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Thread: How small projects spiral out of control...

  1. #1
    Just this guy Inor's Avatar
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    How small projects spiral out of control...

    As most of you know, I am a radio junkie. But I cannot get many terrestrial radio stations at M.T. Acres, so I have been using a Bose bluetooth speaker and my cell phone for a radio in my workshop. It works fine, but it is a pain in the ass to remember to bring the speaker and my phone out to the shop every time I want to use it. Plus, I inevitably forget to charge one or both devices.

    So I was sitting around not doing anything in particular one evening around Christmas and decided that I could make a cheap web radio for my shop with a Raspberry Pi computer. Since I mostly listen to talk radio, I figured I could just use a 2 inch PC speaker plugged into the headphone jack on the Pi. It was quick and easy to put together and mostly worked fine but then I realized I had a 500GB SSD stick left over from a machine learning computer I built last summer. I thought, "Hmmm, I could plug the SSD into the Pi, then transfer our CDs to it and actually be able to listen to CDs in the shop too".

    After farting around with software a bit, I got that working but it sounded like shit coming out in mono through a 2" speaker. But I did have 2 old 4 inch Pioneer car speakers that sounded pretty good back in 1982. (Those were the ones with the magnets that weighed about 3 pounds a piece.)

    Since the headphone jack on a Raspberry Pi could not drive 2, 4 inch speakers, I spent about $15 on electrical parts and another $10 on shipping and got the components I needed to build a proper amplifier. I wired the amplifier up on a breadboard and after more farting around with software and firmware, I got it working and it sounded pretty damn good. But since I did not just want a big birds nest of wires, chips and capacitors soldered together inside the radio, I decided I should get a printed circuit board made to hold the components.

    So I sat down and drew up a PCB plan for my amplifier. I found a place online that would make the board for me for about $3 per board. The problem is, they had a minimum order quantity of 5 plus another $15 for shipping. At that point I got smart and realized for an extra $10 I could just order a prebuilt amplifier with a warranty. So I did that.

    By this time, I decided that my home baked software for running the radio probably was not the best idea anymore. So I went out and found a free, open-source software package that served most of my needs. But... I always feel guilty using "free" open-source software for something that I am going to use all the time. So I sent the open-source company $20.

    It was only then that I realized I had no real way of controlling the radio (changing the station, changing the volume, etc.) without either wiring in a bunch of function buttons (and modifying the associated function on the open-source software) or using my cell phone or computer. Since that kind of defeated the whole purpose of the project in the first place, I decided what the hell and spent another $50 and bought a touchscreen for it.

    After a few minor modifications to the open-source software, because the touchscreen I bought was about the only brand that was not supported by the software, I finally got it working.

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    I tested it out and everything was working perfectly. So now it was on to making some kind of enclosure to put the whole thing in, but that will be Part 2 of this post since I can only have 2 photos per post...
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  3. #2
    Just this guy Inor's Avatar
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    Part 2

    My initial plan, back when I was using the single 2" speaker was to not even have an enclosure. I was just going to glue everything to a pegboard, hang it on the wall and call it a day. But once I spent the money on the amplifier and decided on 2 decent speakers, I realized that it should probably have some kind of enclosure. So version 2 of my plan was to just plane down some #2 pine and basically make a wooden shoebox and slap a little paint on it. But after spending a bunch more money on the touchscreen, I decided that I should actually take some time and make the thing look decent on the outside as well.

    So this weekend I dug into my stash of quarter sawn White Oak and put together a box that is modeled after a 1936 Philco radio that I have in my office. I did the final sanding on it today so it is ready to start finishing tomorrow.

    Overall, I am pretty happy with how it came out.

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    But... I could not just use plain old cheap speaker cloth to cover the speakers. So I went ahead and ordered the "Aztec" speaker cloth that was real popular on the Zenith radios in the 1940's.

    In the end, I am having second thoughts about even putting it in my shop where it will get all dusty but I have no place for it in the house.
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    1-800-JUNKIE stevekozak's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Inor View Post
    In the end, I am having second thoughts about even putting it in my shop where it will get all dusty but I have no place for it in the house.
    Really cool project, and good job! The above both cracked me up and gave me a feeling of despair. I have done this kind of thing before (not electronics) where I set out to make something utilitarian, and then messed around and put money and time into it to the point where it was "too nice" for the purpose I built it for. My advise: Just use it. "accidentally" put a big scratch or something on it so you will feel better about doing so.
    War is Peace.
    Freedom is Slavery
    Ignorance is Strength

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    PISSED OFF red442joe's Avatar
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    Ummm, coulda just bought a radio?

    Joe

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    VIP Member! Jester-ND's Avatar
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    nice project.... and this Is one of the many reasons why I never have ambition to start a project!
    IN OMNIA PARATUS

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    Super Moderator Sparkyprep's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by red442joe View Post
    Ummm, coulda just bought a radio?

    Joe
    Where would the fun be in that?
    Friends don't let friends shoot Glocks.

    Proud Deplorable

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  13. #7
    Just this guy Inor's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by red442joe View Post
    Ummm, coulda just bought a radio?

    Joe
    Those suckers are expensive! I'll bet even a cheap one would cost me at least $25 or $30 bucks on Amazon!!!
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    Anti-social Behavior Slippy's Avatar
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    Beautiful wood work as we have come to expect, Inor. Neat project!

    My next project is a prescribed burn over my septic field....

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  16. #9
    Put it in the shop, it’s just tooo tooo late for after thoughts and reconsiderations. You know you could get yourself spinning like a top with things like that. Put a sign up saying, “there ain’t no small projects, so damn it all to hell before I start one.”
    “He had been all things, and all was of little value.” Said of Severus Emperor of Rome.

    (As quoted by Gibbons, in Decline of the Roman Empire.)

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    Just this guy Inor's Avatar
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    I got the last 2 coats of varnish on the radio case today. While they were drying, I soldered up everything that needed soldering. After supper this evening, the varnish was dry enough that I was able to get it assembled and everything is working beautifully. The only thing I might do tomorrow is back the mounting screws for the speakers off just a tad. I think I might have tightened them just bit much as it does sound a little muffled, not unusable, but I might be able to improve it. Overall, I am pretty happy with it and I am thrilled to finally have a real radio in my shop again!

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    Admin for the most politically correct site on the web. Welcome to the OTP!

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