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The Dynaco Tube Audio Forum

Dedicated to the restoration and preservation of all original Dynaco tube audio equipment - Customer support for Tubes4hifi VTA tube amp and preamp kits and all Dynakitparts.com products


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    New product - VTA driver board cover (photo)

    Bob Latino
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    Post by Bob Latino Sun Jan 30, 2011 11:35 am

    VTA cover - New product - VTA driver board cover (photo) VTAdriverboardcover-1

    Roy Mottram of tubes4hifi has sent me a prototype ST-70/ST-120 driver board cover made of a clear heat resistant acrylic. If fits right over the driver board. If you have an existing VTA driver board on your amp, move the four power supply can caps (C13, C14, C15 and C16) to the bottom of the driver board. The interstage caps C1 and C2 also will go to the bottom of the board. You then loosen and temporarily remove the four screws and nuts that hold the driver board to the chassis. Place the clear acrylic cover on the chassis top and replace the screws. Conveniently, there are 4 small holes on the top drirectly over the four bias pots to adjust bias. Contact Roy on the tubes4hifi web site for more info and pricing on the VTA ST-70/ST-120 driver board cover.

    Bob


    Last edited by Bob Latino on Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:43 pm; edited 2 times in total
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    Post by Bob Latino Mon Jan 31, 2011 3:47 pm

    baddog1946 wrote:when and how much? They look great for protecting the board.

    Email Roy directly at > roymottram@yahoo.com about pricing and the availability of the driver board covers.

    Bob
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    Post by Roy Mottram Sat Feb 12, 2011 1:43 pm

    we use a variety of capacitor sizes and there are many that will fit underneath without a problem, especially with our cap upgrade which uses larger values that are actually shorter in height because they are wider around.
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    Post by Roy Mottram Wed Mar 02, 2011 10:39 pm

    easy, a few more holes, a few more $$.
    OK, have sold several of these now, but I don't stock them, so I order them as requested.
    The big ?? is always "how much?"    Price is $45 including shipping inside USA.   That money goes
    to the guy who buys the plexiglass and then machines it without any cracks or scratches, and then the
    post office.   I make about $4 on the whole deal, hey guys, I've got to make my 10% to buy lunch.


    Last edited by tubes4hifi on Fri Oct 11, 2013 4:49 pm; edited 1 time in total
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    Post by Roy Mottram Fri Dec 09, 2011 6:08 pm

    December 2011 update on pricing for the plexi cover . . .
    with the VTA logo $45 includes shipping (the logo is clear as shown in photo)
    withOUT the logo $40 includes shipping
    as a reminder, you'll need to move the large caps to the bottom side of the board,
    as the cover only has holes for the 3 tubes, 4 bias pots, (and the 4 mounting screws)
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    Post by bigmm79 Fri Dec 09, 2011 8:30 pm

    I bought one of these and its great. Good looking and gives some peace of mind if you have curious kids around like I do. With the cover on the circuitry is not accessible for fingers, little or big. I'll try to post a picture later. Install was not fun, but was worth it. The caps, including larger upgraded ones, all fit on the bottom side of the board and within the chassis just fine.
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    Post by Roy Mottram Fri Dec 09, 2011 9:18 pm

    it should be an easy install other than moving the big caps to bottom, a solder sucker works better than solder wick
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    Post by Roy Mottram Wed Oct 24, 2012 4:06 pm

    just remember you've got about 5/16" between the board and cover (1/4" PCB mount spacers and 1/16" chassis thickness) to work with.
    So while I would recommend mounting those four components on the bottom, you could probably just bend them slightly and you would have enough clearance to leave them on top.
    As for the PIOs, I always recommend using insulation, either electrical tape or shrink tubing around the entire body,
    the capacitors won't get warm at all.
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    Post by Roy Mottram Sun Nov 02, 2014 10:34 pm

    it's been a couple years, just doing a refresh on this post so it's not lost 50 pages back . . .
    clear plexi VTA70 board cover
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    Post by slate1 Mon Sep 11, 2017 9:47 am

    So - I got a new full cover from dynakit, but I do not like the fact that I have to remove it to bias my ST-120. I have emailed Roy re:having one of these plexi driver board covers made to put to bed my concerns of having some knucklehead introduce themselves to the voltage running around on the driver board... Laughing

    Does anyone happen to have a picture of this installed? I believe everything that is necessary to be installed on the bottom of the PCB has already been done unless I'm missing something.

