Not unlike the Final RF Cage, a lot of effort will be put into the layout of the front panel. It all started with the 12X12 Inch 5052 Aluminum panel that I cut into two pieces 6X12 inches. I took care in the cutting using the Home Depot newly acquired hacksaw blades to cut a straight line and then went to the CNC mill to true up the edges and to make matching pieces. Along the way I ran the X Axis past the stop and had to do some CNC Mill maintenance work to get that back working properly. That consumed most of yesterday.
Suddenly it became apparent that I needed to rethink the front panel layout as 6X12 is 72 square inches seems like a lot. However, we do have a large tuning knob, a very large display, five knobs, three toggle switches and two audio jacks (Mic and Speaker) and finally a panel meter.
Key to the layout is ergonomics and not getting cables in the way of the critical controls like main tuning, audio output, transmit controls like mic gain and Final Tune. Time for the cardboard cutouts.
Still another factor is that the main assembly plate will sit two inches from the bottom and four inches from the top. I may even have to cut a notch in that assembly plate to accommodate the optical encoder. If you look at your KWM-1 or KWM-2 or some of the Heathkit and Swan gear you will see that notch at the front of the chassis to accommodate the large analog dial. My notch may only be 1inch wide and 3/4 inch deep. But the carboard cutouts will provide the answer.
The four controls as the upper left are for Volume, RF Gain, Carrier Balance and Mic Gain. The one control along the right edge is the Plate Tuning Cap.
This simple "put the knobs on the front panel exercise" indicates I likely will not need the notch. The open space to the left of the knob would be for the Mic Jack, USB/LSB Select and MOX/Tune. To the right would be Main Power and Audio Output. The 3.2-inch Color TFT would shift to the right to be more centered.
Mind you a 1/2-inch wide by 12 inches long area at the top and bottom edges is unavailable as that accommodates the aluminum angle stock for the bottom plate and stiffening structure to make the box rigid.
More work installing boards today which involves more drilling on the main assembly plate.
Oh, have been rethinking the power supply and I found in my stash a 520 VCT 100ma transformer and using a bridge rectifier with a choke input would give me 450 VDC at 100 milliamps and that would be for the plate supply just for the 12GE5. The supposed 300VDC 0.3-amp supply will be for the low-level stages and the screen supply for the 12GE5.
Them that know can make things go.
73's
Pete N6QW