Pretty PIOs

Rainy days in Michigan, eh.



Did white shrinkwrap on the Russian PIO upgrade and they looked kinda bland. A bit of fun with Photoshop and printed up the decals on standard label full page stock. Wotcher think?

VERY NICE !!

Why, thankewverymuch! My original plan was to dress them up like Bumblebees, but I think this turned out pretty slick. The artwork is based on what was printed on these specific caps in case somewhere down the road somebody tries to deconstruct what's going on under the hood.

My only concern is heat, but from what I can find, heat really isn't an issue inside the chassis. The labels themselves are just paper (Avery full sheet label material), and I debated gloss coating them, but I'll leave them as is and see what happens. I overlapped the label about a quarter inch, and they stick right tight to the heatshrink too.

if someone had clear heatshrink (which I haven't found in that size yet) then the labels could go on the caps before the heatshrink!

If I could have found clear heatshrink, I wouldn't have needed the labels as that stuff's already printed on the cap. I'd also have been able to preserve Bob's chicken scratched matching numbers in all their glory for posteriorarity!

PS ... couldn't help but notice you've got your large caps mounted on the wrong side of the board in your avatar ...

I'd be ashamed to tell you what I paid for what I used. Not being much into this whole planning thing, I ended up getting lucky and finding some at the local hardware store. Hefty stuff though - it's what they use for waterproofing underground electrical joints.

Very neat work!!

Michael

thanks Ken, I bought the 3/4" clear the same seller had for $8, enough for about 24 caps

I've got some florescent pink and green label stock here - that'd certainly brighten things up ...

tubes4hifi wrote:thanks Ken, I bought the 3/4" clear the same seller had for $8, enough for about 24 caps

You're welcome!

Pics of the wrapped caps would be appreciated by all I'm sure.

Also a question: do the green Russian PIO caps need to be wrapped?

FYI ... about a quarter inch of overlap on either end should be good to dress the ends nicely. Any more, and you get like a nipple effect ... not that I got anything against nipples ...

Heat gun too ... I'd think the standard bickum flickus approach would stain a clear covering?

The clear shrink tube works great!
[img][/img]https://s1325.photobucket.com/user/RoscoeAJones/media/Bottomdriverboard_zps621e42e4.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2

Maintarget wrote:The clear shrink tube works great!

Is that the same "shrink tube" from my Post #11?

Nipples!!

I see you put your caps on the wrong side too ... apparently a lot of that going around.

If it is the same shrink tube Fry's electronics sells then yes it is the same
All caps on the bottom of the board to facilitate a smooth, flush mount in enclosure with no fasteners showing.
First build and job demands so the plan is to take my time no rush, more to come soon.

My plan was to rush but I started thinking on a custom chassis when I stumbled across this one ...



The perfect platform for purty PIO's ...

http://wardsweb.org/audio/ST70/

I REALLY like the shape of the wood. Only thing I'd change is cutting in a front panel for twin volume and bias meters. I photoshopped this mockup just for shitzengiggles ...



The tube layout would really compliment the big KT120 tubes I plan to use too.

sKiZo wrote:My plan was to rush but I started thinking on a custom chassis when I stumbled across this one ...

The perfect platform for purty PIO's ...

http://wardsweb.org/audio/ST70/

I REALLY like the shape of the wood ... only thing I'd change is cutting in a front panel for twin volume and bias meters. The tube layout would really compliment the big KT120 tubes I plan to use too.

Wardsweb is well-known over at the Bottlehead forum and yes, he's very talented.

Okay, before we wander too far off the original topic - Pretty PIOs: Is there any compelling reason to favor PVC shrink tubing over polyolefin (the usual) shrink tubing?

Besides "It sounds better, man!"

That custom enclosure with the curved look is bitchen.

hawaii.ken wrote:

tubes4hifi wrote:thanks Ken, I bought the 3/4" clear the same seller had for $8, enough for about 24 caps

You're welcome!

Pics of the wrapped caps would be appreciated by all I'm sure.

Also a question: do the green Russian PIO caps need to be wrapped?

I would do it, in fact, I am. I'd rather have some peace of mind than a possibility of a short.

Cheap insurance for a relatively large investment ...

Been thinking of shrink wrapping my tubes too ... any recommendations?

I fired up my ST-35 the other day, let it warm up for 5-10 minutes, and smelled something weird when I went back to the room. It smelled like burnt plastic. A plastic sandwich baggie had accidently slipped off a pile of CD's and landed alongside a nice hot EL84! It created a nice half circle divot in the baggie. I was able to get most of the plastic off the tube, the melted plastic having the substance of a very soft ju-jube.

Not exactly shrink wrap, but kinda'.

Captain Coconut wrote:I fired up my ST-35 the other day, let it warm up for 5-10 minutes, and smelled something weird when I went back to the room. It smelled like burnt plastic. A plastic sandwich baggie had accidently slipped off a pile of CD's and landed alongside a nice hot EL84! It created a nice half circle divot in the baggie. I was able to get most of the plastic off the tube, the melted plastic having the substance of a very soft ju-jube.

Not exactly shrink wrap, but kinda'.

Get it as clean as you can then use lighter fluid and a rag to remove the rest. The lighter fluid will dissolve the plastic gooey residue and leave you with a clean tube. Warning - let dry completely before re-installing.

D