where to buy thin cardboard with aluminum backing to shield open side of chassis.

[mikepukmel]

I dug around and found the partial roll of aluminum heat/ac tape. Put the probes on it (lightly!!!) and it is nicely conductive. 0.2 ohms. I thought maybe it was a scuff or scratch, tried a bunch of other places, and it seems to be consistently conductive. I remember way back when, when I did heat/ac in the summers during college, and thought there was a fine thin stretchy plastic over the top of it. Many years passed, and I might be mistaken. Anyway this is conductive.

But I could shoot another 15 bucks for a roll of copper tape (thanks for the link!). Ya can't take it with ya!!!

And looks like enough left over for my guitar cavity plus a nice copper foil hat as well. (worried about the Z rays from the Andromeda galaxy. I saw that movie, scary stuff).

This, eventually, will be the quietest amp this side of my house!!!

[mikepukmel]

What Bill said ^^^ and >>>you may find you don't need to cover the entire panel, just the part that covers input & preamp circuitry.<<<

Thanks Leo.

[mikepukmel]

But is the aluminum tape coated? I thought it was. Any coating would be an insulator against contact.

I use HD aluminum foil and contact cement. I do have a roll of aluminum flashing that is thin enough. I've tried stapling that in place like other amp makers. I didn't like it. After repeated chassis insert/removal operations there's always some snagging and bending. Just like other amp makers.

Thanks for the tips. I do have a roll of thin flashing, but I don't have a brake to bend it, only a small hand brake. Ive tried bending it before and it gets all wavy. (My brother has his own company does some metal work, I know they have a brake but its like 8 hours one way, so ... )

[g1]

I think we used to just burn the plastic layer off with a lighter. Probably would be frowned upon this century though.

[Chuck H]

If you score the flashing material with a blade and a straight edge before bending it will behave a lot better. I've made quite a few things from aluminum flashing material without the benefit of any sort of professional break. This roll I have now is probably my third. Once you score it can almost be bent by hand and then corrected for angle. IIRC I use to have a break I made from boards and hardware store hinges. Worth a try.

[mikepukmel]

If you score the flashing material with a blade and a straight edge before bending it will behave a lot better. I've made quite a few things from aluminum flashing material without the benefit of any sort of professional break. This roll I have now is probably my third. Once you score it can almost be bent by hand and then corrected for angle. IIRC I use to have a break I made from boards and hardware store hinges. Worth a try.

Thanks for the tips Chuck, I'll try that tonight, never thought I could cut it with a blade, cool idea.

[Chuck H]

Not cutting, scoring to provide a break point and make the bend line more accurate and acute. IIRC I've made longer cuts that way too, but it tends to leave a fatigued curl at the cut line.

[Bloomfield]

To add to what Chuck said, sometimes I find that using the back of the knife point makes a cleaner score, as it scrapes the material out instead of pushing it to the sides where it leaves a raised burr. Depends on the material of course but I've had good luck with this method on aluminum and polystyrene sheet for example.

Andy

[ric]

To add to what Chuck said, sometimes I find that using the back of the knife point makes a cleaner score, as it scrapes the material out instead of pushing it to the sides where it leaves a raised burr. Depends on the material of course but I've had good luck with this method on aluminum and polystyrene sheet for example.

Andy

Shooting for a thumbs up, Andy, not sure what it did.

The siders cut their coil stock by scoring it with a utility knife and flexing it a couple times. Just did it myself cutting flashing for our porch that needed rebuilding. Bent it by hand along a two by four.

So your method seems like a good way to keep a bend from becoming two pieces.

If someone were to score the piece rather than bend it in a brake, they might want to secure it as though it's two pieces because with time and metal fatigue it may end up that way. Just to cover all the bases.

[mikepukmel]

I have a piece of flashing (really thin cheap stuff from Home Depot). not wide enough to go front to back of the amp. Remembered my brother (does roofing) has a sheer and brake big enough to fold up a nice little pan. Thinking to get a steel pan made that fits over the chassis like a cover. I had the flashing sort a kinda patched in, it wasn't sitting flat and kept catching the edge of the chassis when I put tried to put it back in. Really worried that it or a staple would fall into the amp and cause the bad smoke to leave some of the expensive parts.

Anyone do anything like that?

[Chuck H]

I use HD aluminum foil and rubber cement. Yes, some day it will fail. But it'll be twenty+ years from now. Anything thicker will catch on the chassis. I have amps I've made with stapled flashing and I was careful to leave some room to negotiate the thicker material. They catch. Then I need to fuss with the curled edge of the aluminum FOREVER!!! You can't even tap it down flush ever again. Stay thin my friend.