Homebrewing Capacitors
Intro: Homebrewing Capacitors
You can make your own slow-tuning VFO or Differential ATU Capacitor from PCB material and a few locally available hardware components.
Total capacitance can be adjusted by how wide you make the capacitor plate area. Tuning can be made straight-line capacitance or straight-line frequency by how you cut the slot in the lower plate. Number of turns is adjustable by how long you make the device. This is a differential capacitor so you can make it increase capacitance with either left-hand rotation of the knob, or right-hand rotation. If you want absolute minimal capacitance at one end or the other of the range, you could probably use plastic angle pieces in place of the aluminium angle stock, but you would then have to add a grounded washer of other metallic grounding means for the shaft to provide reliable grounding of the sliding plate. Most of the versions built thus far have used 1/4 inch diameter threaded rod, but a few have been made with 1/8 inch diameter rod to fit small-bore knobs.
A little tension on the Nylock nuts will eliminate any backlash from shaft movement. Make the PCB plates rub slightly to minimize any rotational backlash. Thinner PCB substrate (dielectric) will provide increased capacitance. Low voltage versions of these capacitors have been successdfully made using tinplate (galvanized roofing material) sections with stick-on adhesive labels as the insulation in place of using PCB material.
The driver nuts should be soldered to the sliding plate section. Gluing them in place did not work because it did not provide a reliable ground path. Soldering these nuts in place is easier if they are brass instead of iron, but with enough soldering paste and heat you can use either type. If you accumulate enough wear in the driver nuts to cause noticable backlash, just unsolder one of the nuts and tip it sideways enough to take up the slack and re-solder it.
There are a number of possibilities for modification and improvement of this design. Think it through and make the design fit your particilar needs and material availability.
NOTE: It is not necessary but on my own builds of these I usually lathe-turn half of the flatted area on the Nylock nuts so that they fit inside a 3/8 inch diameter hole in the end-plates. This provides a non-threaded bearing surface for rotation of the shaft. You don't need to do this if the thickness of your angle-stock at the ends is wide enough to bridge a couple of threads on the threaded rod, and thus prevent feeling the threads as you rotate the knob.
For low power levels you could use this same design as a motor-driven tuning capacitor for a magnetic loop antenna. Higher power levels would probably require something better than PCB material for the dielectric.
See how other homemade capacitor. Click Here.
Total capacitance can be adjusted by how wide you make the capacitor plate area. Tuning can be made straight-line capacitance or straight-line frequency by how you cut the slot in the lower plate. Number of turns is adjustable by how long you make the device. This is a differential capacitor so you can make it increase capacitance with either left-hand rotation of the knob, or right-hand rotation. If you want absolute minimal capacitance at one end or the other of the range, you could probably use plastic angle pieces in place of the aluminium angle stock, but you would then have to add a grounded washer of other metallic grounding means for the shaft to provide reliable grounding of the sliding plate. Most of the versions built thus far have used 1/4 inch diameter threaded rod, but a few have been made with 1/8 inch diameter rod to fit small-bore knobs.
A little tension on the Nylock nuts will eliminate any backlash from shaft movement. Make the PCB plates rub slightly to minimize any rotational backlash. Thinner PCB substrate (dielectric) will provide increased capacitance. Low voltage versions of these capacitors have been successdfully made using tinplate (galvanized roofing material) sections with stick-on adhesive labels as the insulation in place of using PCB material.
The driver nuts should be soldered to the sliding plate section. Gluing them in place did not work because it did not provide a reliable ground path. Soldering these nuts in place is easier if they are brass instead of iron, but with enough soldering paste and heat you can use either type. If you accumulate enough wear in the driver nuts to cause noticable backlash, just unsolder one of the nuts and tip it sideways enough to take up the slack and re-solder it.
There are a number of possibilities for modification and improvement of this design. Think it through and make the design fit your particilar needs and material availability.
NOTE: It is not necessary but on my own builds of these I usually lathe-turn half of the flatted area on the Nylock nuts so that they fit inside a 3/8 inch diameter hole in the end-plates. This provides a non-threaded bearing surface for rotation of the shaft. You don't need to do this if the thickness of your angle-stock at the ends is wide enough to bridge a couple of threads on the threaded rod, and thus prevent feeling the threads as you rotate the knob.
For low power levels you could use this same design as a motor-driven tuning capacitor for a magnetic loop antenna. Higher power levels would probably require something better than PCB material for the dielectric.
See how other homemade capacitor. Click Here.
10 Comments
arvevans 5 years ago
Interesting that you have stolen my variable capacitor design from my web site and not given me credit for my work. This raises ethical questions.
Notice the "K7HKL" watermark at the top of the image. That is my branding of my work. You did not even have the courtesy to re-draw the picture.
LawrenceH8 11 months ago
GarryF 9 years ago
Actually it is quite a bit different than the K7HKL capacitor design. Both good designs. Neither particularly original in actual concept but they both have nice features. I may use for a mag loop as I was just playing with sliding PC board material and clamping with a plastic clamp for a mag loop capicator...
arvevans 5 years ago
Gary
Actually it is exactly as shown on my web page. He stole the image and the description verbatum. Since he did not give me credit for my prior work this does rais ethical questions regarding this and his other work.
Arv K7HKL
arvevans 5 years ago
Stole my drawing from my web site, so not really different at all.
Johenix 6 years ago
Interesting note: In the book "Cache Lake Country" by John Rowlands, (C 1947) there is a plan for a crystal set with a capacitor that drags two square metal plates diagonally over each other. I realized that this design gives an inherently frequency linear variable capacitor. Just make the drive shaft plate grounded to defeat body effect.
arvevans 8 years ago
One of the problems with plagiarizing ideas and articles from other people's web sites and other peoples blogs is that you divorce your publication of that information from later updates and upgrades of the design. As a result you are showing an outdated and possibly less than optimum design. It is much more desirable if you simply publish the URL as a reference to the article that you have stolen and published as your own.
arvevans 8 years ago
Not at all different from my original design. It is word-for-word and even uses my drawings for making the capacitor.
arvevans 9 years ago
There have been a few improvements since I designed this and put it up on my web page. (1) use thicker end-plates to improve stability, (2) reverse the nylon lock nuts so that the tapered end faces the thicker end-plates, and (3) Counter-sink the end-plates so the nylon lock nuts are self-centering in the tapered holes. Apply enough pressure to keep the nylon lock nuts and thus the rotating shaft centered in the tapered end-plate hole.
Arv - K7HKL
PS: "colivera8" did not invent this. He copied it directly from my web site. That is not a problem but I would have appreciated it if he had at least given me credit for my invention.
Prizmatic 11 years ago
Same for the other circuits on linked page.. All other peoples work.