RE: [N8VEM-S100:4576] Oak S100 card cage

Leonard,

How many guys do you talk to on HAM? I have a few friends that run a station... I would love to do so myself, but I have zero spare time left... perhaps in a few years???

What do you guys think about Pine? It's a nice soft wood. I know wood is OT, but it's very interesting to hear about it. There are so many kinds of wood. I see Maple, Poplar and Oak in the stores near me.

Cheers,
Josh

From: lcy...@bellsouth.net
To: n8vem...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [N8VEM-S100:4576] Oak S100 card cage
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 22:15:07 -0400

Plastic solid stock on metal or just metal might be better choice...

BTW, NEVER leave wood (even if "dry" on your cast iron saw table- wood + metal tends to rust fairly quickly.

When using wood, remember many species can be toxic, at best the dust when it gets in your sinuses etc.

Best not to use common plywood as card guides- chips off too easily.

Not lecturing, I was a woodworker about 40 years. Small furniture, violins, etc

If you have the dimensions for making a card rack/ guides, might there be a way to pass this info to the group?

I entertain thoughts of making some sort of rack that would hold up to the abuse of my experimenting nature.

My S100 lives; just waiting to find time for the ZFDC tune-up diagnostics. Very busy just now with Amateur Radio.

Thanks for your experiences with wood.

Leonard KS4RN

From: n8vem...@googlegroups.com [mailto:n8vem...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Matthew Turner
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2014 9:25 PM
To: n8vem...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [N8VEM-S100:4575] Oak S100 card cage

Partly snobbish, I guess. A question of perceived value. I once used a bandsaw lumbermill to cut up about 1/2 of a red oak, and the wood did smell like rotted cheese, at best. Usually it is infested with carpenter ants, so it can be more difficult to get in wide pieces. The most common use is in flooring, because you can rip up narrow pieces and glue to make squares, and that allows you to throw out the ant-infested pieces. But even then, you'll see black, hollow trails that were part of the nest. You can't use it in timber framing, or boatbuilding, but that doesn't mean it can't be on a computer cage.

Mind you, if you live in the country, all the local squirrels, partridge, and grouse will bless your heart for having a red oak on the property. Whereas white oak was once a strategic material for shipbuilding, and used in coopering and other trades. Hence, commercially extinct.

Walnut will cost 2 - 3x as much, but for the amount being used, spending $30 or so rather than $10 isn't a bad deal. But given the problem with the inside of the cage being heated and the outside not, a veneered mdf may be a better idea, as it can be more stable.

Both red and white oak are "open grain", so there are largish pores that need to be filled with a wood filler if you want a nice, even varnished surface.

Acid content could be a problem. One of my staff at a woodworking museum used my spokeshave on freshly-cut, "green" red oak, and it corroded the blade overnight. 25 years contact with dried oak will probably corrode severely. I'd use plastic guides, which can be got off ebay.

Right. Back to transistors.

Matt

From: lcy...@bellsouth.net
To: n8vem...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [N8VEM-S100:4572] Oak S100 card cage
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 20:07:30 -0400

Matt

Sounds like you are a woodworker.. what do you think is wrong with red oak?

From: n8vem...@googlegroups.com [mailto:n8vem...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Matthew Turner
Sent: Monday, July 14, 2014 6:12 PM
To: n8vem...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [N8VEM-S100:4567] Oak S100 card cage

Make sure it's white oak, not red. Red oak is pretty much garbage, if you've ever worked with it. White oak is supposed to be commercially extinct, and I think they're using rubber wood as a replacement. But you can still find it, just maybe not in the big box stores.

Regardless, the heat inside the cage will probably lead to some warping. That's difficult to avoid under the conditions, unless you use mdf and veneers.

I'd use plastic card guides in any case, rather than cutting slots, for the reasons you mention.

Personally, I'd use black walnut, but then I've got a stash of it that's 25 years old. Much nicer to work with, and none of the problems associated with finishing oak.

Regards,

Matt Turner

Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 14:54:38 -0700
From: vincemu...@gmail.com
To: n8vem...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [N8VEM-S100:4565] Oak S100 card cage

(I posted this in the wrong group originally, sorry)

I'm thinking of making an oak card cage for my 18 S100 slots. I've got the original IEEE-696 physical parameters, is that good enough for all modern N8VEM projects?

Nice thick oak to be non-flexible. Thinking a short "U" with the board at the bottom and slots cut in the arms. Probably not coming up all the way on the side of the cards. That rather firmly bolted to standard rack mount shelf (heavy duty) bolted inside a steel rack case

Poly coated on all surfaces for humidity stability and it'll live in a stable climate controlled area at constant temp/humidity anyway.

Will live inside a ventilated steel chassis I have access to for EMI/RFI whatever. Thank you PCI/DSS financial regulations for forcing the production of cool little networking device cases with great ventilation and locks and access on all sides etc.

I have more than enough 'leet table saw skills to pull this off.

I'm thinking of two MBs one on top of another in the rack case. I've got 12U of space to hold these two MBs which will make a tight fit vertically but probably survivable (Will have to model that extensively, maybe I can get access to a 16U case...)

Crazy? Sane? Better idea? I can' t be the first guy in 40 years to think of oak as a card cage material. Also are all the N8VEM cards under the IEEE size standards around the perimeter? I've seen some mighty full cards with "stuff" right up to the edge.

Curious if anyone tried it and the tannins in the oak made their pcb corrode or poly finish sticks to rosin flux or something I haven't even considered yet.

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