Recently I noticed some questions on the list : ...what  solder wire does one use, how to scrape off insulation, how to make pads for Manhattan Style construction... ? I strongly believe that these will come up regularly and will last hopefully for the next decades.
So why not add some hints and  kinks which one has experienced to be valuable?

                      

                                                 FIRST  THINGS  FIRST
    I don't know whether you own a work shop in the attic or a big one on the basement floor or
whether you have to build out of a shoe box in the kitchen.
   Anyway, organize your workbench well before you start building and soldering. Don't take part in the competition who owns the messiest workbench. It will only cost you extra time  and  cause frustration. The pic above is not the best example, even if it is mine.   DL2BQD

You will find a lot of hints and kinks when you start building, assembling, soldering, de-soldering, identifying parts etc etc here. It's in German but it is a great source.

http://www.qrpproject.de/bastelschule.htm
http://www.qrpproject.de/Media/pdf/DL-QRP-AG-UniDDS_v1_1.pdf

Please feel free to visit
http://www.qrpedia.com/book/200812/software-and-links
 here on the QRPedia. It should be a good addition to "workbench". 

When I aligned my PFR-3 and we wanted to measure  we got strange  suspicious results.
- the board was not in the cabinet yet and the ground  wire was not screwed tough enough on the BNC socket. Screwed again, problem solved

During the very first alignment I got a nasty hum
- check the 9 V battery source whether it is really fully charged . New battery, problem solved.

Soldering the PFR-3. I use a hot iron. 45 watts is not bad. But do quick soldering and clean the legs of the parts before you put them into the holes. In contrast to the opinion that sensitive parts require lower heat - solder quickly and warm up the environment properly.

I use thin wire 1 mm L-Sn60 PbCu2/zn whatever that means, hi, ofcourse tin and copper proportions with 2,5% flux. The  German brand name is F-SW 26 Soldering the PFR board - no problem

Scraping off the enamelled insulation. I use a special little tool which offers you a good feeling between your fingers against the wire. I will not recommend to use a knife, even if it can be used when one has a wee bit of experience  of  how to handle it. You can hurt the wire more easily.

            

    

The  pic in the middle on top  shows the two legs of an SMD tweezers made from copper board. Both legs will be glued to the wooden part from a cloth peg. Wires go to the meter, the points of the legs are tinned ; easy measuring.

The booklet (ca 60 pages) ISBN 3881808116   is an excellent introduction into SMD handling. It offers technical details, data info on smd parts, their cabinet standards, tables and much more.
More than that it encourages to build simple test equipment - SWR, watt meter, multivibrator, amplifier  etc...-
and offers detailled instructions on how to solder SMDs.  Finally it shows a 40m TRX built with SMDs. There are very good black-white illustrations, high resolution. An index is added which also names American and English web sites. The author DF2OF uses the boards  shown above.
  These experimentor's  boards are produced by a DL organization which dedicates its job to introduce kids into ham radio and experimenting: AATiS e.V. .
A PIXIE II can be easily  assembled on these boards, Manhattan and sandwich technology.
Highly recommended also for readers who do not use German as mother tongue.

The SMD HF power meter 50 Ohm  could be your first SMD training object. 30 SMD parts , size 1206, 1.5kOhm, 1/4 watt or  20 parts  1kOhm. The meter then can be easily calibrated to show Watt=Voltage using a formula.

Here you see how soldering is done professionally:
http://www.spotn.de/watch/b2f1f817860ac9f409ad/SMDBauteilelten:TSOP&o=3115&l=dis

SMD parts are like fleas. It's just the very part what you are using which jumps off the workbench. If you want to find it you can use a vacuum cleaner   but

VE7NSD, Stephen says :Tape a piece of mesh from a woman's nylon stocking over the end of the vacuum hose and search with that.

Chuck Carpenter, W5USJ :SMT Assembly Rule 13
Don't whistle while you work...

 

 M0ERA, Daniel : To tin an end of enamelled wire, I run a blob of molten solder along the wire and burn off the coating. This may not work if the temperature of the iron is too high. I usually set the soldering iron to approximately 375 deg C for normal soldering jobs and to approximately 325 deg C to tin enamelled wire.

