Hey Guys,
If you saw this thread: Helix HX-4700 Complete Overhaul then you know what I did to member Mac Daddy Freshness' radio.
I completed that radio in at the beginning of December 2014. I immediately started work on my Helix HX-4700. As you saw in this thread: Helix HX-4700 Custom I just finished it.
This radio got everything Mac Daddy Freshness' radio got PLUS a whole lot more.
The basic run down:
The original digital clock was missing, so I found a new digital clock Details Here. The new clock is also a battery gauge and temperature sensor that I used for outside temp. The new clock uses the original "Set / Adjust" buttons
Added flashing LED to Alarm system sensor window
Added full LED lighting behind selector / power switches, illuminated EQ, Cassette Decks, Tweeter grills, Mid range grills, Deck Counter, Headphone & Mic Jacks, Cassette Keys, Tuner Dial, added sound activated glow cord to woofer and mid speakers and added blue LED's to top L/R corners pointed straight down to give "Hovering" effect when radio is sitting on the ground.
Added plug in cassette storage bay for Bluetooth receiver.
I re-purposed the "Beat Cut" switch for the LED lighting on/off switch
So, to start with, the first radio I ever "Really fell in love with" was the Realistic SCR-8 with it's MASSIVE VU meters. When I got my TRC-920, it had opposing LED VU's and also has a Tuner Dial light, which at the time I thought was the coolest thing in the world. As time went on and other fantastic designs came out, radio's like the Discolite just mesmerized as did the J1. But ever since I first got my 920, my minds eye saw so much more.
Fast forward today...
If you flip through the custom section of this site you can spend hours drooling and dreaming in complete awe at the work being done by the members here. There are pictures of WALL's of radio's, all the very best of the factory LED VU meter's all bouncing at the same time. Member CplChronic's totally insane mega builds, complete portable nightclubs in your hands.
So, after 30 years, I decided I would follow my minds eye.
First I had to learn about LED's. Knowing what I wanted in my head and the effect I was going for AND not wanting to simply do a copy / rip off of someone else's idea's, I set to work asking Superduper some questions and then researched the answers he gave me.
Since the LED's I chose to use are Focused Lens type, they needed to be located and pointed at the area of which I wanted to illuminate. As it turns out, that was not as easy as I first thought.
The hardest part was getting lighting behind Button Selector and EQ without interfering with the operation of the moving parts AND not having the LED's blind the person standing in front of the radio. To achieve that I had to create a defuser system on the LED's in those sections as well as the cassette deck counter.
I started by wiring up items in sections and then ran the sections to a central PC board that got power from the "Beat Cut" switch with a fuse on it.
This is one of the tweeter covers, with two LED's and a series of resisters needed to set the voltage correctly for each number of LED's being used.
Next was adding LED's to the mid range grills, creating a "Block" of LED's for each.
Once each section or "Block" had the LED's with resistors soldered up, they were tested and then installed into the radio. All the power lines where then run to the new PC board with fuse.
You can see how I made my own power rails on the new PC Board, so all I had to do was run wires to the new PC Board and solder to the +/- rails.
If you saw this thread: Helix HX-4700 Complete Overhaul then you know what I did to member Mac Daddy Freshness' radio.
I completed that radio in at the beginning of December 2014. I immediately started work on my Helix HX-4700. As you saw in this thread: Helix HX-4700 Custom I just finished it.
This radio got everything Mac Daddy Freshness' radio got PLUS a whole lot more.
The basic run down:
The original digital clock was missing, so I found a new digital clock Details Here. The new clock is also a battery gauge and temperature sensor that I used for outside temp. The new clock uses the original "Set / Adjust" buttons
Added flashing LED to Alarm system sensor window
Added full LED lighting behind selector / power switches, illuminated EQ, Cassette Decks, Tweeter grills, Mid range grills, Deck Counter, Headphone & Mic Jacks, Cassette Keys, Tuner Dial, added sound activated glow cord to woofer and mid speakers and added blue LED's to top L/R corners pointed straight down to give "Hovering" effect when radio is sitting on the ground.
Added plug in cassette storage bay for Bluetooth receiver.
I re-purposed the "Beat Cut" switch for the LED lighting on/off switch
So, to start with, the first radio I ever "Really fell in love with" was the Realistic SCR-8 with it's MASSIVE VU meters. When I got my TRC-920, it had opposing LED VU's and also has a Tuner Dial light, which at the time I thought was the coolest thing in the world. As time went on and other fantastic designs came out, radio's like the Discolite just mesmerized as did the J1. But ever since I first got my 920, my minds eye saw so much more.
Fast forward today...
If you flip through the custom section of this site you can spend hours drooling and dreaming in complete awe at the work being done by the members here. There are pictures of WALL's of radio's, all the very best of the factory LED VU meter's all bouncing at the same time. Member CplChronic's totally insane mega builds, complete portable nightclubs in your hands.
So, after 30 years, I decided I would follow my minds eye.
First I had to learn about LED's. Knowing what I wanted in my head and the effect I was going for AND not wanting to simply do a copy / rip off of someone else's idea's, I set to work asking Superduper some questions and then researched the answers he gave me.
Since the LED's I chose to use are Focused Lens type, they needed to be located and pointed at the area of which I wanted to illuminate. As it turns out, that was not as easy as I first thought.
The hardest part was getting lighting behind Button Selector and EQ without interfering with the operation of the moving parts AND not having the LED's blind the person standing in front of the radio. To achieve that I had to create a defuser system on the LED's in those sections as well as the cassette deck counter.
I started by wiring up items in sections and then ran the sections to a central PC board that got power from the "Beat Cut" switch with a fuse on it.
This is one of the tweeter covers, with two LED's and a series of resisters needed to set the voltage correctly for each number of LED's being used.
Next was adding LED's to the mid range grills, creating a "Block" of LED's for each.
Once each section or "Block" had the LED's with resistors soldered up, they were tested and then installed into the radio. All the power lines where then run to the new PC board with fuse.
You can see how I made my own power rails on the new PC Board, so all I had to do was run wires to the new PC Board and solder to the +/- rails.
See if it can take the vibrations