Scratch Build – In Progress Zenith Antique Radio Complete Case Build- Update 24Nov10

Tell me about it. I've seen this exact same model saw in other parts of the country go for about $250-$300 on Craigslist. The guy wanted $180, and I offered him $150 cash. He moved here some time ago and had this saw taking up a corner in his garage that he wanted to free up. Or should I say I got the clear feeling that his wife was pressuring him to sell it since he said now that he had 3 young kids, he didn't have time to use it and hadn't used it in quite some time. After I bought it, he thanked me but said now that the saw is gone, he has to put up shelves for his wife

My old table saw is a very basic tabletop one, and although it cuts pretty good, it will be nice to have a saw that cuts really accurately. One time too many I've made cuts that were just enough off to cause problems when making cases and other stuff.

Put up what you have. At least this way my radio mod won't be as lonely as the only other one I've seen lately is the really nice mod Ingraham by Jeffrey Stephenson on the front page.

 

I am very excited. Thanks to an invitation by Bindibadgi, my mod just go featured today on the Bit-tech front page. Many thanks go out to him. Sweet!

 

Also, Engadget.

Looks like there might be some traffic sround these parts shortly

 

Hey voigts, really nice case m8, just had a look through the worklog, great stuff, looks very nice from all dimensions and it's functionality looks great too and that front dial looks sweet.

Also can a table saw be used for cutting sheet aluminium, I have seen acrylic cut with 1, I think I've had enough with my metal shears, too difficult to do perfectly straight cuts even when I go as slow as possible, it leaves a nice burr free edge but is very hard to do straight cuts, always need some filing & then sanding to be done afterwards to get it straight & smooth.

 

Thank you.

Yes it can. You want to get hollow ground blades that are designed for aluminum. I'm plan on ordering some shortly that I found on ebay for hopefully an upcoming project. Just search for aluminum 10" blades. You can find them online as well, but the ones I found on ebay are cheaper. You will find that usually the same blades that are made for aluminum can also be used for plastic/acrylic as well as they need the same hollow ground blades.

 

PSU Mount Change

I've been using this case, and must say that it has been pleasantly doing its thing. I've gone from a dual core Conroe to an I7, and with two triple rads, the cooling has made the change with hardly a burp. Having gotten some recent motivation to do so, I decided to finally fix the one thing with this case that really needed to be done. The acrylic PSU mount never really fit the case. I set about this week to come up with a way to internally mount it without having the need for a piece attached to the back.

After some brainstorming, I came up with the idea to widen the PSU hole a bit and internally mount two aluminum pieces that are attached to the frame and to which the PSU would attach. I used a Dremel with a carbide cutting bit, my Mouse sander, and a file to widen the hole.

One issue however would be how to drill pilot holes for the screws to attach the new PSU mounts to the case due to the small space. I happened across this neat gadget by Milescraft for only $20 that fit the bill perfectly. I used a short countersink bit to drill the hole as the end is hex which this right angle driver uses. I also looked at a Dremel right angle attachment, but it is quite a bit longer than this is.





Here are the brackets unpainted and mounted.





I painted them with the same brown hammertone paint that I used on the backpanel.



And here they are with the PSU mounted.



New Final Pics

Now that I've got a halfway decent camera (Canon SX120),a decent tripod, and a much better picture taking setup, I retook pics of the case. I'm waiting on some real softboxes to come in that I've ordered before I retake the interior shots as I found them very hard to take the first time around.

 

That looks absolutely awesome my friend, great work! Love the nostalgic feel....

 

looks awesome is I didn't know it was a pc I would think it was a real radio

wolfie

 

absolutely awesome

 

Here are a few final interior shots that I took but never uploaded.

 

The final pictures are beautiful voigts & congrats on the MOTY nom .

 

Master as always! Keep it up bro you got my vote!!!

 

Thanks guys. Congrats on your moty nom AnG3L. Well deserved and you got a vote of mine already this morning.

 

Congratulations vogits, you did well. I'm sure Quintessence will achieve no less.