I wanna be a fraim !

Another one.

The burning question is - what does it sound like?

Don't really know yet Deane, still painting the mdf cut outs. Painting is a real drag!

Nice job Mario.

Is the whole stack to be bolted through the tubes or have you designed in some spike/cup arrangement to decouple the levels (as this is a key element to the real thing?

Will the glass sit on nuts and ball bearings?

Have you considered applying varnish/stain to the MDF with a cloth? This creates quite a nice artificial 'wood-grain' effect.

John.

Hi John,
I have some 20mm threaded stainless steel rod that I have sharpened to a point. These will bolt through the tubes as you have mentioned. Getting a tool shop to machine all those spikes and things was going to be a nightmare so I'm just going for the easy option now. Everyone complains about the fraims price, but after trying to copy one, I can see why the things are so expensive! The 10mm smoked and bevelled glass costs a fortune, let alone the extruded uprights and all the beautifuly turned stainless. I'm still toying around with the finish. Just applied a second undercoat before I try the gloss black spray can. I've got 13 of those MDF cutouts so I may try the stain option if the paint work isn't up to scratch. Thanks for the idea, others that I was willing to pay were not too big on suggestions. The glass simply sits on the ball bearings that just sit in the hole on the MDF cut out.

Mario.

must admit, on first viewing, it looks stunning!!

well done.

Not to put a dampener on things, but isn't what you are doing copy right infringment ?

P.

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Not to put a dampener on things, but isn't what you are doing copy right infringment ?

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I am pretty sure the Fraim's design isn't copywrited, also as I assume Mario isn't intending to sell it it doesn't matter anyhow.

CD5/112/150/S5e's/smiling

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Originally posted by Paul Downs:
Not to put a dampener on things, but isn't what you are doing copy right infringment ?

P.

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I'm reminded of Proac Lover's diy rack, much admired by those of us that saw his thread on the subject - a thread that was latterly deleted by the mods.

jon

Seeing your psuedo Fraim pulled apart like that really makes me appreciate how much work goes into one of these. Beautiful job!

"Before you play two notes learn how to play one note - and don't play one note unless you've got a reason to play it." - Mark Hollis (1998)

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Originally posted by Mario:
The glass simply sits on the ball bearings that just sit in the hole on the MDF cut out.

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Mario,

try putting appropriately-sized nuts between the MDF & the BBs.

cheers, Martin

E-mail:- MartinPayne (at) Dial.Pipex.com. Put "Naim" in the title.

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I have some 20mm threaded stainless steel rod that I have sharpened to a point. These will bolt through the tubes as you have mentioned.

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Mario;

What to these sharpened points connect with on the level below. It's a bit cheeky; but Naim 'chips' are ideal. A cheaper option are steel (dog-tag) discs which you could counterpunch.

What arrangement will secure the threaded rods at the top end? (Keep those photos coming)

Martin's 'ball-nutter' suggestion will give you much better decoupling of the glass.

Good luck.

John.

The copyright comment put a bit of a downer on things, but so far, I've had lots of fun making a rack for my lovely naim black boxes. This rack is no way near as highly engineered as naim's fraim. All the shelves bolt together to make one structure where the real things stack up on top of each other to offer proper isolation. Naim has all the dimensions available on their webb site in lots of detail. Here is what Richard Dane has said on the subject:

"You can perhaps make a nice looking rack the DIY way but be prepared to spend months building lots of different prototypes to get an idea of what actually performs best.

Take the Naim Fraim as an example... From experience we had a general idea of the design in principle but we tried lots of different materials in every area of it's construction before we were happy that it performed optimally.

The DIY route can be rewarding - it's always nice to make something yourself. Just don't expect it to outperform a thoroughly designed and engineered commercially available equipment rack."

Richard

The man is right, I really don't expect it to sound anywhere near as good as the real thing, and yes, even though the pictures are only starting to appear, I have been mucking around for a couple of months!!!

My painting excercise did'nt turn out too well today so I'll get on the phone tommorrow and find someone that can achieve a professional finish. Believe me, anyone who loves naim and their designs as much as I do, would not try to disrespect the brand. This rack is for my own use and in time, I plan to purchase the real thing.

Mario.

As you say Mario; you now appreciate why Fraim costs what it does. That development time has to be paid for somewhere, to make the thing financially viable.

It's also a 'production volume' issue. If Naim were shifting a shed load of Fraim every week, the retail price would come down.

Fortnum and Mason had it nailed:-

'The quality will continue to be enjoyed, long after the price is forgotten'.

John.

Dont forget to seal the MDF first if painting or it will suck the paint faster than a vampire could suck blood in a convent!

Any chance of some dimentions or a drawing?

tnx

Nice looking rack.

If you've got all those spare shelves it might be worth experimenting by laminating two together with an RTV type rubber compound.

I have used this to good effect under my CDP (2 x 16mm layers) and will probably get around to replacing the rest of the shelves (1 x 25mm layer) one day.

Steve

Hi all,
Thanks for your kind words and suggestions. John, I have a machine shop turning some flat bevelled discs (with a 20mm tapped hole not going all the way through) for me so that I dont have to use an ugly 20mm nut at the top. The spike will simply sit straight on the carpet. I have found someone to paint the things for me and yes, they will seal the mdf before applying the gloss black. I was toying with a socket under the ball bearings but the tubes have now been cut, unfortunately, if I use both a socket and a ball bearing, the top of each naim reference style case will come too close to the shelve above. Maybe I'll use this arrangement for the cd player (top shelf) only. The painting is going to really break the bank, A$120 per mdf cutout, still much cheaper than the real thing, but the difference is becoming less significant. I'll end up with two racks with 4 shelves each. I'll get some more pics up soon, especially after the mdf gets painted in about a weeks time.

Mario.

Alex B its:-

A$120 = approx £48

Howard

If you are looking for something to rest your balls in, try these.



Found here:
McMaster Carr

I haven't use any yet but plan to get some. The intention is to use a router, set to a fixed depth, to slightly lower a small section of the shelf under the screw head. This will keep the screw head sitting below the shelf surface and will also create a sort of a mote round the screw head to help catch the ball, should it roll off.

A$120 does seem a bit expensive. For the cost of getting all those shelves painted you could invest in a reasonable spray gun, do it yourself, and still have the gun to use on your next project ( I used an air brush on mine but it took ages - and I managed to paint my partners car ).

Steve

[This message was edited by Stevea on Tue 02 November 2004 at 22:30.]

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Originally posted by Alex B.:
I haven't heard your nor Hutters, but I do expect to hear a difference between home made and Hutter or Fraim.

But I admit, I'd love making one myself, although mine would probably be antique style and probably an enite wardrobe or something to put all of my gear in

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Or a huge sofa to put everything under ????????

Alex this is perhaps the reality of making fraims, or indeed many other racks people will exclaim 'To expensive'

Marios is proving the fact.

The easy repost here is to say he is building 1, and if there were thousands it would be a lot cheaper.

BUt for companies like naim, they are not building thousands of fraims, and they need to make a profit as do the distributors.

Quite suddenly although expensive the fraim is no longer a rip off.

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Originally posted by garyi:
BUt for companies like naim, they are not building thousands of fraims, and they need to make a profit as do the distributors.

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Do Naim even make the Fraim themselves? I would not be surprised if manufacture was contracted out, in which case there is the original manufacturers margin to include as well.

Steve

O.K. guys, finally got those MDF cutouts back from the painters. The finish is exactly what I was looking for. Now to put the thing together.

Mario.

Here's another pic.

and another.