My ZPA 0.8's-- #1 of 2 is almost done

Post by **Jacampb2** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 6:49 am

stipud wrote:Are the crossover pots LP only Jason?

Yes, the cross overs are all in tact still. The 800's have full range xovers, but I intend to leave them bypassed...

Pedi wrote:You should have a slightly smoked plexi instead of a clear one, so that the logo will do a better show-off... I feel that at in this very moment, there is a crash between the sight of the internals and the outer logo. With smoked plexi (not too smoked) I assume that eyes will first hit the logo, THEN the internals..

I know, and I need to order some smoked plexi. I knew that I was going to have to do it in smoke to truly follow the ZPA theme. I wanted to see what it was going to look like, so I did a piece of clear. I am also about to light it up, so it is possible I wont want smoke after it is all lit up...

stipud wrote:Now that I'm seeing some closer pics of the buss bars... have you put anything between them? With your Strokers, I could see them causing your buss bars to flex a bit, and it would be a real shame if they ever touched each other.

Buss bars are separated by 1/8" thick nylon spacers, and the bars themselves are bolted together along their length with nylon machine screws.

Thanks for all the kind words guys. I am going to try to get it lit up before I have to go back to work tonight.

Later,
Jason

Post by **ttocs** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 6:49 am

so how big is the footprint of that beauty?

Post by **Jacampb2** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 6:51 am

ttocs wrote:so how big is the footprint of that beauty?

21.5x18x3 including the mounting flanges. 21x18x3 w/o

Post by **Jacampb2** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 11:14 am

Well, I spent the morning getting the led lighting in. Do you still think it needs smoked plexi? I am not sure how well smoked glass will light up.

I decided on Red, because I ordered red cold cathode tubes to light my stroker box for the pick up. My favorite color is actually blue, and I seriously considered it for both the box and the amp, but I think blue cosmetic lighting is way overdone now.

Anyhow, here are the pics, first is in my basement with the overhead lights on. Second is lights off, no flash, and only ambient sunlight from the windows. It would be nice to be able to mask the led's point origin, and I may mask off the plexi and paint a border to match the amps finish. We will see.

Pics:

Later,
Jason

Post by **stipud** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 11:16 am

HOLY FUCK.

That looks so incredibly bad ass in the dark.

dwnrodeo · Post by **dwnrodeo** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 11:24 am

^^^X100, that thing looks amazing!

oldskoolmseriesfan · Post by **oldskoolmseriesfan** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 12:47 pm

andy600rr · Post by **andy600rr** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 3:39 pm

How about putting a film of window tint on a clear plexi and then milling the logo??

That way the plexi would look smoked with a clear milled logo which you could illuminate.

Only question would be if the machining head would make a mess of the tint film on the edges which it cuts??

Either way. SUPER BADASS WORK.

Post by **ttocs** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 4:32 pm

why not just mask off the portion you want covered and paint it?

I am still partial to blue as well. I think the smoked plexi will effect the lighting too much myself.

Post by **Jacampb2** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 4:56 pm

ttocs wrote:why not just mask off the portion you want covered and paint it?

I am still partial to blue as well. I think the smoked plexi will effect the lighting too much myself.

I think this is the route I am going to take-- I mentioned doing this in the post above. The problem is, if I go with any unusual finish on the case, unusual being a candy or other "see throughish" paint, then it wont help on the plexi. I have a while to think about it though. I am back to work for a few days.

Later,
Jason

fordtough1 · Post by **fordtough1** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 6:14 pm

I am truly amazed by the craftsmanship Jason. People like you are a rare breed. Can't wait to see more of your work.

knightrider358 · Post by **knightrider358** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 6:22 pm

Well a smoked plexi can be done a couple different ways. If the mixer it smoked before the plexi is "molded or layered" before its sent to the retailer ie hardware store or direct to the customer as a normal flat sheet and then etched, afterward the etching will be a couple shades darker with a whitish tint to it. But if done correctly and found in thr right places the top "layer" can be smoked through the manufacturing process of the plexi. Then when it is etched, the engraving will come out as the same as a clear sheet of plexi. I have seen this done before not the manufacturing but smoked clear but etching a normal effect. Anyways MAN THAT THING IS FREAKIN AWSOME DUDE AS I HAVE STATED BEFORE.

Post by **smgreen20** » Fri Jun 12, 2009 7:07 pm

We need an infinity symbol on the keyboard so I could infinitize the badass comment.

