Pelham Hall 4 - Packaging Hell – The finished Product

So, after trying several “around the house” boxes with little success (too big; too small; not enough access) I broke down and walked to Radio Shack for one of their stock boxes:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062281&filterName=Category#

Thinking that this enclosure would allow me to position the input jack flush against one of the sides  - remember, the input jack is on one edge of the board - it would make the packaging sweet!

Well, once I got the box home and opened it up, I figured out that this could not happen. The four lid mounting pillars extended all the way to the bottom of the enclosure, making sure that board could not be placed flush with one of the short sides. Since the board standoffs were on its edges, I would have had to remove those, cut the board down, and figure out another place for mounting that end of the board (AARGGGHHH!!!). 

Since I had no desire to re-architect the board mounting, I knew my only option was to drill a really large hole in the side to accommodate the input jack. Bummer.

Anyway, after playing around with different board mount ideas, I settled on the plan of mounting the board, the power connector, and the RCA jacks, on the lid of the box. A quick (yeah right) cardboard template of the inside of the Box plastic top allowed me to locate the board standoff locations (as close to one end of the box as possible), and a reasonable layout for the power and output connectors. Punching and drilling the holes in the plastic to was a bit of a challenge, without the proper clamps and supports but I got it done. I miss not having a model shop!!!!

Below is the enclosure plastic top with the board mounted and connectors mounted and wired up.

This side view gives a better indication of where things are.

 And a view of the connectors.

Next was to locate and drill the GIGANTOR hole in the side of the box. Fortunately, I had one big drill to make that hole, and even thought it looks a little jack-Leg, functionally, it works!

The final Preamp, fully wired up from the Tablet to my old Stereo. Note the input connector (white cable on the left) goes almost all the way into the box (need to fix that in the version that will be put on Amazon and eBay!!!).

I have left the Preamp plugged in for several days to make sure it is solid and I have turned on my Stereo periodically to ensure music was still coming through. Next is the acid test in place in Westchester.

Until soon…….