# Turret Board Wiring



## dobsont (Jan 7, 2008)

Just got a 5e3 board from wattstubeaudio.com (there's a story for another day).

This is my first time using a turret board, so here's a stupid question.

Physically, how do I connect the under board wiring for b+ and ground?

There's a few places where two wires have to go in one hole and there's no room. I've got 600v 18g wire and there's no 'meat' below the board to solder to. I can get one wire in the hole, but not two. Should I be using thinner wire? Am I missing something here? I'm not even sure I could get 2 strands of 24g in there!

Also, the thing's got no provisions for standoffs which struck me as odd. Again, am I missing something?

Set me straight, please!


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## Wild Bill (May 3, 2006)

dobsont said:


> Just got a 5e3 board from wattstubeaudio.com (there's a story for another day).
> 
> This is my first time using a turret board, so here's a stupid question.
> 
> ...


Yep! The wire's too thick!

18 guage is for small motors! It's an electrician's thing and not an electronic wiring thing.

#22 is more standard. I've never seen that brand of board. It's possible he used smaller than usual eyelets or turrets. (Eyelets are precisely that, like with your shoelaces. Turrets stick up like a picket post and the wire wraps either through a fork or around the post)

If you had an old amp you could compare the size of the terminals. If this guy never drilled holes for standoffs it's possible he wasn't actually an experienced amp man and may never have wired an amp himself with his own boards. He might have gone with the first eyelets he found, never thinking about the actual size.

This is all supposition on my part and may not be fair at all. As I said, I haven't seen your board. I HAVE seen a lot of stuff for amps sold by guys who were obvious total nobs and had never even put a plug on a lamp.

You might google up "House of Jim" in Winnipeg. Jim makes boards. I've used them and they are fine! You could measure the your eyelets and pop him an email. He's a nice guy and I'm sure he'd let you know if yours are standard or on the small side.


:food-smiley-004:


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## dobsont (Jan 7, 2008)

Thanks Bill!

Guess I'll get some new wire...

I'll post a pic of the board later today, just so we can all see it.

I'd think this guy knows what he's doing - he certainly sells a lot of stuff: turretboards.com (same as wattstubeaudio)

The board was something like $22, +6-and-change for shipping, seemed ok, I bought it. He contacts me two days later asking for another $14 for shipping! Over $20 to ship a 5e3 board! I told him he was nuts and if he couldn't ship it for $6 he ought to update his shipping calculator and cancel my order. He came back asking for another $4 "for uninsured ground shipping". I took the bait. Package came in a 30 cent manila envelope with $2.27 worth of postage on it. Man am I sick of Americans ripping me off on shipping!
If you want $30 for your board, fine. Hell, its probably worth it. Just ask for the money up front! Hidden handling fees are just dishonest. Arg!

Of course I saw the House of Jim site 3 days after I bought the board from Watts... I emailed Jim, nice guy. Something like $20 for the board and I could pick it up locally....
Live and learn.


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## Ripper (Jul 1, 2006)

alot of the fender clone boards don't use stand-offs. the old fenders don't use stand-offs they use the fiberboard with a separarate non-conductive backing that separates the connections from the chassis. They just screw down to the chassis, so if this board is a fender clone, chances are there aren't stand-off holes on it.

As for the wiring side of things, as Wild Bill said, that wire is a tad on the heavy side. When you say there isn't enough meat to wire to, are you trying to solder to the bottom of the board, or bringing the bare wire end up from the bottom of the eyelet to be soldered up top?


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## dobsont (Jan 7, 2008)

Oh crap! (and Eureka!) I thought the bottom of the turrets were supposed to be flared (they aren't in this case) and I soldered on the bottom of the board. So I'm supposed to strip them long and pull them up to the top? 

Like I say, this is my first experience with a turret board... 
Luckily I was just looking at the thing and test fitting -- haven't plugged in the iron yet.

As far as the standoff thing goes, you're probably right again. I'll have to search around for pictures of how the board mounts... 

Thanks guys!


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## Emohawk (Feb 3, 2006)

Interesting...from what I've read wattstubeaudio (formerly turretboards.com I think) has a decent rep...

Anyway, I've built 3 amps using turret boards in the last year. You don't have to pull the wire all the way through. I usually bend & clip to about 
1/8 - 3/16 inch or so. Once it's soldered in it ain't going anywhere.

I find turrets a lot easier to work with than eyelets, btw. Just personal taste maybe...


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## dobsont (Jan 7, 2008)

The quality of the Watts board is great. At $22 the price looked great too. The extra $20 he wanted to charge for shipping was the problem. I ended up getting him to ship it surface mail for something like $12. It arrived showing $2.27 postage paid. That's what put me off. I wouldn't order from him again.


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## Guest (Mar 2, 2008)

Those boards are the cat's meow. I gutted out a brand new Peavey Classic 50 (crappy circuit boards, I wouldn't trust gigging with) and I'm rebuilding it to my tastes with his boards. I also ordered some bare FR4 on which I'm affixing my own tube sockets and eyelets. These eyelets are bigger than the ones Ken uses. I get them at Canadian Tire. Some are tin , some are copper and both can be snapped in with pliers I got at Crappys. I'm using cloth insulated wire I picked up on ebay, #18, #20, #22 depending on current flow (heaters are demanding). I also use Teflon wiring for the control stuff. I'm seriously thinking of getting into this business as there are no Canadian sources that compare.


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