Hypex UCD400HG Amplifier Repair

Before we begin I want to make it clear this is a guide only. The repair worked for me and I cannot be held responsible for any damage caused to your board or yourself. If you are not a qualified engineer I would recommend this job is left to a professional! 

I have a pair of Hypex SMPS400 power supplies that were dead as described in my previous post. When I got them working again I found that both UCD400HG amplifier boards had a hiss and crackle sound when no input was fed into them. When sound was fed into them they would cut out and take a few minutes for them to reset and work again. The fact that both had the same fault might be an indication that this is a common fault so I hope this helps you! Again there was no info online so I checked the obvious first and managed to repair them both.

This is what the board is like when connected to the power supply.

These are the capacitors that I replaced shown in the following photos.

C40, C41, C42 & C43 they are all 22uF 63v

After replacing all 4 capacitors they powered up with no noise and worked as normal. I hope this helps you to repair your faulty amp module! 

Hypex SMPS400 Power supply repair.

Before we begin I want to make it clear this is a guide only. The repair worked for me and I cannot be held responsible for any damage caused to your board or yourself. If your not a qualified engineer I would recommend this job is left to a professional! 

I have a pair of Hypex SMPS400 that were dead. The fact that both had the same fault might be an indication that this is a common fault? There was no info online and I tried getting service information but the makers just wanted me to send back for a repair. As there was no diagram available I checked the obvious first and managed to repair them both.

This is what the board is like when connected in the amp.

There are three capacitors that you need to check and replace. C25, C26 & C27 

They are all 220uf 35v. C25 was the most difficult to replace but when they were replaced it came back to life.

Here are close photos of the parts that needed replacing. I have highlighted the capacitors in both photos.

I hope you manage to have the same success as me at repairing your power supply. 

Good luck.

Guardians of the Galaxy Tape Deck

One of my favorite movies of the moment is Guardians of the Galaxy! When I saw the film there were a few props I thought I could make from the weapons to the mask Star lord wears.

When I saw the tape deck on his ship I thought yes I can make one of them!

I repair audio so I thought I could incorporate a working tape player into the design and get it to work Ashely as looking cool!! (Well hopefully)

This is the end goal! 

There are a few posts in prop forums I have seen. Let's see what I can achieve!

I have sofar designed and printed the housing for the tape deck. I may have to redesign and reprint it though as the tape deck I have got is slightly different to what I had initially thought. I have also designed and printed some of the knobs and bought some handles.

Here is the original compared to my work so far

Not looking great at the moment but early days yet! I have got to redesign the 3d printed cassette holder. I think the boarder needs to be thicker and the bar that seperates the tape from the buttons needs to be slightly lower. 

More to follow!

3d Printed Star Trek Phaser Rifle

I have wanted a star trek phaser rifle for a while and started looking at making one from plastic sheets using a pepakura pattern I found online. I even made a small cardboard one to see how it would look.

This is the goal of my project! Let's see how close the finished prop looks.

Since getting my 3d printer I thought I would give it a go and I manged to stumble upon a set of free stl files.

The parts have been designed so they will fit onto most 3d printers.

These are the parts I have printed so far. I have already joined some of the parts. As they are printed in ABS the best way to join them is with Acetone. This makes a chemical weld to join the plastic.

Here are the parts so far.

I have just ran out of white ABS so while I'm waiting on some more to arrive I will be printing the rest in blue ABS. The whole thing is going to be painted anyway so it doesn't really matter. 

Here is the printing of the last piece of the prop. This part took the longest, over 4 hours to print

http://youtu.be/R6lWlWLj85A

Here is what the completed and assembled Phaser Rifle looks like.

The next step is to fill and paint the prop. I will post photos as I go so you can see it at the different stages.

More to follow! Come back soon!

Liebster nomination.

                              

Thank you to Ellie Jones for nominating me for the Liebster award! For those of you who don't know what the Liebster award is, it is an online award that is passed from one blogger to another with the aim of promoting blog's that have less than 200 followers. They are a few rules, these are....

1) Thank the person who nominated you with a link to their blog

2) Display the Liebster Award button in your post

3) Answer the questions you are given

4) Nominate up to 10 other bloggers with up to 200 followers and inform them by commenting on their blog or contacting them

5) Write 10 questions for the bloggers you have nominated

So here are the answers to Eleanor's questions....

1. Marvel or DC?

Marvel as I like the whole marvel universe and the way the movies link in to each other making one big story!

2. What is your favourite hobby?

I enjoy making projects using my 3d printer and building electronic circuits for the projects I am making

3. What inspired you to start your hobby?

My dad always let me to help when he was doing any diy or soldering etc and I guess it built from there I now work as an electronics engineer and still do it as a hobby! 

4. Eggs benedict or English breakfast?

English breakfast!!!

5. What new craft would you like to have a go at?

I would like to try glass blowing or pottery

6. Who taught you to ride a bike?

My mum and dad taught me. I remember riding up and down the road we lived on and riding without stabilisers for the first time.

7. What is your favourite star constellation and why?

The plough as it helps you to find north and your way hone if your lost ;) 

8. What is your favourite blog you like to follow? 

I follow xrobots.co.uk. James builds a lot of props and costumes using his 3d printers and other skills he has developed!

9. What are you currently working on?

Probably too many as I never get them finished, automatic lights for the stairs,an enclosure for my 3d printer, a 3d printed phaser rifle, a Dick Tracy watch,the tape deck from Gardians of the Galaxy. I've probably forgotten some other ones but they will get done eventually! Lol

10. What is your favourite film of all time?

I like a lot of scifi films from Star Trek to Gardians of the Galaxy but I think Back to the future would have to be my favorite of all time!

I've neglected my blog a lot and this has inspired me to start posing some more, so watch this place for more exciting projects?

Thanks again Ellie for nominating me! Don't forget to visit Eleanor's blog on www.crafthousemagic.co.uk

I'm going to break the chain here I'm afraid as I do t currently follow and blogs with less than 200 followers. Sorry!