Picture of my almost complete BOZ

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#4
That is my mom in the reflection. She still does not trust me with her new digital camera. The knob is made out of aluminum, as are the feet. I bought a 10 inch section of aluminum and cut the volume control and the feet. I could not find any knobs that I liked so this method gave me the most flexability. Suprisingly, it does not take as long as you might think to sand and polish the aluminum.

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


Be sure to have a sharp blade before trying to cut this 2.25 diameter rod.
 
#5
sand and polish

Originally posted by RobPhill33 Suprisingly, it does not take as long as you might think to sand and polish the aluminum.Be sure to have a sharp blade before trying to cut this 2.25 diameter rod. [/B]
Click to expand...

could you tell me wha you did to get the buttons that shiny?

did you use some special polish paste ??


I picked up a rod last week from Boeing surplus. and was going to use it for another purpose

interesting approach
 
#6
To get the mirror finish I bought a buffing wheel and a stick of buffing compound (for aluminum). The compound is applied to the wheel (while turning). The wheel fit on a bench grinder I have.
Also, I started sanding with 80grit emery cloth until all the deep scratches were out. Then I tried 400grit but it did not seem to do much, so I bought a sanding disc attachment for a drill (ment to sand a car). 3M makes the disc sander, the paper sticks onto the disc pad so there is no bolt in the center. I used 220grit (the finest) paper and it worked very,very well. You might not want to polish it once you have sanded with this stuff.
 
#7
Good Selfmade Knobs

RobPhill33 said:
That is my mom in the reflection. She still does not trust me with her new digital camera. The knob is made out of aluminum, as are the feet. I bought a 10 inch section of aluminum and cut the volume control and the feet. I could not find any knobs that I liked so this method gave me the most flexability.
Be sure to have a sharp blade before trying to cut this 2.25 diameter rod.
Click to expand...
This is the same method I will use to get me some
cheap and custom made Knobs.

I probably will use Aluminium or Plastic Rods.
I rod gives many knobs!
Smart thinking! 😉

Problem can be to find out a smart way to
attach the knob to Potentiometer.
Did you drill hole?

/halo
 
#8
If you look at the second picture you can see a hole in the side of the knob. I could not find a tap that was long enough to get to the centre(the thread on the tap ends and the shaft widens). So I had to drill a slightly larger hole half way to the centre, that way the larger end of the tap can make it through. Do you know what I mean? Does anyone know where longer taps (2-3 inches) can be bought?
 
#9
RobPhill33 said:
If you look at the second picture you can see a hole in the side of the knob. I could not find a tap that was long enough to get to the centre(the thread on the tap ends and the shaft widens). So I had to drill a slightly larger hole half way to the centre, that way the larger end of the tap can make it through. Do you know what I mean? Does anyone know where longer taps (2-3 inches) can be bought?
Click to expand...
Yes, I know what you mean.Those stop screws doesn't come in so long dimensions.

Another way is to just make a hole slighly larger
than the needed hole for pot/axle.
Then use some stuffing packing, and squeeze/press
the knob onto.

/halo
 
#16
Are you doing any input switching also? Or just a
single input with the very nice looking volume
control?

Also, how did you drill the mounting hole and ensure that it was centered? (A very steady hand, or
a jig of some sort to keep it still?)

Erik
 
#17
I won't be putting a selector switch on because I only use a CD player.

I did not make a jig to centre the hole, I just measured. I would recomend NOT to measuring by hand, it is very, very difficult to get it exactly centre. In future I will find out some sort of method (I lucked out with the volume control, its almost perfectly centred, the feet are not but thats okay)

On another note, I have an uncle who says he can finish the case for me(anodizing, sandblasting, milling, engraving, whatever....). I would like to know how grainy the finish is after sandblasting? (Is it very smooth?) Also, would anyone recomend clear over grey anodizing (or vise-vera)?. Thanks!
 
#19
You can vary the finish by using finer or coarser media. A fine media should get out most surface scratches, deeper ones will take more work but will end up making your sheet wavy, kind of like sanding mdf too mch in one spot. The finish will be matte, just a dull gray.

I like the look of gray anodized aluminum over clear. Clear is just too shiny and will show more fingerprints. What might look cool is two tone, dark gray up front, lighter everywhere else.

Good luck,
Jason

Please provide your uncles address as I have tons of stuff for him to anodize and blast 🙂 🙂
 
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