digidad

Saturday, February 7, 2009

On a Bender

I did some more work on the Gray Hoverman today. Pictured below are the zig-zag elements, attached to the jig I built out of plywood. On the right are all of the colinear reflector rods (all but one - see below), as well as the cutting jig I built to cut the rods. I found that bending 1/4" aluminum rod using a homemade jig on a piece of plywood is not an exact science. The angles invariably have a curvature to them and as a result, it is difficult to adhere to exact measurements down to the mm. I don't know whether ultimately these slight variations will have much impact. My 3 and 6 year old boys are pushing me harder on this project than myself - they keep asking to go out in the garage to work on the 'Super-Antenna'.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Measure twice - cut once...

I cut all but one of the colinear rods for the reflector on my GH10 project this evening, but came up a little short. Note that there is very little to spare in 36' (3 x 12') of rods (about 20cm overall). I did the math - it is possible, but you have to plan your cuts wisely. My mistake was back in the parking lot when I cut the rods to fit in the car. I guess I'll be making another trip to the Metals Supermarket for another $4.14 worth of aluminum. The way I figure, I will likely want to build a small antenna to point at Toronto at some point too, so having extra will come in handy. I did all of the cuts with a hack saw and a jig that my boys and I put together to ensure accurate measures.