Turret board suppliers

For pre-fab turret boards look at Keystone Electronics. Mouser sells their stuff. I believe they offer 3 or 4 styles of turret with half a dozen choices for spacing and board length. Available in both Glass Epoxy and... I ferget the other material.


Another choice is to make your own. Keystone makes a variety of eyelets and turrets (again available thru Mouser). McMaster-Carr and MSC Industrial Supply are good online sources for G-10 Garolite sheets. After that all you need are a saw (cut G-10 to size), a drill (holes for terminals), a swage/anvil (to set the terminals in the board), and the imagination to think up something worth going thru all of it for

The swage can also be had at Mouser and can, in a pinch, be scratch built with a couple of bolts.


PS: Now if anybody knows where to get epoxy-glass perf board, 1/8" holes on, say, 3/8" centers, they'll win my undying gratitude

 

Much easier to go to the Keystone web site and find what you want. Then go to Mouser and look up the part by manufacturer number.

For example: The turrets I prefer are Keystone part 1509-4. The Mouser manufacturer code for Keystone is 534. So to find this part at Mouser, you can search for either "1509-4" or you can go directly to the part by searching the Mouser part number "534-1509-4"

As another example, to find 1/8"x0.187" eyelets, search for Mouser part number "534-46" (Keystone part number 46)

 

I like making mine with 1509-3 on 3/32' G10 or GPO3, like Todd said the turrets are available at mouser and I believe Digi-key , McMaster has a large selection of garolite

Wanna see a cool perf board?
Ray Domzalski makes excellent perfed boards of red fiberglass and original split turrets, unlike some of the older materials used in vintage amps this stuff won't absorb moisture resulting in the board becoming conductive " tweed disease"
http://smallbox.freeservers.com/catalog.html

David

 

Really like the 1509-4 turrets myself. The 1540-4 are the same ones available from Hoffman or very similiar. The 1509-4 is a bigger turret, if you tend to put the leads thru the top of the turret and not wrap you can squeeze 4 smaller leads into the turret.

As for eyelets, IMHO it depends how your going to seat them. If your just going to flare them I prefer the 534-45, They have less the flange to split. When rolling or squishing(can't remember the proper turm) them I prefer the 46's.

Another thing, to get professional type results a drill press is mandatory, especially with turrets. Eyelets are a bit more forgiving, but without the press it's hard to get them to stand up straight and they look funny all tilted. Another tip, the "Bullet Bits" are the best to use to drill boards. Believe the trade name is owned by Dewalt now, use to be available from Black and Decker. But those bits bite right away when drilling and won't drift like other bits.

Cutting G10 is a nightmare IMHO, luckily McMaster Carr started selling the stuff precut to widths but only have one color available. What I found works best cutting to length is a Chop Saw with a cutting disk made for metal, found some at Menards that fit my 10" chop saw. Cheaper way is a miter box and a hacksaw, works pretty well. Stinky stuff to cut and you don't want to do it in a enclosed space or indoors as the smell with last for hours.

 

Really like the 1509-4 turrets myself. The 1540-4 are the same ones available from Hoffman or very similiar. The 1509-4 is a bigger turret, if you tend to put the leads thru the top of the turret and not wrap you can squeeze 4 smaller leads into the turret.

I've standardized on 1/8" holes for my drill masks, so the 1509-4 is just the ticket. It also has a double landing so there's more room to get good wraps from several components.


As for eyelets, IMHO it depends how your going to seat them. If your just going to flare them I prefer the 534-45, They have less the flange to split. When rolling or squishing(can't remember the proper turm) them I prefer the 46's.


Term is "swaging" as in "to swage". Don't like the flare cuz it is less reliable -- won't hold up to the vibration as well. Part numbers assume 1/8" thickness on the base board.


Another thing, to get professional type results a drill press is mandatory, especially with turrets.


Agreed. Both for swage work and for drilling. If you drill the hole crooked, the turret stands crooked (or doesn't swage correctly). The good news is that one of the $100 benchtop drill presses works fine.


Cutting G10 is a nightmare IMHO

Bandsaw with a metal/plastic blade for pro results, freehand with a jigsaw loaded with a metal/plastic blade in a pinch. Wear a dust mask.

 

I make custom turret boards on 1/8" G10 if your not into doing it yourself.I also do the Hoffman boards.

 

Any of you guys know a souce for the original type
Fender waxed material? Heck I don't even know
what it is called.

I'm also wondering (I can't recall) if it is garolite
that absorbs moisture?

 

Not the G-10/FR4 variant.

BTW, for those starting out, make sure you read the specs on the board material you are considering. There are all kinds of glass/epoxy resin materials and several flavors of "Garolite" (which I think is just a trade name). The G-7 variety, ferinstance, has dielectric strength of about 380V/mil while G-10/FR4 runs 500V/mil.

 

Wondering, why it is important to know
what the dielectric strength is?

Which is better? 380V/mil or 500V/mil.

Why?

Do you know how these compare to Fenders of
the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and the current Victora
amps which use kinda the same stuff I think.

Maybe we can get Mark to enlighten us too. : )

 

Dielectric strength is a measure of insulation in volts/thickness.

So G-10/FR4 is a better insulator at 500V per mil of thickness.

Why it matters:
- A better insulator will reduce cross-talk and related phenomena.
- A better insulator is more likely to withstand a fault voltage.

No idea the rating of tag board. I like the glass epoxy for moisture resistance, rigidity, etc. Once that was decided the question is "which glass epoxy?"

Answer: well the one you can get in blue, of course.

 

I likes the Blue Stuff Too!!

Picked up a 24" X 24" for $41 shipped. I've not used much yet.

 

The standard tolex here is a patterned blue, so finding blue board was just icing on the cake

 

metroamp.com,he sells blank boards!!

 

Back when actual electronic equipment was built on turret boards the turrets and swaging presses came from Cambion.

There are many flavors of FR-4. The style of cloth, how many layers of fabric in a given thickness. Different percentages of resin to glass affect the Dk or dielectric constant, which is basically the capacitance of the bulk material. You did realize that all those turrets were creating a common capacitor between them? A clipped waveform contains components of sinusoidal frequencies out to several MHz. And folks wonder why some equipment sounds different.

 

Has anyone ever had a problem with GP03 board material conducting?? I just built two amps with GP03 board material that have random voltages between ground and the board material.

I like the GP03 red swirl for it's look as well as insulation but I'm concerned about it.

Is G10 better?

Any expreiences out there with this?

 

here maybe?

http://www.turretboards.com/

 

http://www.mojomusicalsupply.com/products.asp?id=44961

mojo sells the fender type fiberboard, some already made, or blank for do it yourself.