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    Post by Roy Mottram Mon Sep 11, 2017 11:44 am

    I went thru my archives of 100,000+ photos of VTA stuff and couldn't find that photo from six years ago,
    so someone else who has one (there are 6 or 7 of you out there somewhere) will have to be the hero who finds a photo.
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    Post by slate1 Mon Sep 11, 2017 11:54 am

    Thanks for looking! Does every thing on the board look good to go in regards to clearance, etc. for installing it?
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    Post by slate1 Mon Sep 11, 2017 12:25 pm

    Ordered! I'll post a picture here for anyone else that's curious once I get it installed.
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    Post by jfine Mon Sep 11, 2017 1:03 pm

    Now for the M125's? (with bias holes...)
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    Post by Roy Mottram Mon Sep 11, 2017 1:30 pm

    M125s, just send me an email if you want to order a pair of plexi covers, $55 the pair with shipping
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    Post by jfine Mon Sep 11, 2017 11:49 pm

    I forgot about the 100uf caps, need to flip those over?, if so, I don't remember if there's room or not...

    Anything else in the way?

    I'm thinking the cover is somewhat concave so that the top does not sit level with the chassis, or?

    Are these just clear plastic? Maybe matching stainless steel would look better?

    How does it attach?

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    Post by Roy Mottram Tue Sep 12, 2017 12:36 am

    yeah, wish someone could find the photo that used to be in this thread, then it would be obvious.
    Yes, the caps should all be mounted on the bottom side, otherwise you wind up with a small piece of plexiglass with alot of big holes in it.
    Could do it in aluminum for about $5 more for each one. It attaches with the same screws that hold the PCB in place.
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    Post by bluemeanies Thu Sep 14, 2017 8:38 am

    slate1 wrote:So - I got a new full cover from dynakit, but I do not like the fact that I have to remove it to bias my ST-120.  I have emailed Roy re:having one of these plexi driver board covers made to put to bed my concerns of having some knucklehead introduce themselves to the voltage running around on the driver board... Laughing

    Does anyone happen to have a picture of this installed?  I believe everything that is necessary to be installed on the bottom of the PCB has already been done unless I'm missing something.

    VTA cover - New product - VTA driver board cover (photo) Image110


    The idea of someone stabbing the driver board and as a by-product electrocution is easily solved. CERAMIC SCREWDRIVER which I purchased before I had my 125's in the house.
    Perfecto!
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    Post by Peter W. Thu Sep 14, 2017 9:14 am

    Our household is blessed with two active cats, two active dogs, and, occasionally, four active grandchildren (all old enough to know better for the most part), and frequent guests.

    Accordingly, there will be no exposed hot parts, either thermally or electrically.
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    Post by slate1 Thu Sep 14, 2017 1:01 pm

    Peter W. wrote:Our household is blessed with two active cats, two active dogs, and, occasionally, four active grandchildren (all old enough to know better for the most part), and frequent guests.

    Accordingly, there will be no exposed hot parts, either thermally or electrically.

    What Peter said - it doesn't take an EE degree to understand the dangerous level of electrical exposure on that board - the cover is cheap peace of mind in my opinion and retains the overall aesthetics of the amp to boot.
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    Post by slate1 Thu Sep 14, 2017 1:09 pm

    tubes4hifi wrote:just remember you've got about 5/16" between the board and cover (1/4" PCB mount spacers and 1/16" chassis thickness) to work with.
    So while I would recommend mounting those four components on the bottom, you could probably just bend them slightly and you would have enough clearance to leave them on top.
    As for the PIOs, I always recommend using insulation, either electrical tape or shrink tubing around the entire body,
    the capacitors won't get warm at all.

