[Milsurplus] Items Wanted

[Mike Hanz]

Michael Tauson wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 15, 2009 at 4:45 PM, Tom Norris<nu4g.radio at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> I'm looking for the following items -- a mount for the BC-348...
>
> That should be fun.  I'm getting close to fabricating one for mine but
> I'm not sure I can.
>   

Some mounts are real bears to fabricate, but when you break them down 
into their component parts, they can generally respond to innovative 
thought.  By that I mean there is not much visible of the FT-154-* mount 
when the receiver is installed on it.  The bottom pan, which is the most 
visible component, is 16 gage 5052 aluminum and fairly trivial to 
fabricate with a hacksaw, file, and small pan/box brake.  You can buy 
small pieces of 5052 on ebay fairly reasonably.  You do *not* want the 
common 6061-T6 alloy - it takes much more force to bend and can develop 
stress cracks if not folded with enough of a radius.  The four shocks 
themselves are a (relatively) common Lord mount that shows up at 
hamfests fairly regularly.  If the rubber is damaged on them (as 
frequently encountered), a rigid disk can be easily made from metal or 
plastic to attach the inner core to the outer shell and no one will be 
the wiser when it's all put together.  The top mount plate that mates to 
the receiver takes a bit more work, but it is almost completely 
invisible, so much license can be taken here.  The original is 16 gage 
stainless, and includes a box reinforcement section that is spot welded 
to the mount proper, but neither it nor the triangular connector brace 
are essential to holding up the radio in the home environment.  A flat 
plate of any kind of aluminum functions just as well and is much easier 
to work. 

The one I made for the BC-224-A at 
http://aafradio.org/flightdeck/1935/1935.html included all the details, 
including the "troughs" that one rests the rear receiver posts on before 
sliding the receiver back against the stops, but just to form those 
troughs in a press required a couple of days fabricating male and female 
dies from tool steel, so it is certainly possible to get carried away 
with the pursuit of authenticity.  The original FT-154 (no suffix) mount 
is not as deep and has different attachment details from the later 
mounts, so finding one was considered a fool's errand...thus the more 
extensive effort.  A friend in the local Washington DC machinists club 
has a spot welder, so that part was easy...a search on home machining 
clubs in your area is always worthwhile when you have little jobs like 
that to do.  Payment is usually in beer and conversation or some such 
commodity...

73,
Mike