Shorter Knob, PCB revision

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K5RAB
 

Posts: 4
Joined: 28 Aug 2022, 19:34

Shorter Knob, PCB revision

Post by K5RAB »

Hi all, Here's a hack I did to reduce the height of the (tu)usdx knob. It was too tall for the case I wanted to put it in, so here's what I did:

1) Drill a hole in the board at the center of the encoder location. DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! This PCB is a four layer board and the two inner layers are power and ground. Shorting them will likely cause permanent damage, risk of fire, world destruction and/or make your pet goldfish hate you.
2) Clean and inspect the hole and the copper planes to make sure there are no shorts.
3) Remove C32 and C33, the two SMT caps for the encoder wheel.
4) Clip the keying peg on the encoder, as you would do for the standard installation.
5) Carefully bend the encoder leads upwards. You probably can only do this once before they would break off.
6) Insulate the board around the hole, the area on the RF board and the encoder shaft with Kapton tape or similar.
7) Install the encoder in the hole from the bottom, add the nut (the washer is too big to include).
8) Solder the encoder pins. I had to run some wires from the top of the board to the bottom for the encoder switch, since the holes were not easily accessible.
9) Solder C32 and C33 on the top of the board to the encoder pins.
10) Test for shorts (you're on your own for this, since I just crossed my fingers and hoped there were none)
11) Plug in power, hope that nothing blows up and test the encoder and buttons.
12) Reassemble with new shorter knob.
13) Enjoy!

I'm hoping DL2MAN will see this and make a modification to the PCB to enable this change.

Good luck, and don't blame me if you fry your radio!

Robb
K5RAB
Attachments
hole.jpg
hole.jpg (57.48 KiB) Viewed 1393 times
encoder.jpg
encoder.jpg (62.94 KiB) Viewed 1393 times
Ohwenzelph
 

Posts: 207
Joined: 01 Jan 2022, 03:47

Re: Shorter Knob, PCB revision

Post by Ohwenzelph »

Wouldn't it be easier to Dremel off part of the shaft?
DL2MAN
 

Posts: 706
Joined: 30 Dec 2021, 19:18
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Re: Shorter Knob, PCB revision

Post by DL2MAN »

Ohwenzelph wrote: 29 Aug 2022, 05:02 Wouldn't it be easier to Dremel off part of the shaft?
What he said.... even buying an encoder with shorter shaft would be an option in case you don´t want to dremel your existing one....
K5RAB
 

Posts: 4
Joined: 28 Aug 2022, 19:34

Re: Shorter Knob, PCB revision

Post by K5RAB »

Not necessarily. The current encoder has a somewhat long threaded section, so even if you Dremel off part of the shaft, you would reduce the height only so much. That was my first inclination. This mod, while certainly a bit more extreme, brings the shoulder of the shaft flat part flush with the top of the case. So you could even make a flat disc type wheel that's only 2mm tall if you wanted.

And yes, a different encoder would do the trick too. As long as the threaded section is shorter.

This mod is just an option if you feel brave enough!

Robb
K5RAB
ke0pry
 

Posts: 3
Joined: 07 Aug 2022, 00:41

Re: Shorter Knob, PCB revision

Post by ke0pry »

Really clever mod, would be interesting if they could incorporate a NPTH in that location for future board revs
ke0pry
 

Posts: 3
Joined: 07 Aug 2022, 00:41

Re: Shorter Knob, PCB revision

Post by ke0pry »

Does anyone know the part number that is shipped by the kit suppliers? I assume is the 20mm shaft encoder.

There is also a shorter 15mm shaft encoder EC11N1524402 (0.5mm button travel) or EC11N1525404 (1.5mm button travel)
it9hre
 

Posts: 16
Joined: 19 Jan 2022, 14:57

Re: Shorter Knob, PCB revision

Post by it9hre »

Hi everyone,
I followed the "dremel" way... :D
Here are some pics with the new knob.
Image00007.jpg
Image00007.jpg (144.67 KiB) Viewed 970 times
Image00006.jpg
Image00006.jpg (102.79 KiB) Viewed 970 times
Image00005.jpg
Image00005.jpg (133.21 KiB) Viewed 970 times
Salvo,
IT9HRE
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