HNB 7.0 - Mounting stuff on

I couldn't wait to mount those components. Most of these things will stay on the chassis, and I will solder and wire them up in place. The only thing I think I will remove to wire up is the input jack - but I couldn't get a feel for how this thing will look without that in there! In this image you can see the thread lock fluid that I use for all of the bolts. It tastes sweet, really sweet - like in a saccharine sort of way. When I monitored weather stations on the side of mountains in Montana, I used to taste the propylene glycol when I was bored. (We used that as an environmentally friendly antifreeze.) I eventually know what most hobbies that I work on taste like.

From the outside, the thing really looks done. It is all an illusion, though. I hope to be hearing something out of this within the week, though. The transformers will hang down from the chassis, so that is why everything looks upside down when I turn the chassis like this. For a second, after I lettered up the whole face of this thing, I thought that I had forgotten this detail and did everything upside down. I was just messing with myself - it was fine. I really wish that output transformer had some bells on it, it's a little on the ugly side.

I'll try to refrain taking whole image shots until I am really done with it. However, you can see what one little corner might look like. I knew that this would be a tight fit, but it was a little too tight. Before I painted it, I mounted threadserts so that I can screw the chassis to the cabinet. It bumps out about a quarter of a millimeter, but this was within the tolerance of my fit. Also, before painting I put some Bondo on the corners and on some rough spots. So, the chassis was tight enough that it didn't fit! I had to file out a place for the threadserts to glide on the little shelf, and use some candle wax to make it slide in and out better. I won't refinish that part, because it is never meant to be seen with the chassis properly mounted.

Here's a little view from the back. I am using Amy's new digital camera, and I don't know how to put the flash on! I know that those tubes look close to that shelf in the front, but it is over an inch away. I am not worried about heat, in case you are curious. The preamp tube (12AX7) never gets too warm, but that power tube (EL84) can cook flesh. So, I guess I am glad it is way up in there.

The next thing I will do is to solder some components to the turret board. That should be fun because I did not use turrets last time.

--gh