rainton's P2P LA2A chassis "original style" discussion thread

[Quayhog]

I just bought mine from Instrument Meter Specialties.  $ 162 USD.  This price includes shipping and California sales tax (11%). 
I've been exchanging emails with  [email protected] for the last three days.

He is now well aware of this project.  The bracket for the light assembly is currently out of stock.  I suggested he order a few extras.  I found Jason extremely helpful and he knew just what I needed.  He even figured out what the DIY project was without any hints.

Any other builders from the the bay are in California (Palo Alto).
Jonathan
Quayhog53 at gmail

 

[rainton]

I just bought mine from Instrument Meter Specialties.  $ 162 USD.  This price includes shipping and California sales tax (11%). 
I've been exchanging emails with  [email protected] for the last three days.

He is now well aware of this project.  The bracket for the light assembly is currently out of stock.  I suggested he order a few extras.  I found Jason extremely helpful and he knew just what I needed.  He even figured out what the DIY project was without any hints.

Any other builders from the the bay are in California (Palo Alto).
Jonathan
Quayhog53 at gmail

Awesome!!
By bracket for the light assembly - do you mean the small lamp holder bracket that is mounted to the front panel from the inside?

Or the big bracket that goes behind the meter?
Because the latter one is the one I was talking about which won't fit.

But I'm sure Jason knows what he's doing

 

[Quayhog]

It's the flat bracket that secures a single festoon lamp.  He has those too.  The way I understoodvthings I was the " light box" that won't fit.

 

[rainton]

It's the flat bracket that secures a single festoon lamp.  He has those too.  The way I understoodvthings I was the " light box" that won't fit.

The thing is Jonathan, that if you want to do it as per the original you don't need that flat bracket mounted to the back of the meter.

Like I said there's this small screw hole just above the meter - this where the lamp holder goes and the lamp will illuminate the meter from above:

 

[weiss]

The thing is Jonathan, that if you want to do it as per the original you don't need that flat bracket mounted to the back of the meter.

Like I said there's this small screw hole just above the meter - this where the lamp holder goes and the lamp will illuminate the meter from above:

I am okay with that

 

[hymentoptera]

Okay great, so i will do a group buy. There is already interest in 3 vu meters

Count me in if you haven't already, and if it's not intended for Germany-only. If you think you can get a better deal buying multiple units then I would think quite a few of us would be in for a deal on 1 or 2. Maybe even one of us here in the States could handle the actual meter group transaction, and then ship one package to Germany to be distributed locally by someone else? Might save a little money that way?

 

[Le Roux]

I'm also interested in a meter please.

Thanks
Neil

 

[weiss]

Okay great, so i will do a group buy. There is already interest in 3 vu meters

Count me in if you haven't already, and if it's not intended for Germany-only. If you think you can get a better deal buying multiple units then I would think quite a few of us would be in for a deal on 1 or 2. Maybe even one of us here in the States could handle the actual meter group transaction, and then ship one package to Germany to be distributed locally by someone else? Might save a little money that way?

you are right, it makes more sense this way. would you be able to do that?

 

[Floti]

Depending on the final price I might be interested in a second unit! Until when can I make my final decission? I'd also be interested in that meter group buy, count me in!

 

[weiss]

Depending on the final price I might be interested in a second unit! Until when can I make my final decission? I'd also be interested in that meter group buy, count me in!

four more days. you are in for the meter group buy

 

[Unit7]

So this meter fits the case, but will it still touch the turret board? I though that was the big problem with the Sifam. Or will this case be deeper depth to account for that?

No it won't touch the turret board I think. Paul - our fellow forum member who uses the Sifam in his LA2A got it working perfectly for him (without the light box that is). My enclosure has the original depth and so does his, so it should be alright.
enclosure depth = 7cm

At least it should work perfectly fine if you mount the turret board the original way - without standoffs. The original only has a sheet of insulation material underneath the turret board (fish paper) - I used a thin sheet of rubber mat - but other than that the turret board is mounted right to the bottom of the enclosure...

