Another scratchbuilt rangefinder

Hi everyone,

I've been working on this for sometime now and have only just made some serious progress. I used the tutorial SS made and the templates that Wizardoflight made as a guide, but I have tinkered with the sizing a little.

The casing is made from 1mm thick sheet PVC, and the "clear" part is made from cast acrylic. This was the hardest part to make as my current workshop is a little on the rubbish side until I can find somewhere to house all my tools etc. I used a hack saw, mitre saw, dremel disc cutter and bench grinder to get it to where it is now. This is difficult stuff to get through so I am going to attempt to invest in a table top band saw. A company called Proxxon do some at an amazing price.

After cutting the block, I built the RF housing around it, and used liquid poly as it leaves minimal residue and fuses the plastic together. On the rear of the acrylic block I glued some "catches" so that it locks into the housing, but can be easily removed as I would like to add a lighting system.

I'm planning on eventually making a run of these to go on my website, seeeing as I bought enough acrylic to make about 20 of these!

I am planning on sanding the block down by hand to achieve a smooth and clear finish. I also need to work on the small window attachment as well.

Let me know what you think.

Cheers

Dan

looking good Dan

boy that acrylic looks a real pain.

Looks good to me! Have you tried wet flating the acrylic?this will give you a machine sharp finish...

Originally Posted by terminal fettler

Looks good to me! Have you tried wet flating the acrylic?this will give you a machine sharp finish...

You could use this product:
http://www.modernplastics.com/novisplasticpolish.html


When I made my clear rangefinder parts, I machined them on a CnC machine, which allowed for crystal clear cuts.

But a little polishing makes them stand out.

Originally Posted by stonerook

You could use this product:
http://www.modernplastics.com/novisplasticpolish.html


When I made my clear rangefinder parts, I machined them on a CnC machine, which allowed for crystal clear cuts.

But a little polishing makes them stand out.

I'll have to give that stuff a try. Thanks for the tip! Unfortunately I don't have access to top notch equipment, so I have to improvise quite often, at least until I can get the necessary space and tools. I think for my first attempt at cutting acrylic it has turned out pretty well!