Build progress of two DINO 962 tube amps

[novosibir]

As already said in another thread, I'm now starting exactly at the beginning of 2026 with the build of 2 DINO 962 tube amps for members of this board.

Currently it is January 1st of the new year 3:30 am here in good ol' Germany, and since I don't drink alcohol, I'm usually still fit at this time.

So I have taken the two chassis from the shelf, as I get them from my blacksmith still with the protective foil to avoid scratches on the surfaces.

The chassis are made of 1.5 mm thick brushed stainless steel and the holes are laser-cut:

The chassis that can be seen on the left in the photos is not intended for the build of an amp, but serves as a measurement template to check and compare the bore diameters as well as their X & Y positions of the received chassis.

Stay tuned!

 

[novosibir]

Well, 24 hours later a first result.

Today was a holiday like everywhere else in the world, but since I don't feel building my amps as work, I used most of the day to get ahead.

Well without protective foil, the chassis have a completely different charm and the brightly shiny surface after peeling off the foil will darken into an elegant, discreet anthracite over the course of one to two years.

Some assembly work has also already been done. All stand offs for the three boards and some smaller components have already found their places.

If you look a little closer, you can see that I have inserted retraction nuts into the chassis to attach the transformers, the filter can caps and the preamp tube sockets. The assembly of these components is therefore not done with loose nuts, but are simply screwed on from above without fiddling with loose nuts - of course with stainless steel screws.

I had never seen this solution in any other amp before, with one exception, Dumble amps.

Stay tuned!

 

[novosibir]

So what components will be mounted in/on the chassis next?

The chokes with shiney nickel plated end bells, mounted as usual with screws & nuts of stainless steel:

The NOS LCR 50-50/500V electrolytic filter can caps, manufactured in 1993 that will be mounted as well with shiney nickel plated clamps:

Then the NOS power tube sockets with shiney nickel plated flange, manufactured in 1980:

And finally the NOS preamp tube sockets, which are older than most of the guys, who later own the amps:

All are air tight packed, so free of any oxidation and were once delivered to the US Army & Navy:

Stay tuned!

 

[Monkey Man]

Epico.

 

[alund]

This is cool Larry. Merry New Year

 

[novosibir]

Thrill Is Gone!

No, just similar.

The drilling is gone


Although it was not yet necessary from the progress of the builds, I had already drilled all the necessary boards for these two amps today. Why?

Because of the chips and dust during drilling, I have to drill boards outside on the terrace.
It was also cold today at around 0 °C, but from next week daytime temperatures of around -7 °C are announced for the following two weeks...
... and in this bitter cold I will not work outside. So it's better that I already did it today

If you're bored, feel free to count the holes


Stay tuned!

 

[novosibir]

Who works on Sundays?

Police, emergency services, doctors and nursing staff in clinics, pizza, burger & hot dog creators... and Larry

Well ok, there are some more, but anyway...

... anyway, the tops of the two chassis are now complete, except for the big bellos...

... these are only placed on the chassis after the front and back panels with the potentiometers, jacks and switches have been mounted, otherwise the handling with the chassis is too critical.

Have a nice Sunday, wherever you are...
... and stay tuned!

 

[novosibir]

Well, after I just realized that I only have one set of panels left for the 962 and therefore could not continue to build both amps synchronously as planned...

... I decided to equip the boards for both amps first - and I'll start with the most elaborate board #1
All eyelets are already riveted in, but now follows a lot of time-consuming work with the setting of the countless wire jumpers below the boards:

And until all the altogether 8 boards (4 in each amp) are completely supplied, I already have the other panels in the house.
Which means that from then on the build progress will continue according to plan.


Stay tuned!

 

[novosibir]

If you know the CEO of a larger company personally and have already been on the road with him privately, things can sometimes happen very quickly.
On Tuesday I noticed that I only had one set of panels left for the 962 and called this CEO straight away.
Today, just two days later, I was able to pick up there what others usually have to wait 6-8 weeks for:

Although the edges of the panels are cut very accurately and smoothly by the laser, they still don't quite meet my high standards of aesthetics.

Therefore, tomorrow I will first sand all edges of the panels with different grain sizes in two passes, before I will then peel off the foils to expose the attractively brushed surface - and finally bring the panels to a shop on Monday, where they will be laser-printed.


Stay tuned!

 

[novosibir]

Thrill is gone!

No!

Grinding is done!

As you can see, today I not only sanded the edges of the 5 sets of panels for the DINO 962, but also the edges of 3 sets of panels for the DINO 939, which I will need sometime late in 2027 for ordered amps.

After it got dark and cold on my terrace, I stopped working and will continue tomorrow, because the surfaces of the panels still have to be cleaned of the adhesive residues of the protective foils, which has to be done outdoors because of the harmful fumes.


Stay tuned!

 

[novosibir]

Picobello clean

But even though I had cleaned the panels outdoors, afterwards I felt as if I had smoked 20 cigarettes without interruption...
... apparently, the fumes of nitrocellulose, which you inhale anyway, are not exactly the best lung balm?