Hi! I'm not on forums much these days, so I missed this. I'm the guy using AndroidTubes chassi and the Sifam meter (with logo) from IMS. As stated it works just fine, as long as you don't expect Sifam's Lightbox to fit. The Lightbox is an option you pay extra for. The logo plate on the meter from IMS is not transparent (I think it's thin aluminum) so the Lightbox or any other solution that lights up from behind wouldn't work very well, so the original LA2 solution is the way to go, if you'll be using the logo meter from IMS or Kulka.

Because I'm not as wild (skilled that is) as Rainton I didn't want to drill a hole for the light on the faceplate so instead I made a small bracket to hold the lamp (BA9s) and found a good place on the meter where it was mounted:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1141125/LA2pics/Lamp%20bracket.jpg

And here's the whole backside of the faceplate:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1141125/LA2pics/LA2%20ready%20open%20faceplate.jpg

And just to get the feel for how good those logo meters from IMS look:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1141125/LA2pics/Pauls%20LA2%20finished.jpg

Btw, I did a full build diary over at RGO last year.

Anyway the unit is working/sounding great, so I'll join the club to support Rainton's initiative, for another build in the future. Sign me up for one!

Oh yes, @ Weiss please sign me up for the meter group buy from IMS too. When I asked one year ago they had 22 logo meters in stock..

edit: BTW @ Weiss: How about adding a lamp holder to the group buy? At least for us europeans it could save some shipping costs.
I used this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/CED-L104-INDICATOR-INCANDESCENT-LAMP-BULB-BAYONET-9mm-BA9S-BASE-SOCKET-HOLDER-/150716537727?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item231767db7f

It's 32mm from fastening hole to the edge. But lamp will extend 10-12mm further, so source of light would end up slightly off to the right of center over the meter, which imo would be good enough.
For a couple of Euros more here's an adjustable lamp holder:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Miniature-Bayonet-Incandescent-Bulb-Holder-Ba9S-Base-Socket-for-47-Type-Lamps-/220907395726?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item336f1b5a8e

Both these seem a bit expensive, so I'm pretty sure you could get a better price for 10+, plus save some shipping


Paul

 

[hymentoptera]

Okay great, so i will do a group buy. There is already interest in 3 vu meters

Count me in if you haven't already, and if it's not intended for Germany-only. If you think you can get a better deal buying multiple units then I would think quite a few of us would be in for a deal on 1 or 2. Maybe even one of us here in the States could handle the actual meter group transaction, and then ship one package to Germany to be distributed locally by someone else? Might save a little money that way?

you are right, it makes more sense this way. would you be able to do that?

I really have no experience with this sort of thing. I'm guessing everyone would paypal 1 person who would then paypal the distributor at time of transaction? Does the distributor even take paypal? Do we know for sure they even offer a discount, and is it enough to justify a group buy?

 

[weiss]

And here's the whole backside of the faceplate:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1141125/LA2pics/LA2%20ready%20open%20faceplate.jpg

And just to get the feel for how good those logo meters from IMS look:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1141125/LA2pics/Pauls%20LA2%20finished.jpg

Btw, I did a full build diary over at RGO last year.

Anyway the unit is working/sounding great, so I'll join the club to support Rainton's initiative, for another build in the future. Sign me up for one!

Oh yes, @ Weiss please sign me up for the meter group buy from IMS too. When I asked one year ago they had 22 logo meters in stock..

edit: BTW @ Weiss: How about adding a lamp holder to the group buy? At least for us europeans it could save some shipping costs.
I used this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/CED-L104-INDICATOR-INCANDESCENT-LAMP-BULB-BAYONET-9mm-BA9S-BASE-SOCKET-HOLDER-/150716537727?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item231767db7f

It's 32mm from fastening hole to the edge. But lamp will extend 10-12mm further, so source of light would end up slightly off to the right of center over the meter, which imo would be good enough.
For a couple of Euros more here's an adjustable lamp holder:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Miniature-Bayonet-Incandescent-Bulb-Holder-Ba9S-Base-Socket-for-47-Type-Lamps-/220907395726?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item336f1b5a8e

Both these seem a bit expensive, so I'm pretty sure you could get a better price for 10+, plus save some shipping

Wow this looks very promising!!

