Aiwa TPR-820 Battery Door Creation (Pic Heavy)

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Here is a radio that I brought home from Japan. It's a little power house Aiwa TPR-820.

Sadly, when this radio showed up, it wasn't quite how it was described in the online auction. It had one antenna with a broken tip and no battery cover

These Aiwa's, like the Toshiba's use a white tipped antenna. Thankfully our good brother Strānj-Bōōmbŏks mailed me a replacement all the way from Venezuela

Today I started work on building a new battery cover door.

Below is how I did it...

It just so happens that I had a sheet of aluminum plate that was just the right thickness to make the cover (pure luck)

I trimmed out a piece to fit where the old door was...

I then bent it with a small table top sheet metal bender...

Then trimmed out the back side where the tabs would go that hold the bottom in place...

The fit and finish was coming along pretty good

I realized that I was going to have to cut away the bottom tabs and fabricate new tabs from stainless steel sheet metal and pop rivet them on...

Here I'm fabricating the spring clips that hold the door closed. This took a few attempts, probably made 3 versions before I came up with these. I used a pop rivet as the ridge that actually hold the door in place.

Here is the finished door with the spring clips trimmed down...

I will be painting the battery cover when I paint the whole radio. But considering I had no door and now I have one, makes this radio usable once again. It may not be factory, but it's better than duct tape

I even got my new antenna on!

 

[Reli]

Nice! Looks the same as a 950, except for no AFC or Loudness buttons.
One of the best sounding midsizes ever made.

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Nice! Looks the same as a 950, except for no AFC or Loudness buttons.
One of the best sounding midsizes ever made.

I can't wait to start using it....I have only had it out of the house once with the battery compartment all taped up, worrying the whole time if my batteries are gonna go flyin'

I think I'm going to do a full repaint with some really nice classy colors!

 

[Superduper]

Excellent craftsmanship. They should all be made out of metal. The only way it could've been better is if you had a friend that could tig weld those tabs for you.

 

[redbenjoe]

thanks alot , chris for posting all these clear photos -
and great job
--------------------------------
for all you po folks out there with no ' authorized ' metal bending jig --
that 1/16" up to 3/32" thin gauge aluminum will bend nicely in a vice --
and to any radius desired --with a hardwood dowel

and --you can use ' button head ' screws instead of rivets -
they will self-tap into the metal

 

[jimmyjimmy19702010]

You could sell tailor made metal battery covers like that!! I've passed on many a good boombox due to a missing battery cover!

Good work!!

James....

 

[skippy1969]

Very impressive craftsmanship.
This beats Ira's "woodie" battery door all to heck,LOL!

 

[redbenjoe]

no skipper -- not entirely --
wood is insulation // metal is conductive

 

[Fatdog]

DIBS!

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Thanks guys....after standing back and looking at it, I can see some improvements that I can make....most of it was trial and error and the easy part was the door itself. It was the bottom tabs and the spring clips that were the real pain.

Now that I know what I'm doing, I think I can do a better job on the next one. I have a TRC-920 parts box that is missing the battery door and I think I may make one for that and try to clean it up some. That door is just flat, no bending, so it should be easier to do.

Plus, once painted, I don't think you will even notice its not original from the outside.

Believe it or not, I have about 6 hours into that damn thing

This little Aiwa will never be a top restoration do to the fact that the aluminum face is scratched and dented, but after a nice repaint, and my patent pending Blu Tooth mod, she will be able to go into full service in the collection!

 

[hemiguy2006]

That is AWESOME
Great craftsmanship bro, way to make it portable again

 

[JustCruisin]

Very nice! Dupli-color makes a black bedliner spray in a can that would match the factory textured plastic perfectly!
Its also paintable, so you can paint over it when you paint the rest of the casing...

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Very nice! Dupli-color makes a black bedliner spray in a can that would match the factory textured plastic perfectly!
Its also paintable, so you can paint over it when you paint the rest of the casing...

Wicked! I will look into that....how sweet would that be!

 

[Alasondro Allegre]

Stunning.. Instead of painting i'd polish it:]

 

[bklyn sound]

great job very skilled.......

 

[kingrat2010]

:frankenstein:

 

[floyd]

kick ass job dude !

i need one for my trc 918 .

you should have your own show called monster box garage .

 

[Lasonic TRC-920]

Stunning.. Instead of painting i'd polish it:]

That could be interesting!

kick ass job dude !

i need one for my trc 918 .

you should have your own show called monster box garage .

PM sent

 

[blu_fuz]

Oh so nice!