Drip UE-100

[fobee]

Cool stuff.
I'm almost done with my pcbs as well.

Power Trannies: did you guys placed and order with Sowter yet? how many PT transformers are required?

Also what Silonex are you guys using? I couldn't find the ones in the BOM

Cheers

 

[DonnieDarko]

Check this:

http://de.rs-online.com/web/p/fotowiderstande-ldr/2508662195/?cm_mmc=DE-PPC-0411-_-google-_-1_Dyanamic_Search_Ads-_-_cat:rs-online.com_Exact&gclid=CI6ZrYX1gMACFWX3wgodcHAA5g

Didn´t order the trannies yet. Somebody told me, that Haufe can get me custom Transformers and it could be cheaper to buy these from Germany.

 

[fobee]

Check this:

http://de.rs-online.com/web/p/fotowiderstande-ldr/2508662195/?cm_mmc=DE-PPC-0411-_-google-_-1_Dyanamic_Search_Ads-_-_cat:rs-online.com_Exact&gclid=CI6ZrYX1gMACFWX3wgodcHAA5g

Didn´t order the trannies yet. Somebody told me, that Haufe can get me custom Transformers and it could be cheaper to buy these from Germany.

They have 0 in stock. Did you buy yours already?
I've talket to Brian Sowter and he just got the info for the trannies from Greg so I guess it's a matter of time.

If you order your trannies from Germany, how many are you going to order?

 

[DonnieDarko]

Hey there,

yeah, the Silonex will be shipped 3rd week of August they told me.

I might just order one set of trannies. But let´s wait what Sowter comes up with. Maybe they are affordable.

 

[SonicSonar]

Does anyone know.

How many power transformers do we need for stereo?

http://www.sowter.co.uk/acatalog/SOWTER_TRANSFORMERS_PRO_VINTAGE_TRANSFORMERS_5.html

 

[SonicSonar]

Anyone building the Drip UE-100. Thoughts, trills, tribulations?

[list type=decimal]
[*]I don't like Carbon Comp resistors.
[*]Total price for parts is over $6K
[*]I didn't like seeing low voltage capacitors.  I like them to be as big as you can fit on the board.
[*]What's up with all these Jumpers?  Is it because it could not be done on the PCB?
[*]What grounding is best for rack mount?  Shall we ask Merlin?
[*]Not buying into the idea "gold plated tubes" and tube parts are best.  If every part of the signal chain was in gold, then, okay, but it isn't
[*]Who here likes RCA plugs?  I remember being told years ago, rca plugs are a bad design.  Maybe they changed.  I don't know, I stay away from them
[*]The tube adapter receptacles. Once the tubes are in place, do we solder or leave it be?
[*]Why do we need a fan for stereo?  Could the design be different to avoid this?
[*]The original UE100 had 12.6 volts going to the heaters.  Why isn't this version?
[*]Addition parts list BOM doesn't work
[/list]

I just bought the PCB and case.  Mouser and Digikey will be around forever, so I want to put my effort getting the hard to get parts first.  This DIY stuff disappears off the marketplace if you don't act quick. 

 

[DonnieDarko]

Haha, feel similar bout some of your points of critique.

1. Carbon Comp Resistors… hey come on, they look nice and vintage and are only 4x the price of metal film.
2. 6K? I spend about like 8K in US$. Where did you save money in your calculation?
3. 3M is a small company that needs our support by buying their confectioned jumper wires. Also, you can make nice homemade jewellery out of them. I gave my wife a nice chain made out of 0.7 and 1.0 jumper wires for christmas. We connected almost instantly.
4. Jokes away, grounding is explained thoroughly in the manual.
5. Then make everything else gold man. **** it, make it platinum!
6. RCA Plugs suck generally. But, Switchcraft sells some nice golden ones. GOLD MAN. Go GOLD all the way. Think of a gold plated case too. Diamond Knobs.
7. They fit very tightly, no need to solder em together. The look nice. Golden somehow.
8. You can leave the fan out of course. However, things will get hot. As in most units of similar build wit a lot of tubes and rectifiers and big resistors with heatsinks on em. I installed fans in my Fairchilds and other big tube units too, seems like a clever thing to do.
9. 2x 6,3V?

 

[simonsez]

8k? wow  :'(

 

[SonicSonar]

1. Carbon Comp Resistors… hey come on, they look nice and vintage and are only 4x the price of metal film.
2. 6K? I spend about like 8K in US$. Where did you save money in your calculation?

Hey Donnie Darko

I like your pics.  Keep them coming.  It does help.

8K and you still haven't bought the power transformer?   
The Sower has the "vintage" style.  But why do that?  Why not get a quieter, more efficient,  half the weight torodial design?  This is only power, I can't see the benefit using a vintage style.  :-\
Also, the vintage can't handle 2 types of AC input.  Having that option will help selling it in the future.

