Changing the ZX450v.2

dBincognito · Post by **dBincognito** » Fri May 22, 2009 7:21 am

Misfire wrote:Squeezing the boards out of that case is real fun. I just finished cleaning mine out. Its amazing what finds its way into your amps!

Cleaned my 2125 boards the other day.....and good lord...I thought they were clean.....they were like dirty pigs....I couldn't believe how much stuff came out of the torroids....and all around the MOSFETS, and in between the resistors....I was shocked.

dBincognito · Post by **dBincognito** » Fri May 22, 2009 7:25 am

Eric D wrote:
dBincognito wrote:
Eric D wrote:Pull the card and then the caps. I think they are snap in on the card.

Take your time, I think the vias on the main board for the card to insert into are fragile.
Is it possible to raise the card at all....so I could go with bigger caps....22 is such a odd measurement
Keep in mind the crossover board would be in the way. You could dump the signal processing and make the amp just a simple gain only like with a MS. I personally like the ZX450 so much because of its x-over options.

Didn't think about the roof over their heads

I want to keep the x-over's....it's what makes me like these amps so much 2...plus I already replaced one of the pots for x-over freq. control

If you want to make this some sort of "hard core" no limits amp, there are a ton of parts you might as well replace.

I do
What else should I look at replacing ?

dBincognito · Post by **dBincognito** » Mon May 25, 2009 7:45 am

Now she's ready to be worked on

I'm about to strip the " powdercoat "

If I can find any

Powdercoated my a**

dBincognito · Post by **dBincognito** » Mon May 25, 2009 8:25 am

I'll sell you a brand new " powdercoated heatsink "

If you still believe that PG actually powdercoated their amps....at this point....you must be blind

Post by **Jacampb2** » Mon May 25, 2009 8:57 am

dBincognito wrote:Now she's ready to be worked on

I'm about to strip the " powdercoat "

If I can find any

Powdercoated my a**

Randy, what makes you conclude that it is not powder coating? I am not arguing, I just am not seeing whatever you are. I don't know a whole lot about paint or powdercoat. I know powdercoat is a thermoset polymer, versus an actual paint, but I am not aware of a simple test to know for sure. I know sanding PC is a bitch, it melts and gums... If it is because the chemical stripper is cutting it, well, that does not mean much. Almost any chemical stripper containing Dimethyl Chloride (also known as Methylene Chloride or DMC) will lift powder coating as well as paint.

dBincognito wrote:I'll sell you a brand new " powdercoated heatsink "

If you still believe that PG actually powdercoated their amps....at this point....you must be blind

If you still think that a CASE is a HEATSINK, then you are the blind one my friend

Just messing with you...

BTW, the amp looks fanfuckingtabulous!

Later,
Jason

dBincognito · Post by **dBincognito** » Mon May 25, 2009 9:20 am

Jacampb2 wrote:
dBincognito wrote:Now she's ready to be worked on

I'm about to strip the " powdercoat "

If I can find any

Powdercoated my a**
Randy, what makes you conclude that it is not powder coating? I am not arguing, I just am not seeing whatever you are. I don't know a whole lot about paint or powdercoat. I know powdercoat is a thermoset polymer, versus an actual paint, but I am not aware of a simple test to know for sure. I know sanding PC is a bitch, it melts and gums... If it is because the chemical stripper is cutting it, well, that does not mean much. Almost any chemical stripper containing Dimethyl Chloride (also known as Methylene Chloride or DMC) will lift powder coating as well as paint.

dBincognito wrote:I'll sell you a brand new " powdercoated heatsink "

If you still believe that PG actually powdercoated their amps....at this point....you must be blind
If you still think that a CASE is a HEATSINK, then you are the blind one my friend Just messing with you...

BTW, the amp looks fanfuckingtabulous!

Later,
Jason

I get that conclusion b/c pc can not be buffed and cleaned the way I clean all of the items that come through my hands....in my experience.....pc does not shine like paint....I've never seen it happen....I could be wrong....but I have a strong feeling, I should scrape up some and take it to Sherwin Williams down the street from me.....I bet they could verify.....also I've been detailing and painting for over 10 years, and I've worked on enough surfaces to usually know the difference just from looking at it......I won't say for a fact it is paint.....but it behaves just like paint would.....i.e....I can't remove scratches from PC.....I can remove scrathces from paint....and I have no problem removing scratches from these amps. That makes me think they are paint.

I will not jump to conclusions until I know for sure......I'm only going by what I know, and what I've done and seen in the past. From my standpoint, it seems as though the ZX and M amps are basecoat/clearcoated and the MS amps are baked enamel.