I love how the ZeroPoint lights up. Bad as fu@k!

Post by **ttocs** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 5:15 am

They make an aluminum color that I used on my cobra intake that came out looking similar to your cases. It is a metalic silver and I bet a strip on the top and bottom of it would not stick out too badly.

The smoked question. How about if you were to tint the back side of the plexi BEFORE you ected it but left the strip on the top and bottom that you painted clear for the leds? I assume nothing bad would happen if you etch through the tint once it was dry? If that does not work I would imagine it would not be too hard to etch it first then tint the backside and cut out the portions that are etched. What I would try to do is smoke ever bit of the plexi that is NOT ecthed so that the etched portion will pop even more while adding some depth and not stopping the leds. I think the logo would pop a little more in the smoked plexi when it lit up since it would not be tinted.

Post by **Jacampb2** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 1:38 pm

Still needs fan baffles and color, but this one is 99% done. New rail caps, total of 20,000uF per rail, new PS input caps, total of 60,000uF. Vertical gain pots are in, and the panel mount RCA connectors are in. Did a sound check, and it sounds awesome. No real power upgrades yet, but when the pair of ZPAs are done, I will still have one 800.1 to play with, and that is the one I will experiment on to see what works and what doesn't.

Here are the pics, I am back to work for one more night, then it is back to making about a million plexis you guys want

Later,
Jason

Post by **ttocs** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 3:09 pm

blue caps, blue wire, blue pots, but red leds? I have to agree that blue led is a bit overdone but I really think it would look cooler there.

Are you going to paint the ends of the plexi?

Misfire · Post by **Misfire** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 3:10 pm

A thing of beauty! Impressed doesn't even describe what you have done! Incredible! Makes me want to build one, but I believe I will still have to pay someone else... you are an artist with metal!

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 3:24 pm

WHOA

, thats wicked looking!!!! I'm a fan of blue myself and it would look decent with the blue gear on the inside. It's your creation so whatever your down with tho.

Post by **Jacampb2** » Sat Jul 04, 2009 3:51 pm

You cant really see the color of anything in the amp when it is lit in the dark. I hadn't even begun looking for caps when I picked the case lighting color... There are not a ton of options in cap colors anyhow... The pots on the board are all blue from the factory. The one that was replaced with a vertical version is actually black. In the first picture, you can see it just to the right of the input cable. As for that color, that was simple too. I have a bunch of ZP symmetry RCA's from back in the day. I had one one meter one which had an open somewhere along it's length. I went through my pile of RCAs, and I found the bad one, and cut it up to be signal cable. There aren't a lot of better, affordable options for a well shielded input cable, and since it is in very close proximity to the 12V buss, I figured I could sacrifice one for the job. It just happened to be blue

On a side note, the LEDs are just hot glued in place right now. In the same order for all the caps and stuff, I ordered a hundred snap in panel mount led holders, you know, the kind the original base cube remote had to hold the led. When time permits, I will clean up the hot glue, and put all the leds in holders. That way, if I get bored with the color, it won't be a big ordeal to swap a new bunch of leds in.

Thanks for all the props guys. It makes it worth doing these things.

Later,
Jason

Post by **stipud** » Sun Jul 05, 2009 9:29 am

Those caps are huuuge

Looks awesome... excited to see the finished case!

Tiger · Post by **Tiger** » Sun Feb 28, 2010 4:15 am

I know I just dug up an old thread, but...
OH SHIT!!!

WOAH!!! I had to do a double take on this thread! This forum never fails to amaze me when it comes to custom amps! This takes the cake after the Franked build ups!

Absolutely awesome. How did the finish product turn out?

gridracer · Post by **gridracer** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 1:15 am

Simply put WOW! awesome amp and work.

thedeal7235 · Post by **thedeal7235** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 6:41 am

........SPEECHLESS- jason is amazing, to say the least, i hope aamp is watching- to me jason, this idea, that has become reality is why this phorum is great& reminds me of the nostolgia feeling og PG

JayGold · Post by **JayGold** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 8:08 am

Props to you for designing the retaining screws locations for the plexi to secure to not only on the ends of the amp but in the middle.

When I ran (2) ZPA0.5's in my old Civic the plexi would bend up in the middle from the heat they put out. This was perplexing to me considering they were mounted on an angle behind the folding rear seat backs and were always used with the seats folded in the down position so fresh air or AC could reach them.

Awesome engineering on yours!