Hee... Check out my coffee can attenuator!

[Regis]

I like to have a sense of humor about things so I built this L-Pad attenuator in a coffee can, and it turned out great! I want to thank you guys that gave me advise and tips on getting this thing done.

It's a 100 watt L-pad but I wouldn't use it with an amp more than 30, maybe 40 watts or so. I ran my Bandmaster into in during the testing stages and it got pretty warm, but that was before I installed it in the can with the fan and attached a heatsink to the L-Pad. It works fine with the Kay and only gets mildly warm even dialed way down with the amp dimed. The Kay is about a 20-25 watt amp. It would work fine with a Princeton, maybe a Deluxe Reverb, certainly things like Champs and Valve Juniors.

The switches:

Expresso/Decaff = Bright switch
Light/Strong = Bypass

Jacks:
Amp in
8 ohm speaker out
9-12v dc for fan

The bypass is a good idea because there is still some attenuation even with the L-pad up all the way.

I won't get into details but preparing the can and the label was a B*itch!!!
The electrical part took only a few minutes to wire up. I had most of the parts but if I had to buy it all again it would cost about $35, not including a can of coffee.

It certainly sounds just as good, and maybe better, (maybe because I made it myself ) than my Sholtz Power Soaks.

[Tom Phillips]

Cool. Any idea about something to build into a Jack Daniels Bottle?

[Enzo]

Well, COOL.


Years ago the Heathkit company made a dummy load for Amateur radio operators. Heath was big in short wave radiio. If you wanted to work on your transmitter, you couldn't be broadcasting crap, so you used a dummy load instead of an antenna. This one came in a gallon paint can and was called the "Cantenna." I kid you not.

Basically there was the flat lid for the can, and an RF connector was mounted on the top of it. Under the lid was mounted the resistor and whatever. WHen popped onto the top of the can, the metal can shielded the RF radiation, and the whole thing radiated heat. But threre was an added feature. If you wanted to up the power handling of the thing, you filled the can with oil. I'd use mineral oil for fire safety, transformer oil would be better, but where do you get it? With the load element in the oil bath, it could throw off a lot more heat.

So if you ever wanted to make a larger Cantenuator, you could run it oil filled. Um but if you do, leave out the fan and draft holes.

[bob p]

Gotta love the Boat Anchor Manual Archive:

ftp://bama.sbc.edu/downloads/heath/hn31/HN31_C.GIF

[Tom Phillips]

Photo

[Regis]

Enzo, that's funny... Paint Cantenuator!!!

More funny is that I was browsing in a hardware store yesterday and saw some empty paint cans in the paint aisle. I thought hmm... that quart size can would be perfect for another attenuator. They were only a couple of dollars. Wouldn't be any harder to work with than the coffee can.

[Regis]

Cool. Any idea about something to build into a Jack Daniels Bottle?

No, only thing I know about Jack Daniels is how to get the bottle empty.

[Rob Mercure]

Regis, there's nothing new under the sun - "son!"

I was looking through a 1953 issue of Radio and Electronics Engineering last night and there was a 3 watt ham transmitter built into a coffee can - now we know where you stole your idea <grin>.

Rob