Feeler: EZ Tube Lunch Box

[bruce0]

Is the EZ tube mixer a 3U or 4U or is it really just a backplane spec? 

My only input is that with transistor logic, the 500 series is really on the edge of dense both from a PCB and a front panel point of view, so if you are thinking about standardizing on a height... 3U is not enough if only because tubes are bigger than transistors.

 

[ruffrecords]

Looks perfect, especially for those that want a slim 2 unit desktop box. I guess for those a
19 inch 2 unit rackmount PSU might be a bit hefty.

Personally I like rackmountable stuff since I move my little home studio around,
and would find it interesting with a "full size 3U rackable lunchbox" enclosure with this
floor box PSU. But I guess that's like building your tube mixer, but without the mix part
and that is not the discussion here...or?

Best
Magnus

I can see no reason why you could not build a 19inch rack version that is not a mixer. You could alternate mic pre and EQ modules and make three all tube channel strips innabox (or better still build double width modules with a mic pre/EQ pair in them).

Cheers

Ian

 

[ruffrecords]

Is the EZ tube mixer a 3U or 4U or is it really just a backplane spec? 

My only input is that with transistor logic, the 500 series is really on the edge of dense both from a PCB and a front panel point of view, so if you are thinking about standardizing on a height... 3U is not enough if only because tubes are bigger than transistors.

The EZ Tube Mixer is essentially a backplane spec and a set of PCBs that plug into it. You can build modules of any height you like from 3U upwards. The channel modules I am building for my demo mixer for example are 6U high and contain a complete mic pre with EQ, pan and AUX sends.

Even at 3U, there's a bit more front panel space than in a 500 series module, simply because the minimum module width is 2.8 inches in order to accommodate the tubes which are mounted horizontally.

The only problem is that ready made sub-rack systems come in 3U and 6U sizes. and 6U is too big really for a lunch box. 4U would probably be ideal but paralytically  practically no-one makes a standard 4U sub-rack.

Cheers

Ian

 

[Holger]

The first all tube lunch box? 

The idea of a lunch box is to easily carry some modules in a small box that has a built-in PSU.
I am bit sceptical here if it would be possible to put all the required components/modules into a form factor that is still easy-to-carry.

 

[ruffrecords]

The idea of a lunch box is to easily carry some modules in a small box that has a built-in PSU.
I am bit sceptical here if it would be possible to put all the required components/modules into a form factor that is still easy-to-carry.

It is interesting that you have put connector modules on the front. I had ASSumed that all connections to/from the lunchbox would be at the rear but of course they don't have to be and in many situations they might well be better at the front. This could also make the lunchbox less deep because it might be possible to include an output transformer in the connections module.

Cheers

Ian

 

[anjing]

Is the EZ tube mixer a 3U or 4U or is it really just a backplane spec? 

My only input is that with transistor logic, the 500 series is really on the edge of dense both from a PCB and a front panel point of view, so if you are thinking about standardizing on a height... 3U is not enough if only because tubes are bigger than transistors.

I agree with bruce, more real estate is better!

 

[anjing]

Looks perfect, especially for those that want a slim 2 unit desktop box. I guess for those a
19 inch 2 unit rackmount PSU might be a bit hefty.

Personally I like rackmountable stuff since I move my little home studio around,
and would find it interesting with a "full size 3U rackable lunchbox" enclosure with this
floor box PSU. But I guess that's like building your tube mixer, but without the mix part
and that is not the discussion here...or?

Best
Magnus

Hi Magnus,

  It think the idea is to offer a solution to people who want to use the eztube modules without building the whole mixer, at least that's the interest for me.

Regards,

Pierre

 

[anjing]

Is the EZ tube mixer a 3U or 4U or is it really just a backplane spec? 

My only input is that with transistor logic, the 500 series is really on the edge of dense both from a PCB and a front panel point of view, so if you are thinking about standardizing on a height... 3U is not enough if only because tubes are bigger than transistors.

The EZ Tube Mixer is essentially a backplane spec and a set of PCBs that plug into it. You can build modules of any height you like from 3U upwards. The channel modules I am building for my demo mixer for example are 6U high and contain a complete mic pre with EQ, pan and AUX sends.

Even at 3U, there's a bit more front panel space than in a 500 series module, simply because the minimum module width is 2.8 inches in order to accommodate the tubes which are mounted horizontally.

The only problem is that ready made sub-rack systems come in 3U and 6U sizes. and 6U is too big really for a lunch box. 4U would probably be ideal but paralytically no-one makes a standard 4U sub-rack.

Cheers

Ian

Hi Ian,

  Would the price of custom 4u sidecheeks+rails be much more expensive then the regular kit from schroff? People could choose to either have rack ears or a wood cabinet for a lunch box but would be using the same standard frame. Also the built in card base psu could fit in 4u...

Regards,

Pierre

 

[irfrench]

Is the EZ tube mixer a 3U or 4U or is it really just a backplane spec? 

My only input is that with transistor logic, the 500 series is really on the edge of dense both from a PCB and a front panel point of view, so if you are thinking about standardizing on a height... 3U is not enough if only because tubes are bigger than transistors.

From my understanding each unit would be the same 'height' as a 500-slot but about twice the 'width' (500: about 1.5 inches, EZTube: about 2.8 inches):

So controls should be a lot easier to fit in?  I assume this was done so that the tubes can fit 'across' the image rather that in/out of the image.  Not sure if that makes sense!? 

