NV73 build

[kepeb]

everyone likes 1073's, and pictures, and DIY... and pointing out mistakes! so please don't hesitate

just ordered my transformers and remaining parts so I have begun to populate my pcb's
started with resistors, as is generally accepted, they are smaller.
left out the two 6.81k's which have to be matched closely until i can use a better meter than the one i have here.

Decided to add the two electrolytic's before the poly's to save them keep knocking the work surface every time I turn the board over.
the rest is populated as pictured, i'm still waiting on the last few bits...

the last pic here is what i have so far,
feel free to point out my ugly radials in axial positions I may replace them)

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/kepeb/forum/SDC12748.jpg
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/kepeb/forum/SDC12747.jpg
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/kepeb/forum/SDC12745.jpg
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/kepeb/forum/SDC12744.jpg
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/kepeb/forum/SDC12743.jpg
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/kepeb/forum/SDC12741.jpg
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/kepeb/forum/SDC12752.jpg

any comments, questions or advice would be appreciated

 

[canidoit]

I may have made the same mistake as you with the caps in radial positioning?? Did you buy those caps through Don's BOM list or did you go indie?

It looks like it's coming along well, what knobs did you pick on yours. I picked some cheap old school looking ones. Feel free to check it out on my Word list in my journey thread. I used 1/8 shaft for the trim knob and 1/4 shaft for the gain knob. Do you know if that is right? Don should put that in his BOM or manual what size knobs to get unless I overlooked it.

All the best with your build!

 

[kepeb]

hey, cool. yea you too
I actually just got through modifying my gain knobs. i cant bring myself to splash out so much to ams/ still not settled on trim knobs but i have some real old ones that should look the part.
the shaft size was a shock to me when i got the pot through.

the bom i used was what was originally posted, except most were out of stock when i got there so i searched for equal or better but forgot about axial/radial in favour of completing the bom order from one place..
even then i missed a on off relay and the bc184c's.

knobs
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n76/kepeb/forum/SDC12760.jpg

 

[kepeb]

Edited post to clean up the thread.
this is really still part of my nv73 build process so i will document what i did with some 'neve like' knobs I got here.

After searching high and low (literally!!) for nice look alike knobs I finally have some that look good to me. they are of course not 'proper' but I think these are as close as you can get for a tenth of what marconis would have cost!
it was worth it to me for cosmetics and for DIY

the order of the photos below maybe wrong but it goes like this:

you could just dremel then glue the two parts together following the key with green arrows, and then drill a hole through both.

this might be ok for some. but I wanted to spend more time on them, here are my many steps.

top part
first step is to remove excess plastic, there are before and after pics.
this involves cutting the protruding plastic glob off. if there is one (there are only a few with this now)
next I took a light sand paper to any blemish and a practically blunt needle file (nail file is great for this) to the under side where it meets the skirt.
then I put 't-cut' over it with my finger in a rag.
then I lightly buffed/cleaned off the t-cut with a clean soft cloth
put some white acrylic in for the front line with my thumb
then polished with mr sheen or a silicone spray.

this all took about ten minutes with one handed photos in between.

skirt:
put it on some light grit sand paper and rubbed it flat
polished and buffed as above except this took about 15 mins on its own. each.

attached the two parts with uhu and left to dry.
drilled through both and pressed it on my pot shaft.

I tried a different way of mounting the skirt on some of them but it is far easier to hollow out just enough in the underside for the full skirt then drill through both.

I think lorlins and other switches require way more pressure. I was thinking of just taking the brass inserts from cheap knobs and putting them in here for that.

 

[kepeb]

result

I am getting some more for those interested @ £3.50ea inc p&p

 

[leadbreath]

hey kepeb, nice work man...

im definitely interested in about 8.
let me know how much they'll be

much appreciated.

cheers
mick

 

[canidoit]

Kepeb, didn't realise you made the neve knobs as well. They look great!

Though I have come to a liking with the ones I used.

I am pairing mine with my EQN1084 

Just need to find some time to record with it.

 

[Alistair]

I'd love 4.  Will PM you.

 

[jandoste]

8 will be the love for me

 

[dissonantstring]

hi kepeb,
at £3.50 each I'd be interested in a few.  the only thing i am concerned about is the clear plastic skirt and the coloring of the knob.  the buffing sure sounds like a lot of work, but i guess at the price you really can't complain.  great job and much encouragement to you.  look into the stockli knobs as well as someone suggested in the marconi knob thread. 

what did you use to buff the plastic with?
cheers,
grant

 

[kepeb]

glad you asked.

to be honest, I was thinking about stressing about this element again. they're obviously better than all the stuff I tried at home but are not in any way meant to be direct replacement parts and do need some work, still have imperfections and they aren't exactly the same as the originals in colour either,

this is what I did with my two in detail:
on the red part.
drilled a hole in the bottom with the knob gripped in a soft cloth, drilled a hole through the side for a grub screw. then used a dremel to clear out anything which might block the clear skirt or pot shaft from fitting right.
and probably not needed but I got some very fine sand paper (I think around P1200) and went over some by hand. then polished with a soft cloth and Mr Sheen furniture polish

then on the clear part.
I rubbed the flat bottom surface on a old tshirt/cloth wrapped tight around a flat ceramic place matt with bizarrely... T-Cut, the car stuff. did this for some time using the tcut like a compound, then buffed it on a clean section of the same old tshirt and it was looking glassy

then i went around the edge, then the top, doing the same thing with continuous rotation and t-cut. I did this by wrapping the t-shirt over the hard edge/corner of my place matt with 90degree angle, like the edge of a table. this way I was able to reach both the flat and vertical parts of the top of the skirt with strokes as I rotated it. then just UHU'ed it to the red bit.

some other points.
I broke one of the skirts by rubbing it with a lot of force and not applying pressure behind where I was rubbing. this may need a picture to explain better. foolish.
I think I might drill out the holes further and steal the brass inserts from my butchered chicken heads, they are fine up to now and on standard pots but i'm afraid the hard clunking and pressure required to turn the bournes switch might stress it with just one grub screw directly in the plastic.

whatever I tried to buff them quicker didnt work very well. even the slowest setting on my dremel will melt any plastic I put it to. useless.

there will obviously be much better ways to do this and more DIY knowledgeable people wont suffer much you will have to advise me.

 

[creal]

Hi Kepeb, great woks your knobs is cool

I'm in for 2 nice Red or 4 if is possible

Cheers
Cyril

 

[Sylvain D.]

Hey Kepeb,

Have you thought of making some grey ones also?

 

[kepeb]

hey, i'm going to get some more today.
i'll check about grey, what about blue?

 

[solderspongebob]

I've spent quite a while buffing the skirt on my two by hand

Fnarr, Fnarr! Sorry, couldn't resist pointing out that one!

 

[peter purpose]

Snigger

 

[kepeb]

oh the mental images.
this place gets more like a carry on film every day

 

[Sylvain D.]

Good idea,
Blues could also be of use.

 

[3nity]

i will get 8 of those knobs!
Thanks.

 

[leadbreath]

hey kepeb

so what's the score? shall we wait for the new production line or are u still selling the few available ones??

looks like u might be onto something huge here!?

mick