I made this… Stereo Amplifier

Including; soldering the electronics, designing an enclosure on paper, making mockups in cardboard, making CAD drawings, laser cutting the parts at Atec Engineering, assembling, tweaking and finishing.

It has taken much longer than anticipated but we've all learned a lot in the process.  Things like; patience and persistence, and facts like; not everything we make works first time.

I've been exceedingly impressed with the varied designs.  Everyone has incorporated something unique in their enclosure.

We're moving into a new project now; Pinewood Derby Race Cars!  It shouldn't be quite so involved but you never know!  More information to follow.

Tue 22 Jan

The mantra for preparing wires for soldering… "Strip, Twist and Tin"

Mon 21 Jan

It was only a few years ago when someone told me "Lefty Loosey. Righty Tighty" — why-oh-why did nobody think to tell me that before!?  It's SO simple!  It should be one of the first things we're taught!

Fri 18 Jan

New Year, New Energy

Our Stereo Amplifier project is back on the table after the Christmas hiatus.  It's all finishing up now.  We've got to be careful we don't rush it now though because we don't want to spoil all the good work that has been done so far.

Nearing completion

We had a blast!

What an amazing time we all had last week with Adrian and James from Atec Engineering! 

Some technical issues on the computer-based drawings lead to a last minute decision being made to cut our projects on a laser cutter rather than the water-jet.  It was a slower process but it got the job done.

Everyone was amazed that light — just light — could cut through wood and plastic!  We found that we needed to make 2-3 passes to cut all the way through — it's only a 50W laser — but it certainly did the job.  The cut is around a tenth of a millimeter across so incredibly accurate!

Most of the projects were cut in 3.6mm plywood.  Two were cut in plastic — one in opaque black and one in clear.  They'll look amazing when put together.

Tue 20 Nov

Mon 19 Nov

Fri 16 Nov

Tue 13 Nov