Saturday, August 20, 2011

Eleccrafts AF1 enclosure.

Front mounted
In a prevous post I gave account of my Elecraft AF1 mini module audio filter project.I have built other mini modules from Elecraft such as the DL1 dummy load, N-gen wide band noise generator and the XG-2 three band test receiver test oscillator. All of the kits went together very well and they all without exception came with very easy to understand instructions. I have put these kits to get use while building many of the Elecraft radio kits. These test devices can also be very useful around the shack to do many tests as you either build , test or trouble shoot many pieces of shack equipment. The only beef I have with all these kits is Elecraft does
Stand offs mounted
not offer enclosures for them. My DL1, N-gen and XG-2 are still on the bench without enclosures. This does not concern me to much as they are out of the way and in a safe place and out only during use. On the other hand the AF1 audio filter is going along side my KX1 in
many out door situations. It was a must to get this unit in a case. This brings me to Dave W8FGU he offers a very good solution to my AF1 case situation. Dave
Tab on rotary switch bent
offers clear Lexan enclosures for a variety of Elecraft products. Dave's site offers great pictures of the enclosures that he offers. This solved my problem of wanting to make sure the AF1 filter was protected as I transported it and used it out doors. I contacted Dave and ordered the product, I received emails on the status of my enclosure. It was promptly shipped and arrived in no time. The enclosure was very well packaged and I downloaded his PDF instructions as there are some very slight modifacations to be done to the
Bottom of enclosure
Battery mounted on bottom

AF1 for it to fit properly into the Lexan case. The 9 volt battery had to be mounted on the underside of the circuit board. That went very smoothly as Elecraft has provided for this and it is well laid out on the PCB.
The only other modification was the AF1's rotary switch had a tab which had to be bent down in a horizontal fashion.The case is very well made and along with the strength of the Lexan materiel makes the case well worth it. All edgings and corners were flush fitting, all the screw holes lined up with professionalism and attention to detail.
Finished product

3 comments:

John AE5X said...

Looks good Mike. I've always wanted to build a QRP rig into a transparent case. I wonder if Dave will eventually offer a Lexan case for the K3 :-)

VE9KK said...

You never know????

VE9KK said...

Oh and John the Elecraft AF1 Audio filter is the unit that is in the Lexan case not a QRP rig. That is safe and sound in the provided Elecraft enclosure.