A Radio Time Machine

I found here on Instrutables a great project: WW2 Radio Broadcast Time Machine. I was amazed about the idea.

But I am not the Python guy and I like Steampunk. So I decided to build a similar thing with different materials.

Here you find a list of the materials (some are German links):

The Radio:

• ELV MP3 player with 10 push button inputs
• Small mono amp 1 - 3 Watt 5V
• 10K Ohm Poti
• Set of two round wooden boxes
  
• A push button
• A 10 oder 12 position step switch (I used one with 12 positions)
• A knop for the step switch This or somethin similar
• A scale (I used a drawing program to draw the scale and printed it on paper)

• Guide sleeve for the poti

• Batteries holder
• On/Off switch

The speaker

• Lamps baldachi (brass)
  
• The smaller round box
• Brass car Horn

Screws and paints

• Some brass screws
• Some knurled nuts
• Some brass washers
• Hammer blow lacquer (green)
• Wax paint (cherry wood)
• Shellac for the scale
• Nitro pre paint
• 2 Drive nuts

Step 1: Building the Base Case

Building the case is the normal "gluing and sanding" part.

The guide sleeve for the Poti axis must be mounted to the same level as the surface.

Step 2: Mounting the Parts Together

Now we glue everything together and doing the prepaint with a clear nitro paint.

as you can see the poti fits inside the sleeve.

Step 3: Painting and Mounting the Drive Nuts

Before we paint the case we have to press the drive nuts inside the mounting holes

After this we paint the middle part of the case and the top and bottom part.

Step 4: Placing the Parts

Now the lever for the Poti and the Batteries holder, the On/Off switch and the step switch is mounted.

The "Radio" has no build in speaker. So there are terminals to connect an external speaker.

The terminals where made from brass screws and some knurled nuts.

Step 5: The Electronics

The MP3 player has 10 terminals for push buttons. If a button is pressed the corresponded MP3 file will be played.

1 >> 001.MP3

2 >> 002.MP3

and so on.

I connected the 10 terminals to each level of the two level switch. A button will then shorten the terminal.

Stereo to mono:

The MP3 player has a stereo output. I will use a mono amplifier and speaker. With three resistors the setreo signal is concerted to mono.

Step 6: The Speaker, the Case

The speaker is similar to build.

The speaker ist 3W / 4Ohm

The case was sanded and painted like the MP3 Player.

Step 7: The Brass Parts

The brass Horn will be soldered to the lamps baldachin and strewed on top of the speaker.

Step 8: The Radio Stations...

I downloaded a couple of audio files from:

https://archive.org/details/audio

corresponding to every year on the scale.

Than I used audacity to put around an hour of "broadcasting's" together.

Even some German news about the sputnik launch in 1957 an the first German broadcast 1929 from the FOX - Haus in Berlin.

This was the hardest part. Selecting, leveling and cutting of the MP3s :-)

Have Fun everybody and stay healthy.