PARTS

  

The pic shows a Tantal. C. Mind that the minus sign on its body  is   n o t   Minus polarity. The lengths of   the legs differ. Do not cut before making clear which is which.

The right pic shows inductance. Mind that the color code can also start with a wide ring!!
http://www.elektron-bbs.de/elektronik/farbcode/l.htm 

For molded chokes or  bobbin types  and other parts, C, R  etc:
http://www.educypedia.be/electronics/datacomponent.htm

 

I like DL7UWE's idea of using a pole shoe  as a heat sink for his Pixie ( December 2008), could also be a widened croco clip.

    

DM5AA, Con  If I have to solder these tiny solder nails I won't burn my fingers - I simply use a thimble. Xyl  won't think in her strangest dream that I have borrowed it for the workbench.

   

This is the magic Electrician's Knot (underwriter's knot tnx: KU4AF). When you want to build an antenna/portable light weight from military double line cable or similar this knot fixes the middle part of your dipole.
The right one is a Sailor's knot (tnx: blood knot G4KKI; Midshipman's hitch G8IFF/W8IFF)  and it can be used "in big stuff"  to fix tent lines as well as the guy ropes of your field day antenna mast, line of a kite; of course your xyl will be happy when you fix her cloths' washing line.
One can move the knot easily along the line but under stress and tension it's very tough - works like a ratchet.

http://www.dl2lto.de/sc/HB_HL.htm This link offers a lot of construction hints on antennas, parallel feeders, tables, which length should be avoided, good illustrations so that this page is even very intersting for non German speakers. I will put the link on  the qrpedia "link" site here as well.

This is where you will find a bunch of ideas not only related to Manhattan Style construction.
http://www.qrpme.com/K7QO%20Manhattan%20Techniques%20Paper.pdf

 

 

COPPER BOARDS - CABINET BUILDING  is straight forward:

1. Draw a clear plan. Think which part has to go where, i.e. some sides of the housing have an extra plus of the thickness of the material.
2. Use proper tools. I use the wooden bar when I solder the single parts that they will be absolute perpendicular. Kind of a special ruler.
3. Drill and prepare the holes. If one uses a thicker liner then it is easier filing till you see a faint rest of the line - exact.
4. Clean carefully and prepare for soldering:  solder some 'isles' first, use a hot iron, 60 to 80 watts.
5. Final cleaning and spraying - finished.

COPPER BOARDS - HOW TO CLEAN

DM4EA, Tom: One can use  tooth paste.  Carefully clean with mild soap water after having polished.
W2MY, Steve : Vinegar, flour and salt. The flour makes it sticky. Steve also offers a fine web site with  detailled pics on  some of his hbrew gadgets.

DL7UWE, Uwe also uses concentrated vinegar or diluted hydrochlorid acid (!) Carefully rinse with water.  Remove photo lacquer with ethylalcohol. Protect the board and the etched routes with a solution mix of rosin and ethylalcohol.

NT7S, Jason: A Scotch Brite pad#000000;"> and a little bit of water works wonders. Dry and clean when you are done.
KB9BVN : I use hot  soapy water and a scrubber sponge. Some guys spray to keep them from oxidizing  later. I wonder if hair spray would work ( it will, DL2BQD). Before building I take some very fine grit sand paper and give the working surface a dozen swipes - super glue will stick better. 

KD5WWI, Derward: Barkeeper's friend that you can get at Walmart. This is a good one that a friend of mine K5FZM, Louis, came up with.
K5NWA, Cecil:  Tarn-X   works great, there is no scrubbing but it's pricey!

W7AVK, Bob: After cleaning and drying I spray a light coat of Krylon Clear Coat. This keeps copper from tarnishing agn, easy solder through.
KI4YZE, Dan  adds some more stuff - Zap, Restore4.  All basically acid. Carefully rinse, dry, leave no water spots.