I'm keeping an eye on this thread as I love the two-full-channels (Pre[2 units] and EQ [1 unit] - x2) idea.  I'd probably want to build the PSU into a 2u rack case (as per the older 51x solution).

I'm going to show my ignorance here - how does this compare to the Mixer project?  It this ultimately a way to simplify the build?

Excuse me.  :-[

Ian

 

[Dr Gris]

Looks perfect, especially for those that want a slim 2 unit desktop box. I guess for those a
19 inch 2 unit rackmount PSU might be a bit hefty.

Personally I like rackmountable stuff since I move my little home studio around,
and would find it interesting with a "full size 3U rackable lunchbox" enclosure with this
floor box PSU. But I guess that's like building your tube mixer, but without the mix part
and that is not the discussion here...or?

Best
Magnus

Hi Magnus,

  It think the idea is to offer a solution to people who want to use the eztube modules without building the whole mixer, at least that's the interest for me.

Regards,

Pierre

That would be interesting for me too.
I don't know the details of the EZ Tube Mixer but your builds look spectacular,
and a piece of that without the mixer is a cool idea.
Don't know what form factor Ian has in mind, but I guess that's what this thread is about,
to get input from people that are interested. I don't have the knowledge about these things,
but I read with interest what you more experienced people think.
Bring it on!

Best regards
Magnus

 

[ruffrecords]

I'll try and put a little context around the recent discussion.

The EZ Tube Mixer project is a series of PCBs and a backplane designed to allow relatively experienced constructors to build a complete all tube mixer with all the facilities you would expect like stepped  mic gain, phase,phantom,pad,mic/line switching, various flavours of three band EQ, routing, pan, AUX sends and Direct Outs.

The idea of the EZ Tube Lunch Box is to take a small subset of that and place it in a smaller container, so you can build, for example a few tube mic pres with or without EQ, or just a bank of tube EQ, in a 19 inch sub-rack or smaller.

The PCBs are already available and they are all Eurocard size so they will fit into a 3U high slot. Each PCB is assigned 2.8 inches of front panel width in order to accommodate the tubes which are horizontal. The main discussion  right now is about how best to package a small number of them, along with a power supply, so they will be of greatest use to the greatest number of people.

There are pics of some of the PCBs and mixer channel layouts, for those not familiar with the project, here:

http://www.ianbell.ukfsn.org/EzTubeMixer/docs/EzTubeMixer/PCBpics/

Cheers

Ian

 

[okgb]

I'd like to know more .........

 

[ruffrecords]

Hi Ian,

  Would the price of custom 4u sidecheeks+rails be much more expensive then the regular kit from schroff? People could choose to either have rack ears or a wood cabinet for a lunch box but would be using the same standard frame. Also the built in card base psu could fit in 4u...

Regards,

Pierre

I knew I had seen a 4U rack somewhere. Rittal make one:

http://www.rittal.com/products/katalog.asp?ViewAt=2-2-112-5-57&Dom=en&lang=GB&NavName=4%20U

but they are the only one I can find. As far as custom side panels are concerned I think the easiest approach would be to standardise on Schroff, for two reasons. First they seem to be readily available everywhere and second, their pattern of holes for mounting extrusions is very straightforward which means we (I) are less likely to make mistakes in designing custom end cheeks.

To answer your question, I expect custom side cheeks would be more expensive than off the shelf ones. The manufacturers have the advantage of economy of scale. 4U is an attractive size, one I seriously considered a long while back but bandoned only because of the lack of off the shelf parts. I'll draw up  rough cheeck in FPD and see what it costs.

Cheers

Ian

 

[anjing]

Hi Ian,
  You are right Ian,I did a test with fpd and i got something like 26$ for each side panel, wich is not so bad.
But we still have to source the rails and rackmount extrusions wich will probably make
this option more complicated and more expensive.
Maybe a rackmount with external power is the best solution? Totally modular Holger's way.

Regards,

Pierre

 

 

[anjing]

Hi Ian,

I found a 4u sidecheek in the schroff pdf part number is 06108011. I just sent an email to schroff in the us to see if i can order from them directly...

Regards,

Pierre

 

[ruffrecords]

Hi Ian,

I found a 4u sidecheek in the schroff pdf part number is 06108011. I just sent an email to schroff in the us to see if i can order from them directly...

Regards,

Pierre

Schroff will sell you any of their parts but they have a minimum order value in the UK of 100GBP if memory serves.

Cheers

Ian

 

[ruffrecords]

Hi Ian,

I found a 4u sidecheek in the schroff pdf part number is 06108011. I just sent an email to schroff in the us to see if i can order from them directly...

Regards,

Pierre

I checked the Schroff UK web site for that part number but it is not recognised. Can you check it is the right one?

Cheers
Ian

 

[ruffrecords]

In yesterday's post I got some prototype PCBs of the lunch box PSU. I started putting it together last night. I need to buy a few more components. I'll post more details when it is built.

Cheers

Ian

 

[anjing]

Hi Ian,

I found a 4u sidecheek in the schroff pdf part number is 06108011. I just sent an email to schroff in the us to see if i can order from them directly...

Regards,

Pierre

I checked the Schroff UK web site for that part number but it is not recognised. Can you check it is the right one?

Cheers
Ian

Sorry Ian,
I don't know were that came from, the 295mm one is 34560-289.
It's on page 22 of the pdf catalogue i have.

Regards!

Pierre

 

[G-Sun]

I have a dual tube pre maybe with DI, and maybe with eq on my list.
This project could maybe be the thing