It's Eastwood paint for European valve covers so I'm gonna say yeah.

And, yeah, a new antenna. Cable will be gone by the end of summer.

I am also without cable.

Turned it off a few months ago.

Here's the VR buildup. I haven't made one of these for while so a few things got done twice. :oops:

Anyways, here goes.

Parts and stuff.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...7-13194353.jpg
L to R:.063 rosin core solder, heat sink, 0.1MF cap, the heat gage below the cap, circuit board with a 5K ohm variable resistor, 240 ohm resistors below the 5K, LM317T adjustable VR(the heart), 1MF cap, dead Honda VR, and my solder iron.

Schematic.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...7-13194503.jpg
This is printed on the back of the LM317T package.

Mostly completed. Clockwise from right, 5k ohm variable resistor, 0.1MF cap, 240 ohm resistor, LM317T adjustable voltage regulator, and 1MF cap.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...7-13205632.jpg
Sans heat sink, case, and potting. The LM317T will be folder towards the board after adding the heat sink and the board will be trimmed when I decide on what case I'm using. I used the wires from the dead VR so everything hooks up as stock. No pics of the build-up because I didn't want to show off my less than stellar soldering skills.

Testing. Basically, using a battery charger as a power supply. Adjustment is made at the 5K ohm variable resistor.
Full 12.4 volt output from my 30 year old Snap-On battery charger.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...7-13205203.jpg

Poor pic of minimum 1.2 volt output.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...7-13205322.jpg

Dead nuts 7 volt output.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...7-13205303.jpg

I'll be powering up the VR again tomorrow to do final test and drop some hot glue on the 5K ohm variable resistor to lock it in place before casing and potting.

:wink:

Thanks for posting the excellent tutorial, Cheesy! :)

Spud :)

It's cool that the schematic is printed on the back of the package, including options. I liked the idea of using the Honda connector and using hot glue to lock down the VR. Thanks!

Thanks, guys.

Going to do a second attempt this evening. I found some dimensionally smaller capacitors at American Science and Surplus http://www.sciplus.com while scrounging a small plastic box to use as a case. I'll see if I can make this a bit more compact.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...7-14161130.jpg
Original board in the foreground, new smaller board in back. Note the red thingy on the new board, that is the much smaller 0.1MF cap. It replaced the smaller of the two caps. I also found a smaller 1MF cap that replaced the large blue cap and much smaller 5K pot to replace the big pot. I trimmed a half inch off the far end of the board and about a quarter inch on each of the other sides.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...7-14163515.jpg
Potting, using black RTV silicone. About ten seconds after taking the pic, I realized I should have just continued with the hot glue for potting instead of the black goo. When the goo sets, I'll cut a hole for the heat sink(big sucker, ain't it)in the cover and pop that into place. Then finish potting.


BTW, I spent some time on the American Science & Surplus website and sprung for an adjustable 12V/1A power supply. No more using the battery charger. :)

This blob is the potted VR.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...7-15140755.jpg
Icky looking, ain't it. :oops:

Form follows function, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. ;) It looks good to me! :)

Spud :)

Bit of an update.

It's been beastly hot here for the last 10 days or so, so I haven't ventured much into the realm of skinned knuckles. With a west facing garage door, the afternoons are a bit wilty in there.

I am replacing all incandescent bulbs with LEDs. And there are A LOT of them. Four 1157, three 1156, and eight 53 bulbs. Thank you, ebay HK. That saved a bundle.

The dash panel has, in the past, had some brake fluid or some kind of solvent spilled on it that boogered up the surface. Also cracked in a few places. The cracks have been fixed and the bumpy surface smoothed out. Hopefully will get a coat of gloss black on it this afternoon.

Don't know how much will get accomplished next week as the Worlds Cutest Granddaughter will be visiting and unless I can interest her in Grandpas' bike, there will be many tea parties to attend.

:wink:

Don't know how much will get accomplished next week as the Worlds Cutest Granddaughter will be visiting and unless I can interest her in Grandpas' bike, there will be many tea parties to attend.

Good set of priotities there, Cheesy. :D

Nice work, BTW. :wink:

Being a grandpa is a tough job, but somebody has got to do it! :P If you have time, please take photographs of the tea parties. ;) We would love to see your beautiful granddaughter enjoying your company. :)

Spud :)

My girls like tractors and tools so Grandpa has an easy job. :lol:

If she is anything like her Mom and Auntie, getting her interested in Grandpas' garage won't be a problem. Mom and Auntie used to go to car shows and swap meets with their Dad(me)quite a bit. Her Mom learned to wrench on a 1952 Chevy 3100, a 1952 Ford F2 and a 1953 Nash.

My folks used to take the two of 'em on Junkyard Tours of the upper midwest while hunting parts for my Dads 1948 De Soto. Her Mom can tell a 1946 De Soto from a 1948 with just a glance, which is better than I can do. :oops:

Before.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...7-20192416.jpg

After.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...7-22093349.jpg

There's about six coats of airbrush matte black applied with an HVLP touch up gun.

I had intended to use my new d/a airbrush, but I've never opened the package in the two years since I bought it. Lo and behold, no air hose. So I broke out the HVLP squirter.

This will sound even worse than the airbrush, but I bought the HVLP touch up gun, a full size HVLP gun, and a Chinese copy of the old Binks 7 gun*, like ten years ago and never took those out of the packages, either. :oops: The project I bought those for kind of went away before I could start it.

Long story short, it took me longer to deal with the lack of QC and set up the touch up gun than it took to paint the dash panel. The cracks are pretty well hidden but the rumple is still evident. I may have to find a decal of the Pirate that adorns my key fob to cover it.




*I worked at Binks for 23 years. Right up until they turned out the lights and shut the door. :( Seven years from completion of '30 and out'. :cry: