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Prototyping with Corrugated Plastic and Hot Glue

While taking a look at the latest Solder Smoke Blog posts, I ran into This Post where Bill mentions how much he loves using a wood board- so much so that he might not even put the radio in a case!

This got me thinking: What do I have around my shack that I could use to similar effect?

The answer: Hot Glue, Coroplast, and nylon standoffs like these on Amazon. How’d it work out? Check out the video below to see:

What’s your favorite prototyping method? Let me know in the comments below:

4 comments

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    • David Wilcox on July 29, 2021 at 12:36 AM
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    Why not make cases out of it? Line them with the thin copper foil. So easy and can be glued together with hot glue or if you bend the ends contact cement works and lasts forever. I still have two Coroplast airplanes I built 20 years ago and they are still flyable. Didn’t you all put those Coroplast political signs in the garage someplace for just such a use???

    Dave K8WPE

    1. Sshhhh don’t give away my next project 😉 I have thought about building a case with it, but didn’t think to line it with foil. That’s a good idea. I was also thinking that for the front panel, one could inject hot glue into the flutes to give it some heft. It’ll take some experimentation. Also, it MIGHT be too thick for a front panel. Could easily use another material for the front panel, though. Thanks for the comment!

    • Bill on July 29, 2021 at 2:56 AM
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    Thanks Ryan. But wood has advantages: you can screw things down and later move them. So I use Manhattan technique on copper clad boards, then use small wood screws to fix boards to the pine. 73. Bill

    1. Hey Bill, thanks for the comment! With the plastic and hot glue, it’s trivial to break the glue and re-glue it. You can also use small screws right into the plastic. The main thing for me is that it’s what I had on hand 🙂

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