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Tweakers' Asylum Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ. |
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Tweakers' Asylum Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ. |
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In Reply to: At what point do you give up on a project? posted by Patrick on October 9, 2005 at 13:28:56:
Old Chinese proverb " In for a buck, in for a bundle". Do you really want to throw away that very large investment in $ and time ? I know it's very easy to 'solve' other people's problems. However, at this point I'm certain that you're too emotionally involved to be objective (I've been there too many times to count.) The best thing is to put everything on the shelf for a month or so and don't even think about it. Involve yourself in some pleasureable pursuits like listening to your favorite music (which this avocation is all about in the end). Now it's platitude time : in the fullness of time you will be able to objectively look at the project and ideas will begin to occur to you and you'll be led back to the project. Try to do some 'networking' with other tube afficianados. There are a lot of people out there who love to solve "impossible problems". Several years ago I set out to build the 'ultimate iteration' of Nelson Pass' Zen single ended, single stage preamp. I bought several sq. ft. of 2.20 dielectric teflon double-clad pcb material and had it plated with 4 9's silver at great cost. I imported a large quantity of Black Gate & Cerafine Caps etc. directly from Japan. I had assembled the highest grade components I could find, cost no object. I laid out the entire preamp on a single pcb, including power supply, with very wide traces and everything that wasn't signal traces was ground plane. I fabricated and installed TI Shield Material shields for all the components. Then I found that ferric chloride would not etch silver, it was bullet proof. I went back to the plater and they suggested a mixture of 2/3 reagent grade sulphuric acid and high purity nitric acid. It took 3 mos. to get the acids. They worked beautifully on the silver plate but ate the resist much faster than the silver. Another 6 mo. search and tests for an adequate resist material, including conversations with Purdue U. chemistry instructors. I finally found a co. in Chgo. that made a rubber based resist material that could be brushed onto a pcb. It worked ! Then I found that I could not strip the resist accurately from the areas that had to be etched. I was stumped for a year. While working on another project I found that I could easily cut thru the copper cladding on teflon pcb substrate if I worked carefully with a jeweler's loop and a stencil knife and strip the copper from the areas that had to be etched. A month later the pcbs were finished and I installed the components and shields etc. I tested the first of the 2 pcbs and, praise The Lord, they worked( no bright flash and puff of acrid smoke at power-up) and the wave forms looked great on a 'scope. Finished the second pcb and it looked great. Installed everything in the enclosure and put the preamp in the system. I then was confronted with the loudest, ugliest hum in the left channel I had ever heard. I spent several months trying to find the cause of the hum but couldn't. At this point what turned out to be "the project from hell" was badly affecting my faimily life and my ability to do my job. I boxed up everything and put it on a shelf where it still reposes. I am now involved in building a dedicated 'sound proof' listening room. When that project is finished I will return to the Super Zen Preamp. In my youth I worked for GMAC for a number of years. They had a Branch Operations Manual that covered every situation, including how many sheets of toilet paper to use and how to fold them, as well as a bromide for every occasion. The bromide that nicely fits our situations is "A quitter never wins, and a winner never quits". As John Paul Jones is reputed to have said once in a very stressful situation "Don't give up the ship !"
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Follow Ups
- Re: At what point do you give up on a project? - pkell44 19:35:26 10/09/05 (0)
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