Hoffman Amplifiers Tube Amplifier Forum
Amp Stuff => AmpTools/Tech Tips => Topic started by: tubenit on August 06, 2010, 07:16:28 pm
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OK ......... I confess .......... despite all the woodworking I've done over the yrs .............. I never got around to buying a drill press. I got a joiner, planer, router, table saw, etc etc etc ............ but no drill press.
:sad:
Since I did NOT have a drill press, I have been hesitant the last few yrs to attempt a Hoffman style turret board & I've tended to use tag board which are awful to do mods on and break off very very easily. YUK! And I am always tweaking stuff.
But when Doug offered to make the Hoffman style Tweed Overdrive turret boards ......... I thought I'd give it a shot!
http://www.el34world.com/charts/toolhowto.htm
Well a hammer and some ingenuity got the job done well!! I timed it from start to finish (putting everything up) it was only 55 min for me to install the 66 turrets into the board and I made a few mistakes.
MAKE DOUBLE SURE THAT YOU POPULATE THE CORRECT SIDE OF THE BOARD WITH THE TURRETS. MARK THE BOARD PRIOR TO STARTING! See photo below !
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Doug stated in his tutorial using a drill press to be sure that the turrets are flush with the board and the flared side sticks out past the board to be properly flared. For me that was the only somewhat tricky aspect of this & once I mastered that .......... the board came together VERY easily and quickly.
I discovered that if I did NOT have the turret flush and I attempted to flare it, it obviously wouldn't flare enough. So what I did was took two wood boards and put the turret board face up (like you would install the components) & place the non flush turret in a space between the two wood boards. Then I placed the female staking tool over the non flush turret. A couple of gentle taps on the turret and voila ............ flush with the board. Flip the board back upside down and finish flushing the turret/lug.
I made maybe 5 mistakes. Given the turrets/lugs are cheap ........... buy maybe 10 extra from Hoffman. They're cheap!
I am very pleased with how easy & quickly this went and the quality of his boards!
I would NOT hesitate to attempt another Hoffman turret board using only a hammer to install the turrets!
With respect, Tubenit
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Nice job, looks good from here.
Glad you gave turret lugs a try.
A drill press is not needed, it just makes it a bit easier, IMO
But there is set up time for a drill press, so..................
Can't wait to see the pics from your Tweed OD build.
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I've not built a Hoffman board yet, but I've worked with turrets on some salvaged boards and used a receiver I made on a lathe and a punch to flare the ends with great success.
it's fun to work outside your comfort zone sometimes, especially when you have good results like you did Tubenit.
I'll be setting my turrets tomorrow now that I've been inspired.
Tubenit? will you be documenting this build alot? I hope so! I'll try to be following closely in your footsteps,
Ray
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The Fonz would be proud! :grin:
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:laugh: Turrets syndrome
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LOL, rafe, excellent!
Even a cheesy Harbor Freight type import benchtop drill press is a pretty nice thing to have. I saw a decent import one at a flea market last week for $50 and prolly should have bought it. It will clean up the general appearance of things you build from scratch because it is easy to get drilled holes aligned in a nice row by clamping a piece of wood to the drill press table and moving the chassis underneath using the block of wood as a guide.
It is VERY useful if you tap holes in things, you don't use the drill press under power, you chuck the tap in the press and twist it by hand. Makes the tapped holes nice and plumb. This is kind of a klutzy three-handed operation, but you have to admit, there are few things that detract from the look of a tediously built piece than screw heads in a wavy pattern. Oh, and your clearances for through-screws can be tightened up a tad.
It is also nice if you have to make chassis cutouts by drilling a perimeter of small holes. You can get those holes aligned very closely and uniformly to the line where you want them, and cleaning up the opening with a file is a lot easier because you're filing down a much smoother row of busted-out holes from the beginning. I had one last place I lived and had to give it away.
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It is VERY useful if you tap holes in things
Great tip! I never thought of that! The harbor freight and ryobi jobbies really aren't bad at all for any kind of chassis work. I have pretty limited shop space, so for storage I separate the head and base and they tuck into a shelf pretty easily.
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Bought a $49 Harbor Freight drill press (regular price) just to do board and chassis drilling- no dissapointments yet...