[AMRadio] RE: Cutting Meter Holes

[Merz Donald S]

Thanks for all the good advice on cutting meter holes. I may have to find a friend with a drill press and fly cutter.

No, I am not a masochist. But I've had this homebrew 1930's rack panel transmitter sitting around for 2 years and couldn't take it any longer. I can't figure out what happened to it. It's a classic 30's rig with multiple 19" rack panels stacked 6 feet tall--antenna tuner, RF deck, exciter, modulator and several power supplies. 

But this rig had a bad accident sometime in the past. Some sort of acid spilled down the front of it and managed to completely trash 4 of the front panels. I am guessing that maybe the user had a wet-cell battery sitting on top of the rig and it cracked open or something. Then too, several of the panels had extra holes in them that were not, shall we say, attractive (hey, that's the story with homebrew!). 

But I finally was unable to keep looking at this sad thing and decided to create new front panels since my ample junk box had the sizes needed. Well, I am talking 1/8" thick steel and 3/32" steel. I got cobalt-tipped drill bits for the smaller holes and those worked great. But whoever built this thing was in love with meters and I ended up saber-sawing 7 meter holes. My hand was numb for 2 days afterward.

Now I still have 2 meter holes to go in the modulator panel and another meter hole needs cut for the Stancor 60P I am working on. But I just don't want to do them. 

By the way, I used some black wrinkle paint from Illinois Bronze on the panels when they were done--just spray can stuff. I cooked them under some halogen lamps that generate a lot of heat. They actually turned out great. I was shocked. I had been expecting a disaster. But they wrinkled up perfectly and the resulting finish looks sufficiently old-fashioned to keep the "1930's look". I am very pleased with that spray paint.

Meanwhile, I've set the finished panels aside while I spend my so-called "free time" on correcting a couple of antenna problems before the Pittsburgh weather turns any colder.

Thanks again for your replies and help. 
73, Don Merz, N3RHT


-----Original Message-----
From: Merz Donald S [mailto:merz.ds at mellon.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2002 11:12 AM
To: amradio at mailman.qth.net; glowbugs at piobaire.mines.uidaho.edu;
greenkeys at mailman.qth.net; Old Tube Radios
Subject: GB> Cutting Meter Holes 


Question: How do you cut meter holes in panels, particularly heavy-gauge steel? I sometimes have to do this for restoration work and I dread it. I have been using my trusty saber-saw and blade-after-blade. Now I have 3 more holes to cut in 2 steel panels and I really don't want to do it. Is there a better way?