(to be continued)

DM5AA, Con told me: When soldering plugs put male and female together. So parts could get warm but won't be deformed terribly.

DL7UWE cuts  sockes for his transitors from IC sockets. Perfboard and a socket can also be used to make adaptors for Manhattan pads. Cut to wanted size ( disc grinder or mini saw or scratch and brake ) and glue a bit of insulating material under the pad. On the right you see the pole shoe again used as a heat sink.

 

Peter MM5PSL
Now there's a thing. Necessity, the mother of invention.
I'm building a steam driven (tubes) QRP CW TX using three 10XAJ 40m
crystals. (PW Dec 1963). And could I find three 10XAJ crystal sockets? Nope!
Not a hope! I could solder them in but prefer not to.
So the next best thing I could find in the junk box is an ordinary
electrical choc-block connector strip.
The spacing between pins is perfect, and although the sockets are not
sprung-loaded, it doesn't matter too much. Providing the grub screws are not
over tightened (the pins are hollow and likely to buckle) the problem is
solved and works like a charm.

 

 

You get these anti-slip mats in special shops for carpets but they are much cheaper in normal super markets. You see here two different sizes, the large one only ca 3 Euro. 
They offer an excellent  mat to be put under your rig, key (!) , can be cut to little pads and glued under the gadget... You see a Palm Paddle on a metal base plus antislip =  nailed to the table.

You can get this tip cleaner tool-sponge for ca 4 Euro in the special shop. I bought three metal sponges for less than a buck in the household dpt of a supermarket plus tuna tin. Works well!

The Weller tin contains a paste which regenerates dirty tips. When soldering is finished clean the tip and tin it again.
Fred, DJ3KK told me secretly that a rag of an old cotton  underdrawers - long johns-  will do a jolly good job to clean the tip.

STORAGE  for  this 'n that. Organizing stuff
Years ago I glued matchboxes to form a shelf for small parts . Film boxes can make good containers for small parts. I cut letter envelopes in halves, glue the cut sides. Small, flat Cigar boxes contain my pads for Manhattan.

 

 

Steve, W2MY mentions these coin bags  being used as containers for flat items. There are also other  flat plastic containers for coins and medals.  On the right: modern plastic box for SMD parts etc.

This was added by KC5WA:
I use coin envelopes  #0000ff;">http://www.kc5wa.net/store-1.jpg
When I build and inventory a kit parts are sorted and
filed                            #0000ff;">http://www.kc5wa.net/store-02.jpg
Here's a portion of my "Junque Box"   #0000ff;">http://www.kc5wa.net/store-03.jpg

Terry, WA0ITP These boxes are surprisingly  sturdy.  They follow a simple sketch and are totally home made -qrp!  The ends fold up  and I glue them togther. I use a large spring clamp and let them dry overnight.

Lee, W0VT I use a 10 inch bye 12 inch box from the BOX STORE.  They come knocked down.
I use one box for 1/4 watt, one for 1/2 watt, and so forth.  I use plastic  sandwich baggies for each value resistor.  The baggies have a squeeze seal  top and I can see through the bag.  I put a paper label inside giving the  value.  Been doing it for years and it works great. 
I don't like envelopes as stuff falls out of them.  The baggies hold up very well for a long time.

  

 

This is how  contacts  can be used from various types of relays. On the left there is a  telegraph relay, right it is dismantled and only the ceramic base and the golden contacts are used.
 DL2BQD :The yellow knob is from a flea hop children's game. The cabinet is a screw box from a DIY shop, green plastic base inserted into the lid.

needles as springsdj7je key

OE6WTD , Dieter, uses  steel pins  with glass heads as spare springs. What an idea!
The Red-Knob-Key  also made from a telegraph relay is by DJ7JE, Klaus-Dieter
The yellow knobs (above)  are glued, the red ones screwed.

DF9IV, M0ERA, Gerd and Daniel : Please have a look there. What clever constructors of keys you will find. What ideas - from spoon to Lego, from paper clip to elegant brass...    Morse Laboiratory:
http://www.morselabor.de

 

G3ZHE,G3NFB, Albert and Jim offer  this little SMC clamp
built from scratch. The weight on top of the rod presses the tiny part to the board . Soldered nuts work as guidance for the plastic knitting needle.

