The AM Forum

I just couldn't wait any longer!

After acquiring two new receivers (HQ-170A & NC300) at the Sussex 'fest and shuffling them around for weeks I finally renovated the station and made room for them. I was going to wait until fall or winter to do this but I just couldn't take moving these things around anymore! I'm digging the new setup, it's much better organized, cleaner and the rat's nest of wires behind the desk is gone!

The first photo shows the original configuration. I just couldn't cram any more stuff onto those shelves.

Ron
N2FFL

A few more pics...

I'm diggin' it!


Ron
N2FFL

Looks like a handy layout!

Nice layout and good job!   That valiant is loving life having some air space above it now!

C

I hope (for your sake) those shelf standards are screwed into the wall studs.
 ;D  ;D  ;D

Oh yeah, screwed right into the studs. As long as they stay in the wall I'm safe. Actually I've used this kind of shelving before, loaded it up with weight and not had any problems.

I have the type sold at Home depot and they are rated at 150 lbs a bracket.  I used three of them for my reciever shelf and put an HRO60, coils, speaker, select o ject on the shelf. Rock solid. 

A lot of the old way had poor air circulation, that was the first thing I noticed.

I dont know If Id have the nerve to put a Clipperton L up there but Ive never placed more than light stuff on that type of shelving.

My own setup is 2 bays of utilitarian commercial 48" x 18" steel shelving (not box store crap) from a local auto parts store that went out of business. There is heavy stuff on the 2 levels above the bottom, (LK-500ZC, Alpha 76PA, NCL-2006 on the 2nd level alone) it will never win a shack decorating award ;D

The boatanchor benches are a mess in progress since Im always swapping stuff around but I do have plenty of that steel shelving left. Ive painted enough to configure 2 more double bays.

Carl

The shelving I used is pretty good as long as it's secured to the wall properly and it's well supported. I wouldn't use it with wall anchors though. I used to have some of that commercial shelving that I also got from an auto parts store, good stuff.

Yeah the old setup was a pain but it was away from the wall with several small fans behind it to move some air. The Valiant has two muffin fans on the rear to pull out the heat that I installed because it was in such tight quarters. You can never have too many fans!

Looks good Ron, but I dunno......a little too neat and orderly to support the image some have of AMers.  ;D

I actually got a lot of my stuff in the house up on shelves in the last year or so, only to have to take half of it down next month when the room gets re-purposed. Maybe I jinxed myself getting all tidy. I'm contemplating leaving them in a pile next time so they won't need to be moved again.

As Carl says, as long as you don't toss any 32Vs or other lead weights on 'em, those shelves should hold up fine. I used the old pressed metal brackets directly to the studs in the photo below. Works great but very time consuming. Carpentry of any kind (translation: measuring and building anything) just ain't my thing.

It's the never-ending quest for more space....

 8)I SEE THERE IS NO WASTED SPACE 8)

At my place, Pam uses this very phrase to mean "all junked up."

Isn't it true that the collection of stuff expands to FILL the available space ?

Some kind of theorem or scientific property controls these things. We are powerless to do anything about it, that's my theory.

.. and well documented in traffic analysis and road design.   ;D

Wood has one purpose....to burn! And which is what I wound up doing everytime I tried to construct a neat looking radio room. >:(

I can build anything with drywall screws and an electric screwdriver. It just won't be purty. A comment made by my dad some years ago while logging really sums it up: "Your cuts with a chainsaw are a whole lot straighter than anything you ever made with a hand saw".   ;D

Ron gets high marks for both maximum use of minimal space as well as doing it neatly. Clean and functional, a lot of stuff in a small area but not crammed or overcrowded. No small feat. A skill that one must master if you have limited space and want more than a single set up.

Yeah, Ron, very nice job.  Very commendable.

Todd's remarks,reminds me of what a TV serviceman told my dad years ago.  "Mr. Wilson, if you'd take all your screwdrivers and cut them off at the handle, you'd have a better TV picture.

Seems like our dads ranged the gamut from handy to not so handy. My dad and I did build a labryinth speaker enclosure from plywood together that worked wll with a 12" Warfedale.
He cut the pieces and I drilled and screwed the 3/4 plywood together, I'll bet in a thousand places.

That comment cracked me up Todd. Every bench or table in the radio room is 2 by 4 and plywood construction all held together with drywall screws installed with my cordless drill. Solid, sturdy, primitive and definitely not purty!

Ron, your new setup looks really nice!

Rob W1AEX

Yes, Ron.  I too was getting a little nervous about the previous close quarters of your EFJ.  Congrats on your new shelving.  Looks nice

Al

I gave up on this desks and shelves thing a long time ago because of woodworking craftsmanship issues. That is why there are racks and rack shelves for the rest of us!

Ron,
Fantastic looking shack and congrats for doing such a nice job. 

Be careful using dryway screws for structural support.  They are not made for high lateral sheer strength.  I have seen them sheer right off.   

For serviceability so I can easily get behind the various desks, I put the tables right angles to the wall.   I have found it really convenient to be able to walk behind the desk rather than pulling out the gear. 

73,
Joe, W3GMS 

Thanks guys for all the compliments. I really do like the new look and layout. If I had the room I would have things so I could get behind it all without moving things but you've got to work with what you have.

For those of you that expressed concern about the Valiant and overheating in the old setup I had installed a couple of fans on the rear of the beast just for this reason. The fans are from a laptop chiller pad I picked up at Staples for $10. They're probably cheap Chinese junk but they work and they're QUIET. They are set up to pull air from inside the cabinet.

The fans...

Got ambitious the other day and threw together a speaker box made with some of the old shelving and a Bose midrange speaker I had picked up at a fleamarket for $5. I didn't do any design just cut up some of the shelving and screwed it all together. It's ugly but it sounds great on the National.  ;D

Speaker looks great!

fwiw, if you haven't already, fill the box with polyester fiberfill (the stuff they put in pillows).

it will sound a bit less peaky and have better lower mids... the fill cuts down on the internal reflections
that make for a choppy frequency response.

                        _-_-bear

Thanks Bear,

I was going to do this and finally got my butt to the local craft store yesterday and bought a box of stuffing. Man they sure did manage to cram a lot of that stuff into the package! It's very deceiving! I now have enough fiberfill to last me a lifetime.  :P :P :P

Sounds great BTW!

Ron,
As a kid I was fascinated with building speaker enclosures.  When I was about 11 or so, someone gave me an Altec Lansing horn.  I took a few weeks and built a real nice enclosure to hold the woofer, mid-range and that Altec Lansing horn.  Then I hooked it all up to my home brew audio amp and promptly blew the horn!  I later learned that a cross over network was necessary!  I had just put the speakers in a series parallel configuration.  I then learned what not to do!
Joe