Now the panels are carefully packed individually and on Monday they go to laser printing.


Stay tuned!

 

[alund]

Good updates

 

[Inflames]

This kind of post..me likey!! Dino 962

 

[novosibir]

Woohoo, yesterday I finally got my next batch of transformers after a very long wait this time...
... and the OT's have excellent values

Oh, the display reflects and hides part of the display, anyway

This time I had to wait almost 9 months for delivery - almost as long as for a baby - because my transformer manufacturer didn't have enough of the NOS M6 steel left to fill 6 sets/12 transformers...
... but he was still able to find a remnant in the UK. Remaining stock is trivialized, because it was 180 kg, so enough for about 50 more transformers

As usual, I had to pay for this pallet of iron in full in advance before it was delivered to him, which was no small feat given the rarity of this material - and now you know one of the reasons why I generally require a deposit with amp orders


Stay tuned!

 

[alund]

Woohoo, yesterday I finally got my next batch of transformers after a very long wait this time...
... and the OT's have excellent values


View attachment 429633


Oh, the display reflects and hides part of the display, anyway

This time I had to wait almost 9 months for delivery - almost as long as for a baby - because my transformer manufacturer didn't have enough of the NOS M6 steel left to fill 6 sets/12 transformers...
... but he was still able to find a remnant in the UK. Remaining stock is trivialized, because it was 180 kg, so enough for about 50 more transformers

As usual, I had to pay for this pallet of iron in full in advance before it was delivered to him, which was no small feat given the rarity of this material - and now you know one of the reasons why I generally require a deposit with amp orders


Stay tuned!

Killer

 

[thiscalltoarms]

This is such a fun thread! Wish more companies would do things like this

 

[Inflames]

Woohoo, yesterday I finally got my next batch of transformers after a very long wait this time...
... and the OT's have excellent values


View attachment 429633


Oh, the display reflects and hides part of the display, anyway

This time I had to wait almost 9 months for delivery - almost as long as for a baby - because my transformer manufacturer didn't have enough of the NOS M6 steel left to fill 6 sets/12 transformers...
... but he was still able to find a remnant in the UK. Remaining stock is trivialized, because it was 180 kg, so enough for about 50 more transformers

As usual, I had to pay for this pallet of iron in full in advance before it was delivered to him, which was no small feat given the rarity of this material - and now you know one of the reasons why I generally require a deposit with amp orders


Stay tuned!

I like your well arranged working place Larry!

 

[novosibir]

I like your well arranged working place Larry!

And always clean

Yes, I'm an almost pathologically fussy guy and sometimes I clear everything off the bench, wipe the surface clean and then put everything back again to continue working

 

[Monkey Man]

It takes that sort of OC attitude in order to consistently produce exceptional work / products. IMHO.

 

[novosibir]

So guys, it's been a while since I've posted something about the build progress of two Dino 962 amps...
... but unfortunately I was forced to interrupt the build progress for a longer while

You probably remember my earlier post, this one:

Woohoo, yesterday I finally got my next batch of transformers after a very long wait this time...
... and the OT's have excellent values

This was at a point when I had only measured some values, especially primary inductance, stray inductance and prim/sec capacitance.

However, during later further measurements, I was surprised that the DC resistances of the primary windings were about 20% higher than in previous deliveries and thus significantly different from my specs, which could not be explained by manufacturing tolerances.

This deviation can only be explained if a higher number of turns are applied to the OT, or if a thinner wire is used for the primary than specified.

After I had already received a batch of transformers from my manufacturer last year in July, which did not meet my specs and I had sent them back - and after I knew that my manufacturer had hired two new employees last year, who apparently did their work with too little seriousness, I had lost confidence in this manufacturer.

Therefore, I had looked for another transformer manufacturer in the UK, which seemed to me to be reliable and serious due to his bio and references.
I had sent them one of these OTs for analysis and the result was actually that my previous supplier had used a primary wire that was thinner than specified.

The thinner wire would have tolerated the occurring currents just as easily, but this changes the coil geometry and would therefore have an influence on the sound. Of course, I can't accept that, because I don't just expect OTs that work, but OTs that correspond to my specs and therefore guarantee the usual Larry amp sound.

After I lost confidence in my previous transformer manufacturer after two faulty productions, I had now commissioned the new manufacturer to make me two sets of OT & PT each, but this was delayed a bit because my previous manufacturer initially refused to send the 80's NOS steel that belonged to me and was stored with him to the other manufacturer, which he finally did after massive legal threats.

So long story short - last week I finally got these two sets of transformers and the readings are spot-on in line with my specs and expectations.
In the meantime, both transformer sets are mounted on the Dino chassis and from now on the build progress can continue after a 3-month interruption:

However, as you can see on the following photo, I still have a huge amount of work ahead of me until these two chassis will have grown into complete amps:

Yes guys, this is just one example of the many 'joys' you have as a manufacturer of exclusive amps and can't just order components 'off the shelf' from Mouser, Heybour, Antique Electronics or Hammond to get everything you need to build


Stay tuned!