[hpsdr] Pand-oragami-Lego-mania

[Eric Ellison]

Ben/All

Nice pictures.

Looks like a very nice enclosure, suitable for HPSDR projects, which many
can live with. The features you point out really 'fill the bill' when it
comes to versatility. We can run an "interests" when we have more details
and brainstorming. This is a pretty 'hands on' group as we can see. I think
I saw the cost as $39 but could be mistaken.

I don't think one would want to use a standard ATX supply in a case this
size. I just ordered the 120 W. Pico-psu, which uses a 12 to 32 volt supply
for this purpose. This new item, can be powered from my station supply
without needing a regulated 12 V source.  I hope we will get some additional
tests on this unit. Chris's work looked pretty good. This supply would also
suit mobile operations.

http://www.mini-box.com/PicoPSU-120-WI-32V

If work on the PicoPSU's pan out, we probably could do a group buy on those
also, since the 50 and 100 discounts look pretty good, and probably worth
the re-mail costs at least domestically.

Thanks
Eric - AA4SW








Good morning everyone!

I seem to be having some e-mail troubles, so I hope this e-mail makes it 
out and actually gets received via the list.

Eric Ellison wrote:
> Yes, this looks like a very nice quality enclosure, to do what many people
> would want to do. I could not get a 'close-up' shot of the enclosure, but
it
> looks like it is a clamshell top which would make it ideal for
> troubleshooting or working on the internals, and routing wires fore and
aft.
> Front and back are the same.  The face also looks to have 4 screw mounts.
It
> should be large enough to mount a power supply. Does anyone have the
> drawings for this enclosure?

I will send Ten-Tec an e-mail first thing Monday morning from work. 
I've requested PDF drawings from them before from work and they respond 
fairly quickly.

At any rate, I have ordered one of the BK-959's to look at and can take 
pictures as needed when it comes in.  If this isn't the case we end up 
using, I will use it for something else, so the money isn't wasted.

I do have a slightly smaller case of similar style so I took some photos 
this morning:  (Believe this is an BK-947)

<http://bellsouthpwp.net/k/d/kd5byb/tt/tt1.jpg>
<http://bellsouthpwp.net/k/d/kd5byb/tt/tt2.jpg>
<http://bellsouthpwp.net/k/d/kd5byb/tt/tt3.jpg>
<http://bellsouthpwp.net/k/d/kd5byb/tt/tt4.jpg>

It is a clamshell type, but as you can see, especially in tt4.jpg, it 
has an internal structure so that the clamshells are not the only 
structural member.  In the photos, you'll see my IQ-PRO VFO sitting 
inside, as this case will eventually have this unit installed inside.

What isn't shown in the photos is that this series of Ten-Tec case also 
has a little removable shelf that attaches to the row of holes that go 
vertically up and down the internal side panels.  This shelf, or 
sub-chassis is what I think Ten-Tec calls it, could be modified to be 
the lower half of your L-shaped design.

Another neat feature is that you can remove both the clamshell top and 
bottom while maintaining some structural integrity of the case!  So, if 
you need to add wires, troubleshoot, or do whatever, you can have access 
to both sides easily without a lot of disassembly.

Downside is the cost - the base case is about $50.  This is not an 
inexpensive case, but I will say, it is a very nice case and you do get 
your money's worth out of it.

> It would be immaterial if Pandora's face were 9". It would allow folks
using
> custom enclosures such as computer cases to hack off as much as they
needed
> to make it fit the application, if needed. Only one cut if the slots were
> right or left justified. Also the surplus face space could be drilled to
> handle switches, leds, 12 V power, fuses etc.

Good point!  Material can easily be removed with hand-tools - cutting a 
straight line with a hack saw isn't hard.  (You've just got to go slow 
and be careful!)  The slots will certainly be justified to one side to 
allow room for a power supply inside.

That's another potential problem with the Ten-Tec case - it may not have 
room for a standard ATX power supply.  Something that may be worth 
considering is a separate enclosure for a power supply, as is done with 
most commercial ham transceivers.  Or simply use one of those pico-ITX 
power supplies as they take up almost no space at all.

Many of these questions will be answered once I get the solid models 
finished.  My Pinocchio and Atlas are now finished, so I can start that 
task shortly.

> Coming full turn, on this discussion, TenTec also has custom machining and
> could probably ship the case with Pandora's pretty face installed, or
> included. We could buy and stock extra faceplates for the faceplate only
> crowd. The whole enclosure looks like it would retail for under $50
dollars.
> With a 'group buy' we could probably get that price down, and the face
> plates might become free or trivial cost.

Absolutely!  Ten-Tec does a lot of custom fabrication, and I'll bet that 
slotting an end-plate and adding some holes to the subchassis probably 
won't be that much money if we can hit a fairly high quantity target. 
Ideally, if they could be the sales and distribution point, that would 
save money and time as well.

> I also think that TenTec has a European distribution.

We'll have to look into that - as a world-wide seller of ham gear, I'd 
expect that they would.

-- 
Thanks and 73,
Ben, KD5BYB


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