Here is 10 min. later

dBincognito · Post by **dBincognito** » Mon May 25, 2009 9:22 am

Jacampb2

If you still think that a CASE is a HEATSINK, then you are the blind one my friend Just messing with you...

Nobody said I was fully awake yet

I have artwork for this amp....but I can't photoshop the idea together to see it

Post by **Jacampb2** » Mon May 25, 2009 9:43 am

I guessed from the beautiful job you had done on the refinishing of the other work you had posted that you had detail experience.

What you say makes sense, and as I said in the other post, I honestly don't care whether it is paint or PC. I just wanted to know how you determined it. I honestly prefer paint, because as you said, it can be fixed to an extent. If you chip PC, you are pretty well fucked.

Also, have you gotten around to screwing with the Ti stuff that you mentioned to me in PM? I think that the Ti has a color coat as well as clear, even though it looks like clear over bare metal. When I stripped my one really rough Ti case, I had a lot of greyish paint come off with what I had thought was just clear...

Once again, good work! If you are interested, I may consider having you do the paint work on my ZPA cases...

Later,
Jason

dBincognito · Post by **dBincognito** » Mon May 25, 2009 9:55 am

Jacampb2 wrote:I guessed from the beautiful job you had done on the refinishing of the other work you had posted that you had detail experience.

What you say makes sense, and as I said in the other post, I honestly don't care whether it is paint or PC. I just wanted to know how you determined it. I honestly prefer paint, because as you said, it can be fixed to an extent. If you chip PC, you are pretty well fucked.

Also, have you gotten around to screwing with the Ti stuff that you mentioned to me in PM? I think that the Ti has a color coat as well as clear, even though it looks like clear over bare metal. When I stripped my one really rough Ti case, I had a lot of greyish paint come off with what I had thought was just clear...

Once again, good work! If you are interested, I may consider having you do the paint work on my ZPA cases...

Later,
Jason

Looking at this CASE

bare...makes me want to try a Ti finish on it.....I think I could pull it off.....I also believe there is color on the Ti amps....I think they give it a real light brushed effect to make it seem like it is clear over metal. I could also care less if it's PC or paint....I prefer paint, just b/c I do, and it more cost effective. What color were you planning on doing the ZPA cases ?

freshkryp69 · Post by **freshkryp69** » Mon May 25, 2009 2:44 pm

I know Randy has lots of exp. in detailing cars,if there is anything he's a master at,its detailing cars...he made my POS look like new

...his dad showed him the ways of the jedi with a high speed buffer..

your 450 is indeed paint...not powder coating,a few swipes with some sand paper and youll know...

I can fit 25mm snap-ins caps in there, we'll get rid of the daughter board all together and solder them to the board with some copper strips to make the connection's to the leads of the caps down to the board since they will be installed sideways...thats if we use snap-ins or we could use some panasonic fc's or the like and just bend the leads down the board.
then we'll glue them to the board to prevent movement. i'll make a cover for the caps out of some plastic to contain the caps electrolitic fluid incase of cap failure..

dBincognito · Post by **dBincognito** » Mon May 25, 2009 4:03 pm

Took a break for dinner and a movie

No more stock fan grill

dBincognito · Post by **dBincognito** » Mon May 25, 2009 4:12 pm

Misfire · Post by **Misfire** » Mon May 25, 2009 4:42 pm

Looking great man... I am in hot pursuit! I am getting the second coat on now. Wife went shopping, so I had the kids. Will post again tonight with my clean case. sure makes a mess doesn't it!

Ps... something i learne building engines... when your case is clean like that, spray it with WD40, it will prevent rust. then just clean it again with a cleaner, I use 3M, then primer it

dBincognito · Post by **dBincognito** » Mon May 25, 2009 5:03 pm

Misfire wrote:Looking great man... I am in hot pursuit! I am getting the second coat on now. Wife went shopping, so I had the kids. Will post again tonight with my clean case. sure makes a mess doesn't it!

Ps... something i learne building engines... when your case is clean like that, spray it with WD40, it will prevent rust. then just clean it again with a cleaner, I use 3M, then primer it

I'm going to treat it for rust first and then I will prime it

My job won't have rust sneaking it's head out 10 years from now.

I hit mine with Acetone or Prep-All to dry them.....it just started raining on me, so I didn't have time

My job will last FOREVER

Besides that....I removed the fan grill.....I have to file and sand before I can prime

sure makes a mess doesn't it!

