The Box Radio

Im in my 2nd year at University of Dundee studying Innovative Product Design, this semester i received a brief to design and build a radio casing. In this blog i will record how i built the final prototype radio including an exploded diagram, photos and any other relevant drawings or notes. I hope you enjoy it and have a go at making it yourself, any unclear detail please post and i will get back to you.

Step 1: Cutting and parts list

Oak length, width, thickness and quantity
 - 180mm, 80mm, 14mm [ x2]
 - 80mm, 80mm, 14mm [ x2]
 - 231mm, 131, 12mm [ x2]
 - 80mm, 33mm, 33mm [ x4]

Pine dowel
 - 40mm, 26mm [ x2]

Radio circuit board and ariel [ x1]
 - spare wires
 - soldering iron

Comments

[chipper35]

Somehow, I missed how you made the corner braces.........can you point that out for me??

[JonnyLawrence]

Yeah it looks like i actually missed that step out. I made all four corners in one go; first i cut them to the correct length and then held them together with tape in a square shape ( 2 by 2 ) next i clamped them in to a drill with a circular drill tip, I can't remember the size now but i should match the curved corners of the front panel. Next you drill down the thickness of the front panel so it can lie flush with the corners, (some sanding will be required) I did this both sides whilst all four corners were taped together. When you remove the tape just letter/ number which side fits to wear this will make it an easier when putting them in place for the gluing stage. I hope that helps if you have any more questions or if its still unclear ill do my best to answer / explain. Thanks for taking a look :)

[meddler]

I like this, gonna fave it.

[JonnyLawrence]

Thanks :)

[electronfan]

I've just seen your project and it's just cool. Have you tought on changing that soo small sounding smallspeaker? You may find easily one going lower in frequency that fits there ;don't miss to add some acoustic isolating stuff ( I used old but clean socks ) . Also you can toy it connecting to a full size loudspeaker ; it may surprise you the quality of the sound ! Maybe not High End but fair at the end ; I used to doy that with an old radiorecorder and got a fair sound.

[JonnyLawrence]

Thanks for the comment and kind words. This was a university project and we all received the exactly same radio circuit board which we had hacked previously, although we could add components and change the circuit i hadn't had much experience in electronics and time is always tight. The speaker is pretty good and is very loud anyway but could always be better! I didn't add any isolating "stuff" because i thought the sound output was ok (and time issues / experience issues). I would definitely like to change many things within the project itself this is just the end result when i finished my module its by far not a finish product and needs plenty of work which i would love to come back to at some point. Thanks again for the feedback and support!

[static]

Great construction, and nice looking cabinet... I hate to be critical, but I can't see the "dial", and the donor radio looked to have a decent slide rule dial, meaning somewhat easier to tune in the stations.

[JonnyLawrence]

Cabinet? Constructive criticism is always welcome, Im not sure what you don't understand. The dials are the two knobs at the front of the radio and the donor radio had just two cogs attached to the circuit board which i built the knobs on too. I can assure you it still works just as efficiently and easily as before. Thanks for the comment.

[splazem]

Great Job!

[JonnyLawrence]

Thanks.

[pfred2]

Did you come up with that method of box construction yourself?

[JonnyLawrence]

Yes i did, the entire radio was designed and built by me. Im in 2nd year of product design at university of Dundee and our class had to design and make a radio for this semester and this instructable is one of the assessments. Thanks for the comment.

[pfred2]

It looks like you are trying to invent the half frame to me.  Hopefully you won't find out why full frame panels have been around for a long time, and why the panel pieces float in the frame. So good luck, you may need it.

[JonnyLawrence]

Ah i had no knowledge of any of those, i just had the idea in my head and wanted to do it from the very start of my design process for a decorative feature thanks for the feedback. Im not sure what i have done fully but im glad you like it and thanks for the kind words. The radio project is actually completely finished but thanks for the luck hopefully ill receive a good grade!

[JonnyLawrence]

Thanks.