Real Bud Chassis? anyone?

[JamesHealey]

Some guy on here a while back said he was going to get Bud to make some chassis' did this ever happen?

Does anyone have any real Bud chassis' for sale?

[selloutrr]

that was me.

No it fell through I couldn't get enough interest. After the price was figured out, most of the interest died.
It wasn't worth personally tying my $ up in 50+ chassis when I only needed 2 more.

Maybe in the future if it makes sense I'll try again.

[JamesHealey]

just want a single one, any ideas?

[selloutrr]

sheet metal fabricator would be your best bet. I've got a meeting tomorrow afternoon with a new sheet metal fabrication shop just down the street I'm going to see if the chassis is something they can replicate and if so how much?

If you are building the amp with current production parts the chassis Allyn offers is a great way to go! You aren't going to gain much, if anything, from using a Bud chassis other then a hard time cutting the holes perfect and some frustration while you reinforce it from bending into it'self. The chassis most clones are built on it very sturdy and most of the holes are predrilled.

Bud Chassis will make them but the min order is 50 units. to make them correct with the double welded seems it's over $65 each plus tax and shipping. They make you order through a local distributor so you are forced to pay tax.

I've looked for years and only found a couple, I search Ebay, government auctions, craigslist, auction houses, surplus parts depots, and cruise every local electronics store I pass by when I'm on tour in search of holy grail parts. I'll be honest it seems people have pretty much picked them dry by now.

[selloutrr]

Update...

Stopped by the sheet metal fabricators this afternoon.
Seems they can bend the pan. But they are not able to weld it. Which brought up the point of the material being galvanized and not raw.
They were set up to quick lock but not at twice the .050 thickness.
From what I understood .050 stock is thicker then quicklocks are typically set up for.
I'm now driving to a local sheet metal supply house to locate a sheet of raw .050 aluminum. Hopefully It's impossible to get service from these places over the phone.

The labor to bend and weld the corner tacks is $100 per chassis
not sure yet about cost of the material.

I'll keep you posted. That price quote does not include the lid, Tax, or holes punched.

[Structo]

Wow, that's expensive.

Have you asked around, seems to me a lot of money just for bending up four sides of a sheet of aluminum.
Or does that include cutting the sheet?

Not sure who Brian and Robert had do their ODS chassis but those are very nice with all the holes lasered or water jet cut, corners welded, nuts and silk screened.
I think I only paid $125 shipped.
That's in Canada so it doesn't help us here but there has to be a small fab shop that would be willing to make a run of 10 or so if you can get the interest up for them.
Of course TW amps aren't silk screened so you save there.
So you either have to wood burn the panel or have it laser engraved.

[M Fowler]

Wow, even my quote from Hammond for thicker 17x8x2 chassis was at $58 each but yes they had a minimum quantity order per run.

Allyn's and rjguitar's seemed to be better deal to me for that price. But I understand you want original specs.

[selloutrr]

it's all about the original spec at this point not quality. I'd like to go through with the BUD chassis order but I end up tying up almost $5000 after tax, which is just stupid for personally only needing a couple chassis.

the raw material locally cost's $22 a sheet 24" x 36" so basically one chassis 13" x 25"


It feels like a lot to spend for a clone. though an original custom run was about $68 plus tax per unit.

[JamesHealey]

Do you have exact technical drawings of the chassis?

As I know someone who would be willing to make me a single one off at a good price if I had the specs.

[selloutrr]

I have an original for them to work from. as well as a data sheet and pics at various angles since I'm not excited about leaving the chassis with them.

[M Fowler]

I have the AC-412 17 x 8 x 3 since they don't carry the 2 inch version anymore.

It isn't too bad and I will use it in a combo amp adding bunches of switches since the faceplate is 3 inches wide

[selloutrr]

I was wondering about that chassis. Do you think it would be possible to unsolder the support tabs, recut the tabs, and bend it to be 2", and resolder? If so it might be the easiest way to go, at least you would know the material was correct.

By "possible" I mean a professional fabricator doing the work.

[M Fowler]

For the price your looking at with the AC-425 why not take the time and effort to redo the AC-412 if its close to an original Bud your looking for.

[selloutrr]

the welds are my only concern If they coat the chassis with anything after they are welded. it wont be possible to reweld.

[telentubes]

Watts Tube Audio may be a source. They do custom runs of 10 (I'm getting this from their web site), plain or punched. I've used their standard .090 blank boxes and found them to be very well made... and they are in the $40 range. Pretty cheap for .090 aluminum it seems. If you could spec the layout, thickness, and grade of aluminum, you should be set. However, I don't know what they charge for custom work.