    

 

DL2BQD: The two instruments are from Lake Electronics. The power meter contains single 50 Ohm Rs and measures 0 - 250 mW  0 - 20 watts. I will use BNC sockets later.
    

This home made Dummy from 2 x 100 Ohm  can also easily made from more single 50 Ohms housed in an Altoid box..
The BLT parallel tuner has it and one will find a bunch of ideas  on the Net.
DL2QA, Elmar solders a  car lamp 4-5 watts to PL or better BNC, with a bit of experience one can even estimate power - The poor Man's Dummy load. Mind, it is by no means real 50 Ohms.
 The adaptor on the right is an interesting little tool as well.

  

 

This is kind of a photo studio you are offered in some catalogues; this one for ca 140 Euro! 140!
DL2BQD uses velvet paper of different color to avoid reflexions and put it into an arm  chair like the white screen in the pic.  The dummies and the two instruments above are taken this way.
My armchair studio for  1 Euro! One - for the paper!      

                                                        

 

OE6WTD, Dieter offers  his test chassis made from a larger scrap of copper clad board with some angle  alum  , holes for switches, sockets  etc - all can be easily arranged and rearranged and single boards screwed to the base with screws or stand offs. The other idea shows how CDs can be used: cable drum ( photo below)

COILS, CORES, TOROIDS
     
DL2BQD: Winding these types of coils: mark the beginning of  all turns with a dot on the former, solder the wire very carefully and quickly, tin it before.  The end of longer wires can be clamped in a pair  of  medical pliers with flat nose ( of course one can also take a heavy nut, a screw driver, any metal piece...this one is vy convenient) then hold the coil former gently between left and right hand fingers, wind up  windings neatly  side by side and count when the dot passes by. By the way the coils are for a 50 MHz kit BODAN 6. 

 

windings how to count: cores

 Dave, KI4JVU writes:  Before disassembling ANYTHING to "fix" it get out the digital camera and take some pictures - maybe even some step by step pictures as you go along.

If you're having trouble counting turns on a coil or toroid take a macro picture with the digital camera.  A 1/2 inch toroid blows up to 4 inches or so on screen.

Put it on a scanner and use the cursor to count. Mind: One move thru the core = one count=one winding!

CABLE  BINDERS

cable binders 1cable binders2 DK9DQ, Rolf, uses the cable binders for holding tiny cores. So it can be easily fixed in a vise.

  Use cable binders at the bottom end of an antenna wire
to stop rain drops running further along the wire.

MEASURING

The world famous company Rohde & Schwarz celebrates its 75th birthday 2008. Have a look at their website and you will find one of the most sophisticated Network Analyzer gadgets, the ZVA50.
It costs a fortune for a ham.
http://www.funkamateur.de/  offers the second version of an Analyser for hams, its origin dates back to DK3WX, Bernd, who has an own web site with his mini HF gadget.
There has  been a long discussion on the DL QRP list on the FunkAmateur tool proving its extraordinary value for hams. It's obviously worth its money!

 

 

  coils again: This  is Grandfather's  Inductance Pencil. Take a piece of plastic tube, old fine liner, sip straw...insert a piece of ferrite rod/core  into one side, a piece of copper or alum into the other. Move it to/into the coil to be tested: HF iron  induct. rises, copper side  will lower it.   

  
DL7UWE, Uwe  built these HF sniffers  housed in little plastic boxes  for  thin pencil leads.
The idea follows a schematic by DF6GF. There will be many others on the Net.
Masse = ground body contact, the 'coils'  on the cabinets.

 

  
DL2QA, Elmar built this useful marker oscillator on perfboard which offers sigs till 50 MHz.
DL2BQD, Dieter shows a low voltage indicator for 12 v sealed batteries. The pot adjusts and the led shows when to recharge the battery. Built with SMD parts it will fit into nearly all small TRXs. Push button can separate a line. 
   

