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Then and now

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!

Reply to
gareth
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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 ;-)

Reply to
Chronos

Someone once said to me, that precision engineering was the easiest thing in the world - far easier than having to 'adjust' holes to fit things and used a lot less material! I freely admit that my earlier work was not something to be proud of.

Les.

Reply to
Lordgnome

Somewhere on the Net is a poster of silly screws to handle such problems. along the lines of a screw with a bit shifted sideways!

Anyone got the URL?

Reply to
gareth

======================== These screw type punchers were/are available from Radio Spares (RS). I have a few sizes up to 30 mm diameter.

Frank , GM0CSZ / KN6WH

Reply to
highlandham

highlandham wrote in news:lt5mcm$7ud$1@dont- email.me:

I think he had something far sillier in mind. :) Pythonesque, even. But I know the puches you mean, I have a couple for 20mm and 16mm, I considered one for 25 pin D-sub but in the end I never wanted to repeat enough to justify anything other than finely dotted drill-lines followed by knocking out the middle bit and light filing to clean up. Those hole puches don't always work well, especially on thicker panels, or panels that already have a tough enamel type coating. They're also not cheap, I just kept some for hole sizes I did need to use a lot.

Reply to
Lostgallifreyan

They tend to be fine for thin steal (eg car panels if you are fitting an antenna) or the softer aluminium alloys but can jam on the harder alloys, a little paraffin usually helps (assuming proper cutting fluid for aluminium isn't to hand). Given you are using hand tools, flash point shouldn't be an issue. WD40 also works.

I've had good results with a 'cone drill', provided I used a drill press and the work piece was firmly clamped to the bed. Of course, using a suitable cutting fluid always helps.

Reply to
Brian Reay

Paraffin _IS_ the recommended cutting fluid for aluminium

Reply to
gareth

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