Tuesday 11 August 2015

Frog FAB!


Quite some time ago, I dismantled for parts a defunct 10W CML analogue UHF TV transposer. One of the things I kept from it were the thin anodized aluminium sheet covers on the individual modules.

Tonight, I decided on a bit of sheet metal fabrication! Ive measured and marked up one of these sheets, and using my mini-bender, formed it into a U-shaped box half, the first stage in making a cabinet for the Frog Sounds QRP transceiver I built a few weeks back


This sheet is only about 1/64 of an inch thick, and bends easily and accurately, although it is a bit flexible which makes filing the saw cut edges smooth a bit time consuming.

I'll find out some standoff posts to mount the PCB on, and then once I have the lengths of those, will mark and drill the holes for the connectors, controls and LED. The box will be a bit wide, but I really couldnt be bothered to do the necessary measuring, marking, cutting and filing needed to make a narrower box. Its as wide as the CML modules were!

I will also cut and fabricate another U-shaped half to be the lid. This I might have overlap the bottom section by a quarter of an inch or so. Ive yet to decide how to fix them together. I could use four long standoffs (or chains of standoffs) as pillars, or I could see if I am skilled enough to bend a pair of lugs inwards into which I can secure four M3 sized nut-serts.








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