Yes, i thought that as well. I just wrote Ike from IMS about discount, available stock and lamp. Will get a response soon ;-)

best regards
weiss

 

[rainton]

Depending on the final price I might be interested in a second unit! Until when can I make my final decission? I'd also be interested in that meter group buy, count me in!

So great to see how this project is evolving!

Yes 3 more days from today.

Since we reached more than 20 now the final price will be 160 Euros per chassis + shipping & Paypal

Anyway the unit is working/sounding great, so I'll join the club to support Rainton's initiative, for another build in the future. Sign me up for one!

Paul

Hey Paul - so good to see you around here!! 
And thanks for all the info - I'm sure it's very helpful to everyone!
I'll add you to the list

Wow this looks very promising!!

Yes, i thought that as well. I just wrote Ike from IMS about discount, available stock and lamp. Will get a response soon ;-)

best regards
weiss

I might also be interested in a meter - depending on wether they give us a discount and how much...

 

[Unit7]

Okay great, so i will do a group buy. There is already interest in 3 vu meters

Count me in if you haven't already, and if it's not intended for Germany-only. If you think you can get a better deal buying multiple units then I would think quite a few of us would be in for a deal on 1 or 2. Maybe even one of us here in the States could handle the actual meter group transaction, and then ship one package to Germany to be distributed locally by someone else? Might save a little money that way?

you are right, it makes more sense this way. would you be able to do that?

I really have no experience with this sort of thing. I'm guessing everyone would paypal 1 person who would then paypal the distributor at time of transaction? Does the distributor even take paypal? Do we know for sure they even offer a discount, and is it enough to justify a group buy?

IMS accepts PayPal, no prob.
After reading the discussion so far I agree that if there will be both U.S and non U.S buyers it would be better to distribute from a U.S. recipient. There will be custom fees and we don't want to get EU fees first and then US fees on top of that when sending it back to the States. However, our U.S. distributor would have to check regulations and stuff. As this could be treated as a sale/distribution, and you'll probably be forced to declare what's in the boxes etc etc, I have no idea if there's any additional export fees that you would have to pay. So another idea is to check if Jason would accept one group buy divided into two shipments, one U.S. and one international. Asking him is easy..

 

[Unit7]

It's the flat bracket that secures a single festoon lamp.  He has those too.  The way I understoodvthings I was the " light box" that won't fit.

Edit: (Sorry guys, I was wrong about the festoon lamp option measurements, so this post has been edited). Sifam's festoon lamp option (not the Lightbox, that's yet another option from Sifam) will most likely fit. But since Rainton's case will have the hole on the faceplate for mounting the lamp, you'll have to decide what to do with that. Btw, The lamp holder in the original (as well as Rainton's and mine) is the same style used in old pinball machines, juke boxes etc.

Below is a pdf from Sifam about all options, measurements etc

 

[remsouille]

HA cool! Count me in for 2!!

 

[rainton]

HA cool! Count me in for 2!!

Great! So that makes it 25 now! 

 

[hymentoptera]

Just as a refresher, and so that I know what to ask for, what are my adapter plate and transformer options?

I probably can't afford all original transformers, at least not any time soon, so I'll likely be using optional replacement parts.

If someone could list the obvious or popular options, and which adapter plates are needed, I could do some quick research and find out which plates are needed.

Also, rainton, can you list all adapters plates are being offered? For inexperienced people like me?

 

[weiss]

Just as a refresher, and so that I know what to ask for, what are my adapter plate and transformer options?

I probably can't afford all original transformers, at least not any time soon, so I'll likely be using optional replacement parts.

If someone could list the obvious or popular options, and which adapter plates are needed, I could do some quick research and find out which plates are needed.

Also, rainton, can you list all adapters plates are being offered? For inexperienced people like me?

Original LA2A uses the UTC HA100X (or A10) input and A24 output transformers. They do appear on eBay sometimes, but can be rather expensive, however, there are equivalents available from Sowter and others.
The original Triad R-4A power trafo can be found as well occasionally and at a reasonable price, but the Hammond 369JX is a fine replacement and features universal primaries.

replacement for input: http://www.sowter.co.uk/specs/1009.htm
replacement for output: http://www.sowter.co.uk/specs/1010.htm