Diy chip amp project!

Kanifee · 19 Apr 2008 at 19:44

Some of you may remember me posting enquiring about D.I.Y chip amps, well i got around to starting a project and i thought i would share my progress with you all.

My kit came from WWW.CHIPAMP.COM and its based around the LM3886 chip, by all acounts its a pretty decent amp and great for a first project because of its low componant count and ease of build.
Sorry for the shots the old 5mp cam isnt getting old gracefully

These are the pcb's as they arrive, I got a special deal and got a spare psu and amp boards for free with my order of the stereo kit.
These are the amp bords.

This is the pcb for the subberized power supply.

Here are some shots of the power supply pcb's populated and solderd, looks nice and neat, i was suprised how well these turned out, all soldering is done with lead free silver/tin solder.

The amp boards were a lot of fun to do, the lm3886 chips i got came well packaged and were in top condition considering its journey form the US.

The underside to show the solder and input/output connections along with the V+ and V- points, and lastly the chasis earth.

Kanifee · 19 Apr 2008 at 19:45

Im yet to buy a case for it as i wont be making one, im ordering one from germany i think, they are pretty decent all aluminium cases with an optional 10mm front face to give it that extra quality and look.
Ive got the connectors for the back

here are my RCA chasis mounts for my inputs, i plan to have 3 inputs.

These are the banana plug binding posts for the speaker outputs, all the connectors are gold plated and look pretty sweet!

hear are some shots of the board together, all i need now is to source a toroidal transformer suitable for the project and i can get this thing fired up, im in 2 minds weather to have this as a power amplifier or weather to add a volume control and input selector in the same case, if i dont i will be making a pre amp to sit on top matching with the input selector and volume pot in.

Kanifee · 19 Apr 2008 at 20:20

Im liking the work, funny enough modshop.biz was were im planing on getting my case from, was thinking of the galaxy maggiorato, really nice looking cases.

Kanifee · 19 Apr 2008 at 20:56

By tools do you mean cutting and drilling tools? if so yes ive got a dremel etc, if you do mean other tools what and what will i expect to need to complete the project?

Kanifee · 19 Apr 2008 at 20:58

Any tips on transformers and were to get those bad boys form aswell?

Kanifee · 19 Apr 2008 at 21:36

Not 100% sure, ive been trying to get intouch with the bloke i bought it form, looking through forums it apears i need 170va but from that im unsure.

Kanifee · 19 Apr 2008 at 22:15

I have no idea to be hounest, im gonna have to scour the diy forums to find other examples of the kit i think as im not having to much luck wiht the retailer at the mo.
Really excited about it though even to just get it on the test rig to run its burn in?/test run.

Kanifee · 20 Apr 2008 at 09:51

Looking pretty cool, a little to advanced for me a from scratch kit but ill get there, id love to build the full tripath kit from 41hz but with the power supply boards amd boards and other kits you need to go in with it i think it totals out at around £180 just for the kits, then you need cases connector and other such gubbins.
By all accounts though a kick ass amp when done.

Kanifee · 20 Apr 2008 at 10:29

Yeh forgot to mention i need to source some heatsinks, im thnking of using a couple of old pentium 4 sinks.
As for wiring the transformer, this will be my biggest hurdle, ive never heald a toroidal transformer never mind wire any type of transformer for any sort of opperation, i will be doing a little research into them before i do anything.

I sent the retailer an email the other day but have had no reply, these are pretty important questions i had for him so ill ask you lot just to clear it up.

Once the amp has been fitted to the test rig and powerd up, tested and confirmed working for a period of a few hours without a problem it will be needed to be moved into it's permanant chasis; what issues should i look for when moving it, ie: what componants will hold charge, and how do i discharge them to be 100% safe and, the transformer retain charge when disconnected from the mains and the psu board?

Kanifee · 21 Apr 2008 at 19:21

really will be a buzz when i power it up for the first time, i cant wait to hear what sort of sound quality i get out of it. My girlfriend thinks im insane for building one and not just buying a prebuilt amp form a shop, she doesnt understand the finer details of self love felt when you do something like this

Kanifee · 22 Apr 2008 at 10:05

I have my own space, a small 10x14 foot room at the back of our house, top floor. Ive never seen the missus get so possessive over something that wasnt hers besides me

Constantly all i get is "tidy that **** hole!" to wich i respond "thats what the bloody door is there for, get out woman"

Kanifee · 23 Apr 2008 at 09:13

And here i thought i was alone

Feels like home allready!