide rails allow eurocards to be mounted here..
Where and what are they?
Is it okay to mount the Eurocard "naked" onto these rails
If so - do I need to worry about side panels
Obviously we need front and back panels (for inputs and outputs) - how do these attach to the Eurocard?
Some of these planned units may be 2-3 Eurocards in width (some of the Valve designs) - so the Front/Back Panels would have to cater for that

Of course everything is done to a budget - no stupid money
£6-7 per unit and £30-40 for the rack sounds about right

Sorry for asking such a detail question and really not giving anything back to the group at the moment - but bare with me (I maybe a 38 year old newbie who has bought his first soldering iron - but this thing is really firing me up!!)

Hi,

It's a shame there's no pic for that distel rack.

Okay, Vero have been "combined" with this company:

http://www.apw.com/

And they still support the original size racks:

Eurocard Racks

Including the rack subframes:

Rack Subframes

Most of these packaging options are quite expensive when bought new. They are usually designed to be used with a standard "Eurocard"-size PCB which has a front panel connected at right-angles to its front edge (which are available in different widths) and the whole assembly then slides into the slots in the rack enclosure. There can also be a "backplane" where all connectors from the PCBs connect for power and signals.

What you want to do here (I think) is have the Eurocard-size rack which then uses fully enclosed modules instead of individual un-boxed PCB's. These are very expensive to buy new, and so are probably best found at a surplus supplier. They mount using the front panel screws and with a guide in the card cage slot.

Display electronics are probably a good place to check out. Mainline Surplus have these PSU's in stock, which give a good idea of the Eurocard-style package:



These are 24V PSU's for £15!

I can vouch for mainlinegroup- I've done business with them before and they have some fantastic bargains (although slightly fewer now I've done a few orders :wink:

Check their surplus enclosures too for anything useful:

http://www.mainlinegroup.co.uk/mless/main.php?act=Catalogue&id_sort=82

I think if you can get the bits and pieces cheap enough, it'll be a great way to do it. See if you can find a copy of Craig Andertons "Electronic Projects For Musicians" too. As well as having some top circuits to mess around with, there are some pics of his own projects racked up in these enclosures.

:thumb:

Mark

I actually have a vero eurocard frame you can have, 3U, very deep but no lid or bottom plus loads of rails and edge connectors. I have two (broken) PK55 split rail supplies for it too (similar to the one pictured above) but they're smps.
It was given to me from Southern TV when they closed down years ago and I haven't found a use for it (well, I had another 4) so it's yours for the postage.

Thanks guys for the input Jonathan you are a blooming star of the highest order
Email on it's way (I changed your email address - I think you missed a w off your profile email)

mark
Are those - 24v PSU's of any use in the Group DIY projects and if so which ones?

Well,

They're 24V @ 2.5A, so I don't think that they're Switched Mode power units. It may be worth giving Mainline a ring and checking though.

Presuming they're linear (mains transformer>rectifier>smoothing caps>voltage regulator) it would be a good PSU for all types of Nevey stuff, Hamptone pres, most European audio rack modules etc etc.

You couldn't build it for £15!

Mark

Those velos are switched mode (well what I read int he documentation they are...)
http://www.mpi-xp.ch/attach/000003bd.pdf

I also have a Vero mono volt 24 v supply.
I always wandered what the 0v adj srew is for
anyone ?

Andre,

Do you mean the "OVP" preset pot on the front panel? This is the "Over Voltage Protect" adjustment. This allows you to set a voltage output level at which the PSU will disconnect the output if the output rises above this preset limit. Handy for protecting sensitive equipment from overvoltages.

Check the PDF datasheet that's posted above, it gives the OVP ranges for each model.

Mark

AN update on this.....

Looks like some German company is already doing this...


http://www.adtaudio.de/Products/V700/V700Examples.html

Don;t know about anybody else - but does the word updated Telefunken come into anybody elses mind when they look at those?