Put up a bunch of text describing construction of the Straylight Mark I power section: power semiconductors, water block, capacitor bank, bus bars, and the custom plastic mounting brackets that hold it all together.
3 August 2007
Revamped and sectionalized the pages. Uploaded a bunch of photos, and CAD drawings.
Still Alive
8 Mar 2007
Okay, it's been 3 months. Time flies when you don't have much to spare.
I haven't been idle, however. I've been acquiring more test equipment, as I've needed it, and often performing repairs, including a 50's era unit that's full of tubes.
I've been doing some experiments and trials in crimping very small ring terminals (26-24 ga wire, #2 size stud hole) to the leads of TO-220 devices, and I've had quite a bit of success. They're mechanically and electrically strong, and extend the leads a little bit, which makes quite a difference in mounting them.
Finally, last night I was able to construct a square aluminum water block for cooling the power semiconductors. The sides of are constructed from hard-anodized aluminum bar stock. This material should have a dielectric strength to handle controller-level voltages. Future testing will tell. My criteria for "successful" construction up to this point has been making a block that doesn't leak water. Turns out my construction techniques are sound, but my sealant tube wasn't curing properly. I filed the tube in the trash bin and got a fresher one from the store.
Online
8 December 2006
Finally, I have a little bit of content up on the site. The designs & equipment pages have some material.
For now, most of this material will be in flux. I'll be updating the pages as the design process proceeds.