NIM Bin and other rack pics

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Andrew Robinson
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NIM Bin and other rack pics

Post by Andrew Robinson »

I told myself I would start sharing more with you guys, so here we go...

My old NIM bin was out at the anodizer during HEAS. Just got it back in the shop today and brought it home to inspect tonight. Most of the parts look fantastic! Unfortunately reassembly will have to wait a few more days as I am rejecting a few parts. I don't know what they were thinking sending these back to me in this condition... Check out the handles and some of the horizontal support rails. They're splotchy... UGH... which means several of these parts are going back for a second dip. Unacceptable. Other than that though, the finish on everything else is impeccable. So glad I decided to refurbish my old bin instead of buying brand new. Although, to be honest, my old bin was in pretty mint condition even before getting disassembled. I just wanted it in black to match rest of control systems currently being built. You can't see those yet ;) I will post a second thread though with the control rack progress and power systems. Cheers!
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Andrew Robinson
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Re: NIM Bin and other rack pics

Post by Andrew Robinson »

Forgot to take a picture of the inside of power supply (Little dusty still. Need to clean it out properly). I opted not to anodize the back board of supply as I did not want to take apart the plastic blade supports for the different power rails. By the way... Those are so cool. I have always loved how Tennelec made these. Makes each voltage rail module so easy to service. Anyways, here is a pic of that. I'll update this post in probably next week when I get rejected parts back from anodizer again. Cheers!
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John Taylor
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Re: NIM Bin and other rack pics

Post by John Taylor »

Nice pictures/great work!

What model of power supply and bin is that? I posted an instruction manual some time back in the "Files" section that covers the TB-3 (Tennebin-3) NIM Bin and the TC909, 910, 911, and 930A Power Supplies. This manual includes schematics and adjustment procedures for the power supply. I thought your power supply looks like the same type as what's covered, but I may be wrong.

Once again, thanks for the eye candy!!!
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Re: NIM Bin and other rack pics

Post by Jack Puntawong »

Andrew,

I guess you are both a fusioneer and an artist. :) How much does it cost to anodize something like that. I've never done a cosmetic restoration before.

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Re: NIM Bin and other rack pics

Post by Andrew Robinson »

John Taylor wrote:Nice pictures/great work!
Thanks for the kind words John
John Taylor wrote:What model of power supply and bin is that? I posted an instruction manual some time back in the "Files" section that covers the TB-3 (Tennebin-3) NIM Bin and the TC909, 910, 911, and 930A Power Supplies. This manual includes schematics and adjustment procedures for the power supply. I thought your power supply looks like the same type as what's covered, but I may be wrong.
You're close. It's a Tennelec TB 4 for the chassis and a TC 911 for the supply. I will definitely check out that resource. Thank you!
Jack Puntawong wrote:I guess you are both a fusioneer and an artist. :)
Thanks as well Jack for comments. Yeah, I'm a little OCPD when it comes to most of my life. I definitely consider myself a perfectionist, especially concerning my work.
Jack Puntawong wrote:How much does it cost to anodize something like that. I've never done a cosmetic restoration before.
We generally send out large orders of parts for black anodize at least once a day from my shop. Occasionally I can sneak in small parts for free. For this particular order though it was a job all by itself so I had to pay a little for it. I'm not sure if I was given a discount or not, but the total cost for me from start to finish for all the parts you see was $90. To be honest, anodizing is the cheap step. I'm not looking forward to silk screening. I probably wont do much on these parts, but the NIM modules I am rebuilding will require it. Silk screening is generally around $60 for the setup and $2 per pull. Since I'm essentially only doing a single pull per panel, you can see how it quickly gets expensive if you have 10 Modules.
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Bob Reite
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Re: NIM Bin and other rack pics

Post by Bob Reite »

Silk screening was one of my bigger expenses for some prototypes I have built.
The more reactive the materials, the more spectacular the failures.
The testing isn't over until the prototype is destroyed.
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Re: NIM Bin and other rack pics

Post by John Futter »

My first reply to this
disappeared

The Nim standard uses the module rails to earth the module cases
the NIM standard calls for chromate conversion of the metal to passivate it and keep it conductive to minimise noise and crosstalk between modules and the outsideworld
the best MIN racks use diecast frames nickel plated
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Re: NIM Bin and other rack pics

Post by Andrew Robinson »

Yes, I had considered this initially. I have some of the documentation in hardcopy on the NIM standard and could not find anything definitive. My backup plan was to use an unoccupied pin for common ground if needed. This is also why the rails were not plated. The chassis as a whole is still connected.
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Re: NIM Bin and other rack pics

Post by Andrew Robinson »

Ok so I sent back all the rejected parts a week or so ago and had them re-etched. Funny to send regular aluminum out, have it come back black, then send it out again and have it come back regular aluminum haha. Anyways. This time, I tumbled all the rejected parts to smooth out the finish more, then sent them back a final time to the anodizer. Got them back tonight and all of them look great now! I got about 80% of the chassis and power supply reassembled tonight. Only thing that remains is to re attach the front panel lights and bolt on the back plane. That can wait till tomorrow. Here are the essentially finished pictures though. Cheers
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Re: NIM Bin and other rack pics

Post by John Taylor »

Very nice looking setup!
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Re: NIM Bin and other rack pics

Post by Andrew Robinson »

Thank ya sir. I'm happy with how the second try came out. Now onto the next stage.
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