DIY Buchla 200e style Frac-Rack cabinet

v-un-v

There comes as time where one has got to stop taking and give a little bit back. Well that time has come, and celebration of me coming to the end of my degree, I've been knocking up a little special 'something' for everyone.

I was blown away by GlassX's DIY Buchla cabinet (In fact one of the reasons for originally doing my industrial design course was so that I could afford a Buchla 200e!!). GlassX sent me his design, but I felt a little extra could be added, especially as now I am supposed to be a graphical computer draftsman.

This first offering is designed to be a three section dual-tier portable 'Buchla' cabinet for a Frac-Rack system. I chose Frac because it seems to be the most popular size for all those on a 'budget' as such- but you could always modify the design so it fits other systems, but as this one stands, each section is 19" across by 2x 5-1/4" high. (Please note that my drawings are in millimetres- as mm's are to British Standards).

However, this is not all. I am at present designing the same system in Solidworks 3D, (complete with STL files for direct input into a CNC mill & also, complete sheet metal drawings/ specifications etc), and will post this as soon as it is done (by this week end fingers crossed). If I can pull it off, there will be a 3D demonstration in Flash too (this is just to satisfy part of my dissertation!). For convenience, 2 drawings as png files are here, as there seems to be a bug with QCad v2.2.0.0 at the moment- Ribbonsoft are on to it apparently Very Happy

Also included (hopefully, if I can get it to load) is a DXF file. This file may be difficult to open in ACAD (blame Autodesk!!), but it will open in QCad, and you won't have to buy QCad either just to open this file.

Frac Rack 'Buchla' Style Cabinet Draft.png

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Frac Rack 'Buchla' Style Cabinet Draft C.png

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Buchla-Cabinet Z.zip

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v-un-v · Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 7:58 am Post subject:

Of course there is no way of stopping the existing design (above) from falling over- but I'll work on that Very Happy

GlassX · Joined: Jan 27, 2008 Posts: 50 Location: Brazil

This is fantastic, these drawings are great!!! Very Happy

I'm looking forward to the Solidworks stuff! This project was great fun to design and to execute, I reccomend it to everyone!

v-un-v · Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 8:19 am Post subject:

Cheers GlassX! Very Happy

v-un-v · Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:11 am Post subject:

A couple of updates;

1. The angle on the top half, right hand side cheek is partially obscured. This should read 40 degs.

2. The positioning dimensions of the main hinge holes have been accidentally ommited. These have now been updated in this new dxf file. Smile

Buchla-Cabinet ZA .zip

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ericcoleridge · Joined: Jan 16, 2007 Posts: 889 Location: NYC

This really incredible work, both of you.

I'm wondering though, where would you start, if you had these designs (as we now do), and no other design training. I downloaded the CAD/ST, I think it was, and was able to open Glass X's design. Not entirely sure what to do with it.

I'd like to render it into a real cabinet as Glass X has already done. I suppose I might just take the end panel dimensions to someone who cuts wood.

Is there an easy way to change one dimension (like panel height? I'm using 4 unit height for my modules), and keep everything in scale?

v-un-v · Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 1:29 pm Post subject:

BananaPlug · Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 1:38 pm Post subject:

The Frac rack frames are significantly deeper than the Buchla so folding it up is not going to be compact. Is just for non-portable table top use or am I misunderstanding something?

v-un-v · Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 2:47 pm Post subject:

yes you are right- there has to be a compromise in the design, in order for the unit to fold. In this case, (no pun intended!) it is the depth of the cabinet. The front panel height is measured for each cabinet to carry two rows of modules each, but the circuit boards will have to lie flat against the front panels. If I put the actual frac depth in, the unit would cease to be portable for obvious reasons.

But well spotted though Very Happy

v-un-v · Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 3:11 pm Post subject:

I should also mention that the middle cabinet is slightly deeper than the top and bottom ones. This was mainly to allow for the PSU.