Didn't I mention that, and the pile in my yard

The bottom half of the case was much easier than the top....it literally fell off the bottom cover

Misfire · Post by **Misfire** » Mon May 25, 2009 6:03 pm

I will post some pics tonight. I think I didn't let the gel sit long enough. I should have her fully clean and ready by tomorrow night. Wife wants to watch a movie tonight.

Oh well.

This is great fun!

gkitching · Post by **gkitching** » Mon May 25, 2009 6:06 pm

Nice work so far Randy!

I still have a ZX450 in white and is probably the only amp I've owned that I won't part with. I'll be interested in your results as well.

I've redone processors in the Ti styling before to match Ti amps when the processors were no longer available. ie MX3i was never offered in the Ti finish so I investigated things. Yes the white ZX stuff is paint but the black versions were PC. (so I was told by Jerry D) The Ti is also paint. I did strip the MX3i and just cleared over the brushed metal. It was very close to the original Ti's finish. I found out about Ti's being a painted finish when I asked PG to re-silkscreen the case for me. When they got it, they made fun of me for they way I did it .. lol. They re-stripped it and finished it with the standard Ti process. When I put the top, done by PG, back together with the bottom that I did, you could barely tell a difference.

If you decide to try a brushed metal finish, I found an easy way to get a perfectly straight brush to the case. Use a table saw surface and put sandpaper down (rough surface up) on the rip fence side of table. I have sticky-back sandpaper that helped for this. Then use the rip fence of the tablesaw as a guide to drag the case back and forth across the sand paper. If your sandpaper isn't as big as the metal piece (like mine was), just slide the rip fence back and forth till the whole surface is done. You'll end up with perfectly straight lines in the brush finish.

Anxiously awaiting the outcome.

dBincognito · Post by **dBincognito** » Mon May 25, 2009 6:28 pm

gkitching
What I think.....NO, what they SHOULD have done was clear over the silk screening, if they had it would have been much more durable....and the letter's wouldn't be able to rub off. I mean, if you're going to paint it....do it right

If they had cleared it more.....it would have a much deeper shine to it as well.

gkitching · Post by **gkitching** » Mon May 25, 2009 6:40 pm

True, they did. But the Ti's have a 'matte' finish. They are not shiney. I was just trying to point out that, if you decide to do the clear over a brushed finish, it will look very close to the Ti's painted finish. Provided you use a 'matte' clear.

dBincognito · Post by **dBincognito** » Mon May 25, 2009 6:45 pm

gkitching wrote:True, they did. But the Ti's have a 'matte' finish. They are not shiney. I was just trying to point out that, if you decide to do the clear over a brushed finish, it will look very close to the Ti's painted finish. Provided you use a 'matte' clear.

Sorry I meant the ZX and M amps......I know the Ti's aren't shiny....neither is the grey finish of the MS amps, when compared to the white finish of the MS amps.

I think I can just match the Ti color without a problem, I will skip clearing it all together....I'll use acrylic enamel instead with a matte finish...I can't make the little rivet dips though.....that would take 2 much time by hand

KillerX · Post by **KillerX** » Mon May 25, 2009 7:11 pm

good job on your progress! Remins me the time I did the same thing to my zx 350

Brad

Misfire · Post by **Misfire** » Mon May 25, 2009 9:40 pm

Hey Randy. Well I cleaned up the top cover, though I want to remove every other rib in the vent section. I left 4 ribs on the fan. I might add a cross hair I designed years ago while endlessly hearing how math would someday save my life!

I will finish the bottom of the case tomorrow. My wife and oldest son just kept looking at me like I was mad. When Jesse saw I had removed the ribs around the fan... "Dad what the hell are you doing! That's your Phoenix Gold amp!" I believe he thinks he is getting it when I die... little does he know I am add all my PG stuff into my Coffins stereo. But that will be my last install...

dBincognito · Post by **dBincognito** » Mon May 25, 2009 9:44 pm

Got a color in mind ?

I need to finish sanding mine.

Misfire · Post by **Misfire** » Mon May 25, 2009 9:52 pm

No color as of yet. I will try and draw it out, then play with it. And don't know if you have removed the heat sinks, I did when I cleaned the Motherboard. I am thinking about contacting a friend of mine and possibly creating a liquid cooling block that would replace the fan and those "Fork finger" cooling towers inside. I always wanted to add liquid cooling the M amps, I have thought of a way to do it too. This is so much fun!

dBincognito · Post by **dBincognito** » Mon May 25, 2009 10:09 pm

Something like this....there are other things that can be done

How far do you want to go ?

I will be upgrading the hell out of mine

dBincognito · Post by **dBincognito** » Mon May 25, 2009 10:28 pm

and more stuff