Thursday, September 02, 2010

Manhattan-style pad tool

After some unsuccessful tests trying to build one tool to make Manhattan-style pads I decided to buy one that I found at the hardware shop. Normally my pads are build square shape with the hack saw, not elegant and for sure not easy to make and also labor intensive, so, this is something welcomed to the tool box.
here are some preliminary results:



Although the toll is 10mm diameter the effective cooper pad (the one starting to drill on the cooper side) is 7.5mm in diameter. The tool is made for cutting holes in tiles but for sure fiber glass and thin cooper are no match for the "diamond" bits in the tool. Let's hope it last long since it's a bit on the expensive side, around 15 Eur.
I think I will exchange this one for the 8mm drill bit, for making even smaller pads.

Manufacteur is "Wolfcraft" from Germany (were else?!) and you can see specs here, in the manufacteur web site: http://www.wolfcraft.de/jcatalog_generated/en/products/product_groups/17618_product.html

Now here some progress on the VHF FM transmiter front panel:


Still need the holes for the TX led, MIC gain, Mic input and tone selector. Only the LCD and LCD contrast adjust drilled so far.

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