steel/aluminium

[Andy Le Blanc]

I ran into an interesting issue with chassis metal and layout.
Mild steel shields against inductive coupling, makes the layout a bit more flexible.
Two amps similar layout, one steel the other aluminum etc.....
the aluminum has issues with inductive couple with the opt plate leads.
It limits the gain structure I can use. time wasted to chopsticking.....
I've seen compact JAN gear were critical lead runs were put through
braided steel tubing. Another other issue I've seen is bimetallic corrosion
between the aluminum and other ferrous parts.
Ground is not an issue, I don't use the chassis other than as a shield and
parts container.

[jaysg]

Corrosion/migration is always an issue with dissimilar metals. You can't use aluminum nuts and bolts. Al chassis are better heat sinks for power scaling. Steel can require a pre-fab'd heatsink with a fan.

[Andy Le Blanc]

Funny pro's and con's, I was in a marshal SS thing this morning. It had a massive
AL cooling fins mounted over slits punched into a steel chassis to maximize
passive convection, keeping the power side form thermal death.
I'm actually quite surprised that anyone would mount a SS component like
those
used with VVR without planning ahead for proper cooling, Aluminum is used
in the bottom of cooking pots to maximize heat distribution, doesn't seem
adequate simply to chassis mount the thing, all it takes is one hot gig to cook it.

[Phil_S]

You mean, NoAlOx doesn't address the issues?