 

Here DL2QA shows how little sub-boards on perf can be soldered to ground with little solder nails.
G8IFF/W8IFF, Nigel: Don't throw snipped off component leads into the bin. They are good for interconnections,  little stand-offs, solder nails...

                               

 

I used this little 6mm milling cutter/shaper in a Dremel to produce pads for Manhattan. I am not always satisfied.  You see what happened.  So I used stripes cut with a 'giant'  one lever tin cutter,
then chopped to pads. Can be done with a hand cutter.  Laminated material is better than simple board! You see an adaptor for 8-pin-sockets or ICs.
Compare: http://www.eham.net/articles/16536

The board on top shows these  pads for a Pixie II partly assembled and glued with Super glue. The adaptor  for the LM is not  glued yet- The small stripe on the vy top is the 12 v line. To have a kind of orientation for the pads I drew some lines with a pencil beforehand.

 

You get a very good instruction on how to grind a wood drill to make pads in
'Simple Test Equipment ' by G3MFJ and G4WIF, Graham and Tony (unfortunately out of print now).
Other topics in the booklet  for the workbench  worth being  looked at :
Marker generator, noise generator, noise bridge, resistive SWR bridge, construction techniques,   RF probe, dummy loads,  crystal tester etc  etc... 

 

             

G4WIF, Tony describes how to grind and prepare a wood drill for Manhattan Pads. Don't forget to
mark some pilot holes when using the little tool - like a pair of compasses. Protect the sharp sides with tape. Tony says: "You just 'twirl' the thing in your fingers".

KI4JVU, Dave : If the regular  screwdrivers go in the drawer with the handles to the front put the phillips etc in the other way. Makes  locating easy.  

KI4 STU, Detrick shows a very nice device plus instruction on how to use it plus video, home built:  
http://merzhaus.org/ham/dremeljig.php
KB9BVN, Brian points us to the web site of farcircuits which produce nice boards in high quality

I think this will do  on the Manhattan matter. 

 What do a steel needle from xyl's sewing box, a  wooden tooth picker and a lamp dimmer have in common?
They are nice little tools. If  you had to  take out a part from a solder hole and the hole is still filled with tin, put a steel needle in, heat it, move it gently - and the hole is open again.

 

MORE  TOOLS

blades2

blades1

Even if one can buy spare blades for a cutter - your worthy Stanley blade can be
sharpened with a leather strip or a bottle.

Richard, G4IC

 

Drip-Drip-Sizzle 
Nick, ON4NIC / M0 NJP
came home from  hospital with a new
idea:
take a bottle with water and connect it to a medium size syringe.

 It makes a fine drip feed to keep the sponge wet.

 

Hi Nick and all,
Medical 'surplus' can be incredibly useful.
Didn't I see an article in PW or Radcom where a doctor won top prize
for his very smart looking crystal set built with medical leftovers?

   Another easy antenna tuning project - take two 50ml syringes,
connect one each end of a nebuliser tube filling everything with water first,
(also available from pet shops - air pump tubing for fish tanks)
and, Hey Presto !
As one syringe is moved in or out, the syringe at the other end moves in sympathy. With a little glue and ingenuity at the antenna end, and the frequency marked off on the syringe at the operator end, you have a hydraulic tuning system for remote control 10-ft or so above your head.  Peter,
MM5PSL, Peter 

  A tooth picker helps to adjust parts, holds SMD parts down, puts glue to the place where it should go, puts a drop of liquid exactly to its spot...
  
DM2CMB, Rainer  creates his own double sided board and contacts both sides thru with little hollow rivets. To protect the holes  from being filled with solder he uses wooden tooth pickers.

DL2BQD: The crystal of the PIXIE oscillator is temporarily fixed with  two sided  Tesa Stripes to the board.

 

A dimmer can be used as a 'spare soldering station' - simply regulate the temp of the tip. You will quickly find out the best position of the knob; mark it with a drop of nail lacquer or CD pencil. 

