On Sat, 6 Oct 2018 00:09:52 -0400, Michael Black
wrote:

I guess one should be making their own hole punches, even though they
don't directly have anything to do with ham radio.

Those Greenlee punches were expensive in 1972, at least when you were a
kid with limited funds. But boy, I've seen people quote prices in recent
years, and what a great deal they were in 1972.

For round holes, using chassis punches is painful. I have a heavy box
full of them, and rarely use them. Much better is a Rotex punch:
https://www.google.com/search?q=rotex+punch&tbm=isch
I have access to several when I need one.

Another approach for round holes is an annual cutter or Rotabroach:
https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=annular+cutter
These are much better than drills, especially on big holes, because
they only remove a "ring" of metal and not convert the entire hold
area into chips. The holes are clean, there's very little deburring,
they don't wander, and they're fast.

When recycling use miniboxes, rack plates, and aluminum boxes, I
sometimes have to deal with plugging extra holes. I use a metal plate
(or coin) on the inside, and fill the hole with Bondo. I sand it flat
before it hardens. Then paint and labels. As long as you don't care
about the messy look on the inside, it works nicely.

We don't roll our own capacitors,

I've made some. Finding high voltage variable caps for magnetic loop
antennas isn't easy or cheap. I've only made one so far, so I'm far
from an expert on making these tuning caps. There are plenty of
magnetic loop antenna construction articles that use home made caps.
For example:
https://qrpbuilder.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/loop-antenna-110310.pdf


--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On 06/10/18 17:34, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
I've made some. Finding high voltage variable caps for magnetic loop
antennas isn't easy or cheap. I've only made one so far, so I'm far
from an expert on making these tuning caps. There are plenty of
magnetic loop antenna construction articles that use home made caps.
For example:
https://qrpbuilder.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/loop-antenna-110310.pdf

That 10 to 30 MHz Magloop in a true beauty ........have filed the info.

Frank , EI7KS

On Sat, 6 Oct 2018, Jeff Liebermann wrote:


We don't roll our own capacitors,

I've made some. Finding high voltage variable caps for magnetic loop
antennas isn't easy or cheap. I've only made one so far, so I'm far
from an expert on making these tuning caps. There are plenty of
magnetic loop antenna construction articles that use home made caps.
For example:
https://qrpbuilder.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/loop-antenna-110310.pdf

That's a fair expectation, and there have been a few articles, at least,
on the topic of making high voltage capacitors for loops. But unlike
making average bypass capacitors, you gain something from the effort,
eitehr saving money, or saving from a lot of scrounging to find them.

Michael

In article ,
says...

For round holes, using chassis punches is painful. I have a heavy box
full of them, and rarely use them. Much better is a Rotex punch:
https://www.google.com/search?q=rotex+punch&tbm=isch
I have access to several when I need one.



It is nice to be able to have access to tools like that. One thing I
miss when I retired was access to some tools and a source of scrap
aluminum and stainless steel. Now I am back to just hand tools and a
small drill press at home. The ability to cut and bend metal parts came
in very handy.

I enjoy doing some simple projects, but would rather work with the
components than the mechanical part of construction.

While I do put the connectors on the coax and other cables, that is a
chore just to get signals from one place to another and time I could be
doing something more interisting to me.Spending several hours making up
cables for a duplexer is not fun, but tuning it and getting the repeater
to work is fun for me.

On Sat, 6 Oct 2018 15:25:46 -0400, Ralph Mowery
wrote:

In article ,
says...

For round holes, using chassis punches is painful. I have a heavy box
full of them, and rarely use them. Much better is a Rotex punch:
https://www.google.com/search?q=rotex+punch&tbm=isch
I have access to several when I need one.

It is nice to be able to have access to tools like that. One thing I
miss when I retired was access to some tools and a source of scrap
aluminum and stainless steel. Now I am back to just hand tools and a
small drill press at home. The ability to cut and bend metal parts came
in very handy.

Having everything on hand is nice, but expensive. So, you invest in a
membership to one of the community fab shops, such as MakerSpace, Fab
Space, HackerSpace, FabLab, etc. They have the equipment and tooling.
You either take the classes if you're not familiar with the equipment,
or an exam to demonstrate that you know what you're doing.

Or, you impose on your friends and accomplices to let you use their
machines in trade for whatever. This has been an ongoing project for
about a year so far. We paid for all the CNC hardware with the first
job. The owner of the machines is a retired machine shop owner, so
expertise is not a problem.
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/CNC-conversion/index.html
I did all the CNC wiring, troubleshooting, setup, sheet metal, 2 - 3
phase conversion, some electrical stuff, etc. The owner did the
mechanical stuff. No need for a Rotex punch. We just mill the holes.
Unfortunately, the mill is down right now after blowing a spindle
bearing and shredding a Delrin gear. Plenty of other toys to play
with meanwhile.

I enjoy doing some simple projects, but would rather work with the
components than the mechanical part of construction.

I would rather do the mechanical stuff. Despite the BSEE and a life
working with RF, I get bored easily and am better at the mechanical
(and chemical) stuff than the electronics.

While I do put the connectors on the coax and other cables, that is a
chore just to get signals from one place to another and time I could be
doing something more interisting to me.Spending several hours making up
cables for a duplexer is not fun, but tuning it and getting the repeater
to work is fun for me.

I just sold my Motorola MSF-5000 440Mhz repeater and have
un-volunteered to NOT work on the local radio club repeaters. No more
repeater building for me:
http://members.cruzio.com/~jeffl/k6bj/K6BJ%20Repeater/index.html
(From about 2003).



--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558