There is only one person who has to look at it and the first one doesnt have
to be museum quality.
I usually start at the local metal recyclers and make several trips over a
few months picking up aluminum and steel sheet, angle, useable chassis, rack
panels etc. Panels can be trimmed if you dont want the full 19" and chassis
can have a fresh overlay of aluminum or steel sheet.
Sheet metal screws and pop rivets work as well for radio projects as with
old vehicles.
Ages ago road signs were a primary source of sheet metal for everything from
homebrew to patching rusted floors and trunks (-;
Hamfests and the local electronics surplus dealers around New England
provide dirt cheap enclosures as well as all sorts of RF and power supply
parts. Im sure sources are everywhere if you look hard enough and have
patience.
When the raw materials are cheap you practice and learn how to cut, bend and
form sheetmetal. Places like Harbor Freight have some Chinese home shop junk
that actually works well....for awhile.
I built my first amp in 1957 and the last one was 2 years ago, a custom 6M
serious QRO amp for a customer in South America. Since he deals in container
load export/import the shipping wasnt a problem.
Carl
KM1H
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jerry" <jsternmd@att.net>
To: <Amps@contesting.com>
Sent: Friday, January 17, 2014 10:10 AM
Subject: [Amps] Building an Amp 101
I have had a long desire to build my own linear HF or VHF amp. I believe I
have the electronic technical skills but after looking at some completed
projects like those on WD7S website, I realized I don't have the skills or
tools to do a nice job on the mechanical aspects of chassis / sub-chassis
sheetmetal work. I guess I could cram it all into an unattractive box
behind a reasonable looking front panel but is linear amp building mainly
for those with good metal work capabilities? How does one break into
this
with limited workbench space other than an electronic workbench?
Jerry
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