RadioBanter - Then and now

RadioBanter (https://www.radiobanter.com/)

- Homebrew (https://www.radiobanter.com/homebrew/)

- - Then and now (https://www.radiobanter.com/homebrew/206465-then-now.html)

Nowadays, to manufacture an HF RX, with all the concomitant
high density ICs that are around, the biggest design chore
is to cut out the opening for the LCD display on the front
panel.

But, looking in detail at this EA12, almost every facet of
it has involved intricate design and manufacture if only the
mechanical components are considered, and all this from the
days of pencils and drawing boards, long before the era
of computer aiding.

Firstly, there is the aliminium casting for the front panel, and
secondly is the rotary arm coupling to the tuning condenser
to linearise the frequency coverage, amongst many other mechanical
achievements.

Clearly the Stratton people knew their onions when it came
to designing and producing radios.

My gast has never been so flabbered; no wonder it had taken me
so long as a tyro machinist to not (yet) succeed in my own efforts!

"gareth" wrote in news:lt1tsc$8ie$1@dont-
email.me:

Firstly, there is the aliminium casting for the front panel, and
secondly is the rotary arm coupling to the tuning condenser
to linearise the frequency coverage, amongst many other mechanical
achievements.

Clearly the Stratton people knew their onions when it came
to designing and producing radios.

I limit my CAD for mechanics to an early version of SketchUp, the main
advantage beign an ability to make clean lines, erase faults as if they'd
never been, try new ideas and revert painlessly, and to turn the model in
three dimensions. In the past, the fact that makers likely had to do design
and also handle real parts they made, meant the brain fed back detail that
kept their vision clear. Even so it is admirable.

On the other hand (not radio related, exactly), I have built from expired
patent and base principle (I find other's code utterly impenetrable so have
not plundered any), an entire polyphonic, multitimbral FM (actually, phase
mod) synthesiser, with a few tricks that not even Yamaha managed.

In short, while it is amazing what people in the past acheived, it is also
true that in 1980, to do what I can do alone, it took a university professors
(John Chowning) and a large multinational company (Yamaha), and 10 years of
research and development to do! It's still taking me a few years, but it is
at least possible, and not so long ago it was beyond any practical dreaming.

There is real art in old radio parts though, especially the tuning
capacitors, and those old hybrid canned parts with chokes and caps and such,
especially in the context of a small forest of valves.... The intricacies of
my PhaseMod synth, while fun and no ends of cool, are hard to sell to a
public who woudl see even LESS of that wonder than they do when confronted
with an actual hardware dedicated IC. :) But such is the price we pay for the
power....

"Chronos" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 20 Aug 2014 11:38:57 +0100
"gareth" wrote:

Nowadays, to manufacture an HF RX, with all the concomitant
high density ICs that are around, the biggest design chore
is to cut out the opening for the LCD display on the front
panel.

I have to say that anyone who can make a decent looking front panel has
my admiration. My attempts at chassis bashing have always looked like
something salvaged from a rather nasty car accident. The Dremel doesn't
help - it just makes making a mess faster ;-)

Always used to be a problem until I clamped down the workpiece in a drill
press and stopped trying to do everything freehand. Also, the old adage of
measure
twice and cut but once helps!

Being impatient myself, I did make a "PCB" by grinding out the lands using a
Dremel-equivalent
miniature grinding wheel, but where I transgressed with that was to grind
each land as I needed it,
after soldering in the previous component, with the result that the board
slowly curved.

On Wed, 20 Aug 2014, Chronos wrote:

On Wed, 20 Aug 2014 11:38:57 +0100
"gareth" wrote:

Nowadays, to manufacture an HF RX, with all the concomitant
high density ICs that are around, the biggest design chore
is to cut out the opening for the LCD display on the front
panel.

I have to say that anyone who can make a decent looking front panel has
my admiration. My attempts at chassis bashing have always looked like
something salvaged from a rather nasty car accident. The Dremel doesn't
help - it just makes making a mess faster ;-)

That's why they created bezels, to cover up what lies behind.

Michael

Chronos wrote in
:

The Dremel doesn't
help - it just makes making a mess faster ;-)

As I found too, once. Try Proxxon instead. Works for me...

