Bill,
I'm going down that road and know others who have been there. First,
you only build what you cannot buy. Otherwise it is far cheaper to
buy something manufactured. Making drilled and punched cabinets for
sale is not as trivial as you may think. They would be surprisingly
expensive and I bet most hams would balk at paying the price,
preferring to go get some junk item someone is throwing away or a junk
piece of equipment, strip it and use the cabinet. Anything you want
to build you want to make worth your time money and trouble right, so
first off, you will want it to be big. Big as in size among other
things. Lots of room for components, air circulation, rack mounting,
and room to get in there and make repairs. Otherwise, if you want a
dinky box then why bother. Well big also means $$$, so there's the
rub.
Unrelated to Bill's question:
L4B i'd put in a different category from the SB220 and TL922. There
are 220s built in the early 70s still in daily operation on the
original tubes. Not trying to be contentious at all here but I would
not describe the AL82 as built like a battleship. Maybe some
broadcast and military gear but to me the AL82 is just typical ham
product. N.B. I'd make that comment about other amps made for hams
these days too, so I'm not singling out the AL82; for example I'd call
the current Alpha amps which I think are over rated, typical ham
product.
73
Rob
K5UJ
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