 

ANTENNAS
          

Peter G0KOK, G6USA, 8P9CC : Hi All, I have just bought in LIDL a screw into the ground vertical support, the sort you put into the lawn for the washing line, it is very light, made of a nylon material and comes complete with a aluminium tommy bar it's called a DUOFIX, it will take up to a 1.5 inch tube, just the job for back packing, it cost just £5.87. ( pic not shown)

DL2QA, Elmar  uses dowels as spreaders - slots made with a soldering iron, then glued.

 

The antenna mast  holder for /p operation was seen during a QRP meeting in  Pottenstein, DL.
Below Elmar  also shows an interesting mechanical idea of how to construct an antenna switch:
  

 DL2BQD Rods  and plastic parts from an electric fence offer good insulators and other stuff for antenna building.

DJ3KK, Fred  reminds  not to throw old used PC printer cables into the bin. They offer a bunch of coloured  single wires - you can mark plus & minus,  audio frequency, ground, special connections etc... 

 

 

  
A good plan makes half the job                                 Cabinet from copper boards 
When working in a team each member can mark his schematic with  coordinate lines. So C14 can be easily found in B4 and cooperation becomes  easier and saves time. 
The pic on the right shows how to plan dimensions of a cabinet made from copper boards.

    

DL2BQD: Modern enterprises often offer some booklets or books on special matters.
PROXXON shows on more than 280 pages tools, how to use them, tables, working techniques, hints on material  etc etc. The other two are brochures on how to solder by ERSA and how to glue properly  by HENKEL. Visit their web sites. You will also find useful hints on mechanical problems and how to handle some material in books on model building.

COPPERBOARD - HOW TO GLUE

 

#000000;">AA1IP,  Brad:  #000000;">Some years ago, I wrote an article entitled, "Melt Your Way To Better Breadboards"  for "73" Amateur Radio magazine.

#000000;">Hot-melt glue represents something of an overlooked resource for radio constructors!

Based on my experience, you can use hot-melt glue to attach Manhattan-style pads.
First, the copper substrate where you plan to attach the pads must be clean and free of oil or tarnish.
Second, you must use a "high temperature" hot-melt glue-- ordinary low-melting-point glues or meltable caulking compounds won't hold very well.
Third, try this: use an Exacto (tm) or other sharp knife to cut a small flake of high-temp hot-melt glue from a glue stick. Place the glue chip between the pad's underside and the substrate. Tin the pad's
upper surface. Allow to cool. When you solder a component lead to the pad, do so quickly and with minimal heat to avoid having the pad "skate" across the substrate's surface.

Using this method, you're not limited to copperclad substrates as platforms for your circuits-- experiment with stiff cardboard, plastics of various kinds, wood, and glass. Have fun!

#000000;">TAPES
#000000;">Vojtech OK1IAK: Scotchglass tape  is a transparent material usable for many purposes. The tape itself is tough , the glue becomes brittle after a certain time though. So cover the tape with another none  transparent one to protect against UV light .

#000000;">

 

LAYOUTS

 

                          

  Dieter  #0000ff;">oe6wtd@gmx.at  shows his layout done with the free Inkscape , that's the same
 Jason used  for his Willamette . One can also use SPRINT  and  SPLAN's facilities  to draw parts there as well.  Dieter offers to send his layout as SVG or PNG file when you drop him a line and you can  handle it then with  Inkscape.

DL7UWE: This layout was drawn with SPRINT LAYOUT. The schematic to this PIXIE2 was made with S-PLAN . You will find both as test versions on the  INEt. The disadvantage here is that you can't save in test mode. Both programmes do not directly interact like EAGLE or TARGET but offer easy handling especially when you do not use it daily. I can recommend it.

Brian, F1FIY, who is a subscriber on qrp-list offered to collect software  on this matter and display it on the QRPedia.
DL2BQD installed a site on useful software     "software and links", perhaps we can find it there.

 

 

 DL2BQD wired this European triple Schuko socket to a UK plug. The adaptor can be used to plug a charger plus xyl's hairdryer at the same time, hi

 

--A test from NT7S DL8UZ shows a grabber--