On Wed, 20 Aug 2014 16:26:12 +0100, Chronos wrote:

The Dremel doesn't
help - it just makes making a mess faster ;-)

But does look nice on the bench :-)

--
M0WYM
Sales @ radiowymsey
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Sales-At-Radio-Wymsey/

Chronos wrote:
On Wed, 20 Aug 2014 11:38:57 +0100
"gareth" wrote:

Nowadays, to manufacture an HF RX, with all the concomitant
high density ICs that are around, the biggest design chore
is to cut out the opening for the LCD display on the front
panel.

I have to say that anyone who can make a decent looking front panel has
my admiration. My attempts at chassis bashing have always looked like
something salvaged from a rather nasty car accident. The Dremel doesn't
help - it just makes making a mess faster ;-)

The tradition here, used to be nibbling tool + Hammond Box.

http://www.mpja.com/images/31197-large.jpg

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Deluxe-Nibbl...-/160459856656

http://angela.com/hammondaluminum17x...is1444-30.aspx

http://angela.com/images/products/de...Chassis.15.jpg

You drill a hole big enough to take the cutting head of the nibbler.
Then, like a jig saw, the nibbler cuts an arbitrary pattern in
the aluminum sheet. You can do square or round holes. The square
holes will be high quality (requires a steady hand, don't
rush it). The round holes need touch up with a round file
(depending on your level of patience, and availability of a bezel
to cover the mess).

The advert lists a few different materials it works in, but
let's be honest - it's only for aluminum, and only of a
limited thickness. If you have to fight with the tool,
you won't get nice looking results.

In this picture, you can see the nibbling tool has just cut an "L"
on its way to finishing a big square. While the person here drilled
four pilot holes for the nibbler (to do the square), only one is
really needed. You can do the entire square, racetrack style.
You could even drill a pilot in the middle of the square, and
"drive" to the edges to cut the square.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y15...3/IMG_1326.jpg

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes...n7-preamp.html

That project cheated by using other tools to do the round holes.
The round holes are too high quality for the nibbler. But lacking
such tools, I wouldn't mind faking the round holes with the nibbler.
I could never afford a whole kit of tool n' die hole cutters
(the kind you work by compression with a wrench). One of the tools
in this promotional picture (mid-left), is a proper hole cutter.

http://angela.com/images/products/de...Chassis.15.jpg

Paul

On 20/08/14 19:04, Paul wrote:
Chronos wrote:
On Wed, 20 Aug 2014 11:38:57 +0100
"gareth" wrote:

Nowadays, to manufacture an HF RX, with all the concomitant
high density ICs that are around, the biggest design chore
is to cut out the opening for the LCD display on the front
panel.

I have to say that anyone who can make a decent looking front panel has
my admiration. My attempts at chassis bashing have always looked like
something salvaged from a rather nasty car accident. The Dremel doesn't
help - it just makes making a mess faster ;-)

The tradition here, used to be nibbling tool + Hammond Box.

http://www.mpja.com/images/31197-large.jpg

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Deluxe-Nibbl...-/160459856656

http://angela.com/hammondaluminum17x...is1444-30.aspx

http://angela.com/images/products/de...Chassis.15.jpg

You drill a hole big enough to take the cutting head of the nibbler.
Then, like a jig saw, the nibbler cuts an arbitrary pattern in
the aluminum sheet. You can do square or round holes. The square
holes will be high quality (requires a steady hand, don't
rush it). The round holes need touch up with a round file
(depending on your level of patience, and availability of a bezel
to cover the mess).

The advert lists a few different materials it works in, but
let's be honest - it's only for aluminum, and only of a
limited thickness. If you have to fight with the tool,
you won't get nice looking results.

In this picture, you can see the nibbling tool has just cut an "L"
on its way to finishing a big square. While the person here drilled
four pilot holes for the nibbler (to do the square), only one is
really needed. You can do the entire square, racetrack style.
You could even drill a pilot in the middle of the square, and
"drive" to the edges to cut the square.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y15...3/IMG_1326.jpg

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes...n7-preamp.html

That project cheated by using other tools to do the round holes.
The round holes are too high quality for the nibbler. But lacking
such tools, I wouldn't mind faking the round holes with the nibbler.
I could never afford a whole kit of tool n' die hole cutters
(the kind you work by compression with a wrench). One of the tools
in this promotional picture (mid-left), is a proper hole cutter.

http://angela.com/images/products/de...Chassis.15.jpg

Paul

Nibbling tools are still available from Radio Shack (in USA) for US$9.99

Frank GM0CSZ / KN6WH

highlandham wrote:
Nibbling tools are still available from Radio Shack (in USA) for US$9.99

Don't do it! Spend a little more and get a good one from MSC or somebody.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."