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Drilling the holes. So far, so good. Now time to make the
bracket. |
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First attempt at making the brackets. These are made of
aluminum flashing and are not acceptable. |
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This brass bar was bought on ebay. The price was
reduced because the plastic wrapper was damaged. It's 1 inch wide by
1/16 inch (.064) thick, which is what Elmer said to use. It's made
in USA! |
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Armed with a hacksaw, a drill, a vise and a
Dremel, the MRL bracket began to take shape. It's important to
attach the template AFTER the bend is made. The holes need to be at
the exact height or the shaft of the finished capacitor won't line
up with the hole drilled in the front panel. |
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These look much better! |
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Making the rotor took a lot longer than I thought it would,
and didn't turn out as nicely as I'd hoped. |
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MRL style rotor. This literally took two minutes to make.
The brass rotor took over an hour. |
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Parts needed to assemble the MRL capacitor. How
could this be cheaper than buying one?
According to MRL Hand Book 12, (Work Bench Tips) during WWII you
COULDN'T buy one, so Elmer made his own. Apparently he continued
making them for another 40 years.
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A 1953 Allied catalog shows the following prices for small
variable capacitors with shafts: |
Capacitor value in
picofarads |
1953 Allied Price |
2022 Equivalent |
1.2 to 10 |
$1.22 |
$13.60 |
1.5 to 5 |
$1.78 |
$19.85 |
2 to 7 |
$1.85 |
$20.63 |
3 to 15 |
$1.90 |
$21.20 |
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MRL Price |
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MRL
2 Plate |
50¢ |
$5.58 |
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Elmer would have called Allied Radio "thieves" at these
prices. |
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