I'm not convinced on the fan.  These are mostly 12A_7 type tubes.  Where is all the heat generating from?
I will say, with all those tubes, it is probably a good idea to have some fan to dissipate the heat.

 

[fobee]

Does anyone know.

How many power transformers do we need for stereo?

http://www.sowter.co.uk/acatalog/SOWTER_TRANSFORMERS_PRO_VINTAGE_TRANSFORMERS_5.html

You only need 1 power transformer for stereo version. However, Greg is prototyping the "original ue-100" buffer amp and if you want to go that route you'll have to order 2 X v72 plate chokes(9375e) from Sowter. The PCB won't be ready soon though.

 

[fobee]

8k? wow  :'(

That's for US residents. I live in Canada and I suspect it will cost me around $10,000 CAD to build this monster (shipping and duty included)

 

[SonicSonar]

Anyone please tell me what transformer you are using?

From the link on DRIP, the 0637 UE-100 EQ Mains Transformer has
220V - 36mA
150V CT - 130mA
8.5V - 3.6A
8.5V - 3.6A
8.5V - 3.6A

What about the Amplier Heater Transformer?  It requires 10VAC and I am not seeing it on the power transformer. 
What about the Relay PSU 18V?  Not seeing that either. 

 

[SonicSonar]

Ok, I think I might have answered my own question.

There are 2 power transformers needed.
HIGH VOLTAGE TRANSFORMER and AMP TRANSFORMER

 

[fobee]

Ok, I think I might have answered my own question.

There are 2 power transformers needed.
HIGH VOLTAGE TRANSFORMER and AMP TRANSFORMER

you need 2 transformers : 1 is the high voltage and the heaters(the one mentioned above) and you need to buy one for the relays (10vac at 5 amps)

 

[emrr]

I get nightmares thinking abut how that construction method is going to age. For that $$$$, oh hell no, no thanks.  Same for the DRIP 670.  I can't imagine putting that in a box to ship, and having it survive.  I really don't believe most people know what they are getting into with these projects.  Sorry....

 

[fobee]

I get nightmares thinking abut how that construction method is going to age. For that $$$$, oh hell no, no thanks.  Same for the DRIP 670.  I can't imagine putting that in a box to ship, and having it survive.  I really don't believe most people know what they are getting into with these projects.  Sorry....

Ive Build a drip 670. It's true, I had to reinforce the case quite a lot but I assure you that I am confident that the box will survive any shipment. Take a look here
http://groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=56505.0

 

[emrr]

Great build there.  It'd be a miracle for the transformers on the PCB to survive shipping unless you pack the entire inside with bubble wrap. You may know it but the next owner might not. That sort of mounting frequently leads to iron birdies flying around inside the case smashing everything they encounter.  I don't like it and wouldn't build it.  It's fine if you know you're keeping it forever and never having to ship it.  Again, I don't think most people see the potential long term problems with the mechanical requirements of these projects.  I hope they sound great, and it's really worth the cost and effort.

 

[ruairioflaherty]

As long as Larry janus is making the (excellent) SR71 for $7,000 there is no way anyone should consider a Drip 670.  Of course the 670 is a sort of fetish object at this point, I've used the real thing and Larry's, preferred Larry's.

 

[DonnieDarko]

The SR-71 seems like a very well thought out design, aligning some features off the original 670 schematic to modern needs.

However, it´s not an exact replica of a 670 as the Drip Versions are. I don´t wanna say, that leaving out the lat/vert Mode, exchanging time constants and of course using much cheaper and easier to gt 6BA6 Tubes instead of 6386 is a bad idea, it´s just a different approach, while Greg´s design tries to be very close to the original.

There are some other very good 670 redesigns, some leaving out the tube based AMP stage, getting relay based hard bypass, some focussing on slimming down the general design or making calibration easier. The Fairchild 670 mk II would be a great example of one of these newer designs.

And I also agree that the Drip Units (especially Version 1 with the huge PCB) aren´t made to be shipped around a few times - but that´s not a critical point with these units, is it? I bet most of the people make these for themselves and don´t think about reselling them.

But, to bring this thread back to topic - the UE-100 is a much more clever design shippingwise with it´s 10 modular PCBs. Let´s talk about that one.

Does anybody power his unit up already? I´m still waiting on instructions for Drop Resistors.

 

[fobee]

Does anybody power his unit up already? I´m still waiting on instructions for Drop Resistors.

I don't think that anybody got the PT yet. Mine it's on its way and I'll get it by the end of this week most likely. I'll do some tests soon and I'll let you know the outcome.