6.meter GS-35B EME amplifier..

[K7SGJ]

I will be doing that soon again too. Cutting big round holes in a panel. I bought a circle cutter from harbor Frieght, but it is absolutely useless. Only good for cutting holes in WOOD!!!

My 2 holes will be about 2 inches in diameter, but fortunately, if they are ill cut, the meters will hide any defects. I plan to drill a series of holes around the circle and then file it to fit. What an incredibly tedious amount of hard work! I need to find a circle cutter that will hold up to Aluminum!

HD has bi-metal hole saws made by Milwaukee that will do the job if you go slowly. They are about 10 bucks or so, a little more with the arbor if you don't have one.

[VK3ZL]

I notice the comments about cutting holes for meters etc...I was just finishing off a cover panel for the cathode enclosure on a new 6 meter amp today...This has two 3.5 inch 240 volt muffin fans attached to the panel..I decided to take a couple of pics to show you how simple it is to make perfectly round holes..

This requires little effort..Pics show the scribed circle of the wanted diameter with another circle 1/8 inch smaller inside the material that needs to be removed..Using a drill press or even a hand drill using a 1/8 inch drill bit, carefully drill holes all the way around following the inner circle being careful not to drill outside the outer scribed circle..

Once you have a complete circle drilled, using a pair of small clippers remove the inner disc...Then all you need to do is file away the rough edge out to the scribed line...

I know this probably sounds a lot of work just for holes for meters etc but with patience one soon becomes practiced and rewarded with a perfect job every time..I tried a fly cutter once and it nearly gave me a vasectomy...Bloody dangerous things in the hands of fools..

I hope the pics give an understanding of my poor mans efforts..

Bob..VK3ZL..

[VK3ZL]

Bob, just curious, do you have any photos of home brewed gear other than amps? Rigs, specifically.

I haven't kept many pics of other than amplifiers but I found a little 100 watt 160 meter CW transmitter I built using old WW2 metal tubes...There are a couple of modern tubes in this transmitter also mainly the 6146 finals and a couple of VR regulator tubes..

The VFO uses a 6SG7 from memory with a 6C5 triode buffer then a 6AG7 amplifier into another 6AG7 driver once more from memory....The VFO is perfectly stable and drift free after 10 minutes warm up in fact better than any Kenwood or Yaesu 520 or 101E..I have a voltage control on the driver screen to allow the power output to be varied when driving an amplifier..

All the metal tubes were salvaged from the junkbox..I sanded and cleaned off the original black paint and re sprayed the tubes with a metallic grey paint then added rub on lettering designating tube types..

This little transmitter has been running for years and I often use it for a change to the 1000D..I have added an automatic keyer using a Curtis chip since I built the transmitter..I use both a home brew iambic key and a Black Widow key I got in kit form from the US.. Bob..VK3ZL..

[KB3LAZ]

I haven't kept many pics of other than amplifiers but I found a little 100 watt 160 meter CW transmitter I built using old WW2 metal tubes...There are a couple of modern tubes in this transmitter also mainly the 6146 finals and a couple of VR regulator tubes..

The VFO uses a 6SG7 from memory with a 6C5 triode buffer then a 6AG7 amplifier into another 6AG7 driver once more from memory....The VFO is perfectly stable and drift free after 10 minutes warm up in fact better than any Kenwood or Yaesu 520 or 101E..I have a voltage control on the driver screen to allow the power output to be varied when driving an amplifier..

All the metal tubes were salvaged from the junkbox..I sanded and cleaned off the original black paint and re sprayed the tubes with a metallic grey paint then added rub on lettering designating tube types..

This little transmitter has been running for years and I often use it for a change to the 1000D..I have added an automatic keyer using a Curtis chip since I built the transmitter..I use both a home brew iambic key and a Black Widow key I got in kit form from the US.. Bob..VK3ZL..

Thank you for sharing, I love it! I can see that sitting next to one of your amps (in my head), what a nice looking picture it makes.

[K7SGJ]

Very nice. I had an RME receiver that used the 6xx series of tubes. I think they were the loctal base as I remember. I still have a Collins ARR 15 from a B25 that has the metal tubes in it. I used to have a whole mess of them. Probably worth a fortune these days.

[N8YX]

Very good work. I'm tempted to do something along the lines of a 4CX1500A for each band (HF 15-12-10, 6M, 2M, 432) that my FT-726Rs can cover. Maybe 222 thrown in for the time when I get a '736 or some sort of transverter.

Put 400v on the screen, drive the control grid with 10w and a '1500A will give you legal limit out.