BananaPlug · Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 6:02 pm Post subject:

Luka · Joined: Jun 29, 2007 Posts: 1003 Location: Melb.

im going to put motm sized diy modules in mine, however im going to make it out of wood unlike glassx's and ill also change of the cabinets depth so i can mount some reverb tanks for my tellun neural agoniser.

once i get some time away from uni and work ill re-design the cad files again and post em

does anyone know how much space you need to give reverb tanks to avoid humms?

v-un-v · Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 12:51 am Post subject:

v-un-v · Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:03 am Post subject:

mono-poly · Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 5:58 am Post subject:

Cool work man!

v-un-v · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 2:30 pm Post subject:

I'm slowly working out that the great Buchla is not just a great circuit builder, but an equally skilled cabinet designer too!

ericcoleridge contacted me off list and suggested that the boats could be made from wood- 4mm ply in fact, instead of sheet metal (although I can very easily do sheet metal if anyone wishes- in fact it is easier to do metal than wood!. Wood was a wise choice also because it means that almost anyone can now knock one of these up- providing they read from the plans. At the moment, as you see, I have a case that looks like a 200e but because I was going by eye, some of the dimensions are a bit strange to say the least!

The boats are 178mm high and 100mm deep. This makes the cab look lop-sided, but then the 200e is probably full of surface mount components and therefore only needs a shallow box.

I won't have this properly finished for at least another 3 or so weeks, but here's a preview of the thing in Solidworks, opened out.

Hey Presto!.png

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ericcoleridge · Joined: Jan 16, 2007 Posts: 889 Location: NYC

super cool v-un-v!

Luka · Joined: Jun 29, 2007 Posts: 1003 Location: Melb.

did you finish v-un-v?

we just got a mig welder, so im going to make my boats out of thin grade steel. downloading qcad right now so i can work out the motm dimensions.

did you work out the stand to prop the unit up?

v-un-v · Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 2:23 am Post subject:

Hi Luka.

I haven't had an oppotunity to look at it yet. In fact this was part of a university module that has to be in at the latest by this coming Friday (11th). I dumped the cabinet because Solidworks won't export OBJ files into 3D Studio Max. Exporting files can still be done, but Solidworks exports the wrong kind of surface making it difficult to work with. Instead I've been modelling my own house in a brilliant little piece of software called ViaCAD- which is very similar to Solidworks (and QCad too), yet only costs $99 (yes I'm attempting the "hard sell"! Wink

)

http://www.punchcad.com/

but hang in there, because I'll publish everything soon Very Happy

ericcoleridge · Joined: Jan 16, 2007 Posts: 889 Location: NYC

V-un-V,

I'm looking forward to possibly building an enclosure from your design, when you publish. I was planning on using a briefcase type enclosue, but if I'm able to, I think I'd like to try to make one of these cabinets instead. Thanks for sharing your work.

These are my first 5 Panels; As you may notice, they are very Buchla inspired, and might look nice in a Buchla boat.

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cbm · Joined: Oct 25, 2005 Posts: 381 Location: San Francisco

One thing that is overlooked in the Buchla 200e cabinet, is that there is routing in the wood sides to connect the power supply in the middle cabinet to the power distribution boards for the top and bottom boat. The communication buss also goes through these hidden connections.

A very elegant cabinet.

-C

v-un-v · Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 3:53 pm Post subject:

Luka · Joined: Jun 29, 2007 Posts: 1003 Location: Melb.

Tim Servo · Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 8:49 pm Post subject: DIY Buchla Cabinet

v-un-v · Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 4:57 am Post subject:

Hey Tim

Yes and no. The major problem with STL files (although they are the industry standard for CNC and the like), is that stl files contain far to many polygons- and like you point out, many of those surfaces get flipped in the transition stage. I simply don't have the time to sit there flipping normals all afternoon, and OBJ files are simply better for the job.