    Haven't received the cover yet, but in looking at it last night, I'm wondering if C11 and C12 along with U1 and U2 are going to be a problem since they stick up above the top of the chassis?

    I'm gathering from this post that the cover surface mounts on the chassis.  If so, wondering if I could solve it with some small spacers between the chassis and the cover?

    It looks like Bill put two nuts on the bolts holding the PCB in place that are acting as spacers between the chassis and the PCB - if there's enough room below, another option may be adding a bit larger spacers there to lower it a bit as well.
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    Post by bluemeanies Thu Sep 14, 2017 3:31 pm

    slate1 wrote:
    Peter W. wrote:Our household is blessed with two active cats, two active dogs, and, occasionally, four active grandchildren (all old enough to know better for the most part), and frequent guests.

    Accordingly, there will be no exposed hot parts, either thermally or electrically.

    What Peter said - it doesn't take an EE degree to understand the dangerous level of electrical exposure on that board - the cover is cheap peace of mind in my opinion and retains the overall aesthetics of the amp to boot.

    I am not sure if you were responding to my remarks and suggestion about ceramic screwdrivers..but I said nothing about the idea of covers for any tube amplifier being a bad idea. The ceramic screwdriver is merely additional protection.
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    Post by slate1 Thu Sep 14, 2017 3:56 pm

    bluemeanies wrote:
    slate1 wrote:
    Peter W. wrote:Our household is blessed with two active cats, two active dogs, and, occasionally, four active grandchildren (all old enough to know better for the most part), and frequent guests.

    Accordingly, there will be no exposed hot parts, either thermally or electrically.

    What Peter said - it doesn't take an EE degree to understand the dangerous level of electrical exposure on that board - the cover is cheap peace of mind in my opinion and retains the overall aesthetics of the amp to boot.

    I am not sure if you were responding to my remarks and suggestion about ceramic screwdrivers..but I said nothing about the idea of covers for any tube amplifier being a bad idea. The ceramic screwdriver is merely additional protection.

    I was responding to your remarks - sorry if they came off a bit snarky. I think Peter and I took it as an alternate suggestion to mitigate the problem of the exposed board, which is the point of the cover. I have a set of insulated screwdrivers I use when adjusting the bias, not sure I've seen the ceramic ones but I'll certainly look them up!
    bluemeanies
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    Post by bluemeanies Fri Sep 15, 2017 3:17 pm

    slate1 wrote:
    bluemeanies wrote:
    slate1 wrote:
    Peter W. wrote:Our household is blessed with two active cats, two active dogs, and, occasionally, four active grandchildren (all old enough to know better for the most part), and frequent guests.

    Accordingly, there will be no exposed hot parts, either thermally or electrically.

    What Peter said - it doesn't take an EE degree to understand the dangerous level of electrical exposure on that board - the cover is cheap peace of mind in my opinion and retains the overall aesthetics of the amp to boot.

    I am not sure if you were responding to my remarks and suggestion about ceramic screwdrivers..but I said nothing about the idea of covers for any tube amplifier being a bad idea. The ceramic screwdriver is merely additional protection.

    I was responding to your remarks - sorry if they came off a bit snarky.  I think Peter and I took it as an alternate suggestion to mitigate the problem of the exposed board, which is the point of the cover.  I have a set of insulated screwdrivers I use when adjusting the bias, not sure I've seen the ceramic ones but I'll certainly look them up!

    No Problem...check e-bay....also Walmart on-line
    Worth the investment.
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    Post by Bob Latino Sat Sep 16, 2017 1:13 pm

    jfine wrote:I forgot about the 100uf caps, need to flip those over?, if so, I don't remember if there's room or not...


    There is room to install the 100 uF Nichicon power caps on the bottom of the driver board if you want to do that ..

    Bob

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