[Boatanchors] Mechanical Advice

[wa9wfa]

By the way, many folks on this list gave me advise on how to do a more precise job with the drilling of my new receiver front panel and chassis.  I implemented a lot of what what recommended, and the results were very good.  I have also been pinging Mike Bohn KG7TR as well.

I covered the panel and chassis with green painters tape and did all the marking on it.  The fine tip marking pen vs a pencil was also a big help.  I sturdy T-square helped too.  The automatic center punch worked wonders!  

The self centering drill bits did a nice job, and the step-bit was fantastic!  

I had punched a front panel opening for the S-meter, the chassis punch wasn’t large enough so I planned to hand file it to size.  That worked poorly.  The Greenlee chassis punch was designed for 0.063” or less, so my 0.125” panel was a struggle.  I hope I didn’t wreck the punch.  The hand filing didn’t work at all with that thickness of panel.  I ended up buying a 1 1/2” Milwaukee “Hole Dozer”, and after extremely careful placement, was able to drill over that 1-1/4” hole and enlarge it to a nicely round 1-1/2”.  It’s nice when a potential disaster like that is resolved so easily.  

So thanks again for the advice of this group!

73 Scott WA9WFA