I now have my latest homebrew radio working, reference viewtopic.php?f=12&t=188019.
The front panel has a couple of extra holes in it and I would like to replace it to clean it up. I will also replace the inner component mounting panel but that could be wood.
What material can I use for the front? Black Plexiglass?

I've used both black Lucite (acrylic?) and black ABS.

Depends whether you have a hand capacitance issue. You may prefer to use a metal panel, or laminate some metal foil to the backside of a plastic panel.

Rich

All kinds of materials from clipboards make a good front panel. One of my favorites is the masonite type, which when painted properly, is a good imposter of Ebonite. Still need foil or something if body capacitance is a problem.

I would say it depends on what the rest of the case etc is made from. I like to build a chassis from copper clad laminate - simply a copper clad base board, a few spacers to mount a PCB on, a front panel that all the controls are mounted on, side plates if things need to be sheilded etc, all held in place with solder and epoxy resin glue.

I put the whole lot into a plastic project case bought (or made from polycard) for the purpose, or sometimes a wooden case bought or built for the job in hand. Nothing beats a nice varnished or polished bit of oak or similar hardwood for a nice looking project.

If I use plastic (for say, a transistor tester), I tend to use my PC and design and print out a front panel onto photopaper and then maybe laminate it. You can get some really nice professional results that way. If I want to backlight anything, say a meter movement scale or what have you then inkjet transparency film works well for that. Better than laser printing, inkjet int tends to be more transparent than laser toner

Hope it helps

I have used garolite, which is a phenolic based product.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#garolite/=glr3mn

If the holes are small, you could fill them by melting a black wax crayon into the holes.

The holes are 1/2" dia. one hole I can put in an on/off toggle switch. The other????

I have used garolite for a few homebrew front panels. It has an authentic look to it and machines pretty easily.

Have you been able to find smooth, glossy garolite?

A fellow representing a plastic supply house sells on ebay sheet phenolic. It is black with a gloss, variety of thicknesses. I have ordered from these folks and the product is an outstanding replacement for Bakelite. The sheets I got were 12" x 48", shipped via UPS.

I am planing a new build of a couple of Patent radios for the design of the AVC circuit.

Howard Everton
(757) 622-9281
NORVA PLASTICS, INC.
3911 KILLIAM AVENUE
NORFOLK VA 23508

http://www.norvaplastics.com/

IMHO: There is no point in working with cardboard and paste when modern structural and electrical materials are available. You could get lucky and find an engraver that you can work with who has a Pantograph and can label all the controls on the new panel. The breadboard/panel construction can be brought to a fine art in this type of radio there are some fine examples on the web.

Tinned bus wire can be ordered via an electronics supply house by the roll. The bus needs only to be stretched 10% to work harden. Full round nose 6" pliers are a must to properly bend the angles and make the eyelets for the wiring. Black plastic over fiberglass sleeving is available to replace to old varnished cambric sleeving.

See: http://www.sparkbench.com/homebrew/homebrew.html

GL

Chas

WOW - the black Plexiglass is not cheap. Locally Rona has a 24 x 48 sheet for about $50.00. Ordering it thru Toronto supplier cut to size is $30.00 plus taxes and shipping.
Think I will enjoy the set the way it is.

Check sign makers for their scraps. Guy here sells it by the pound.

Yeah, Plexiglass, aka acrylic, is probably the most expensive plastic you can find. I'd check out the Garolite that the others have mentioned. It appears to be the closest material to the old bakelite and ebonite panels, and price appears to be reasonable.

I've never heard of any Garolite that acceptably replicates the old radio panels. The stuff I've seen has an ugly rough pebbly appearance. It wouldn't take any polish and my attempts to lacquer it to get some gloss failed.

Sounds like the material from Norva Plastics is the stuff to have, but last time I checked it was quite pricey.

you can make garolite smooth. What I have done is to take a fine sandpaper, and sand until smooth, then I seal it with some clear acrylic spray.

The garolite that I used on a few homebrew radios was smooth to start out with and and looked almost identical in color and texture to the panel material on the 20s radios that I have. This was about 5 years ago.

Where did you get it?

Aluminum road sign material.

Before someone writes it, please do not steal road signs!

Anyway, it works easily. A bandsaw with a hack saw blade cuts it great. A step drill will do the holes for pot and cap shafts. The printing comes off with heat, solvent and stainless pot scrubbers. It is thick enough to drill and tap #6-32 TPI. It paints up nice. Being aluminum it blocks hand capatance and does not mess with your RF coils' Q. The temper is about right. It is not too soft or too brittle.

The stuff that I used I purchased in small quantities from a guy named Dave Schmarder. He used to be (maybe still is) prolific at making homebrew radios. This would have been 7 years ago. He called it garolite so I assumed that is what it was. I just posted a few photos of a radio that I that used this stuff.

I put the photos in the temporay photo folder.

I have had little luck with the photo gallery. Can you post a link or say how to get to it?

Thanks