A little bit of solder

I got sidetracked a little from finishing the radio box with a little bit of plumbing.  The ensuite toilet valve needed to be replaced.  I had replaced the toilet when we moved in as the bowl was broken due to the house being frozen.  This was supposed to be a simple install as I had replaced one toilet ion the main floor.  That toilet flange was below tile so I had to get an extended.

The toilet flange in the ensuite was just above the finished floor level, so a lot of the wax oozed up through the bolt holes.  When I went to attach the supply line up to the tank, the fitting came off of the line.  This was an old supply line, that was apart of the valve, so I had to replace it.  The valve that came off of the 3/4" copper line was a compression fitting.  I was replacing the fitting with a soldered on connection.  This was going to be my second plumbing fitting that I was going to be soldering I felt confident.  Funny enough I had also learned a little from a recent Holmes show on how to solder and position the torch. 

The key to soldering a good joint is to make sure that the copper is clean and bright.  I made sure that I took the emery paper and sanded down the pipe.  From there I applied a liberal amount of flux and fitted the valve to the final location.  From my understanding the flux serves a couple of purposes. The first is to shield the metal from oxidation during the application of heat.  Oxidation would create a barrier from the sold from joining the two metals together.  The other is to help wick the solder up the joint.  As a person that is used electrical solder that has a rosin core this weting action is very different to me, this is acomplished through the capillary action of the joint. I applied the heat to the joint and since it was a very tight location I could only apply the heat at one side. Due to the heat on one side I had the solder on the other side, so that once the pipe was heated the solder was just sucked up into the joint. 

With a ring of solder around the valve I deemed it good and turned the water back on.  The moment of truth came seconds later as it held water.  I cooled the valve with a wetted wash cloth and hooked up the new supply to the toilet tank and went on my way.

Until next time...

Radio go box Part 1

So, a couple of months ago I was approached by VA6SDM to spec and then asked to put together a radio kit.  It is referred to as many things as a radio go kit, radio go box, or a slip seat box.  So this is the equipment that has been put into it.

TM-D710A (dual band radio)

TS 480SAT (Multi-band HF radio)
LDG KT-100 (antenna autotunner)
Rigblaster PNP
Rigrunner RR-4004USB
Rigblaster PG-40S Super PWRgate
PWRBrite
Power Supply SS-30DV (by PowerWerx)

I had originally thought that I would put the unit into a tool box or into a road case (the ones that bands  or DJ's use), but due to the lack of fabrication tools I was extremely limited to what I could case the unit in.  The radio operator that will get this will likely not use it too frequently so one of my design considerations was to have everything as operationally ready as possible. 

One of the problems that I had with casing a kit like this into a tool box is that the rigrunner gets buried in underneath all of the other components and that adding a unit is not really easy, or accessing a blown fuse will take a lot of time.  Or accessing the power supply main switch without removing the main plate and creating a panel for it.  The other issue that was of real concern was that of cooling.  If I started cramming in all of those devices into a small space I would be limiting air circulation so I would have to add some active cooling devices. 

I decided that I would build a small cabinet out of wood.  I am very familiar with wood cabinetry or joinery.  I received the highest mark in CTS 30 or Grade 12 shop class with the dresser that I built for myself.  Now this cabinet is nowhere to the same quality as that as it has been a few years and I don't have a fully equipped shop to build it in.  I will post my sketches that I used to plan my cabinet as well as estimate my material. 

Currently I am placing the equipment into the cabinet, which is a little difficult because I did not mount the brackets in place before I assembled the cabinet so I have to put all the screws in place with a stubby ratchet screwdriver. 
 
The last installation issue is that of mounting the power supply and the autotuner into the box so that the do not move.  I have thought about using some All Round Steel Strapping, but I do not want to scratch up the devices.  My wife suggested I use some nyon straps, which is likely what I will use, but I am still open to options at the moment.
 
Well, I well get back to assembly and be back later with pictures and an updated. 
 
73s
Ben