Retro FM Radio Kit

myminifactory

Bring a slice of Retro flair into your life with this... Portable FM Radio. Radios may not be at the forefront of cutting-edge tech these days, but they still play a vital role in our lives - now that the excitement of carrying 10,000 songs around in your pocket has worn off! This radio is sure to impress with its curved fins and matching carry handle! And thanks to this Kitronik Radio Kit, it's easy as pie to get started. A very affordable little project, I picked up this kit on the Kitronik website for £12 ($18) and thought it was well worth a shot! You'll need a soldering iron, but thanks to the simplicity of this kit design - you won't need much else! They've designed the kit so that you don't need any electronics know-how to build it. Everything is numbered and comes with a step-by-step assembly guide. The circuit board is clearly marked and everything is nicely spaced out, making mistakes a non-issue and I didn't have to huddle over it with a microscope to solder all the components in place! This is very achievable without requiring any special skills - you just need to know how to use a soldering iron. My design process... Although the kit was easy to put together, it wasn't exactly a showstopper on its own. I make models in Solidworks so I poured some thought and time into designing a case that I'd be proud to display! Retro style designs really interest me as they rebel against the sleek minimalism of a lot of products today. So, introducing a few more curves and bold chunky features led to the eventual design I've uploaded here. I wanted to make the design robust and add as much functionality as possible - The curves running around the edge of the case also act as clips keeping it together, so you don't have to worry about bringing it about with you. The handle is more than just an aesthetic addition, the clips and pins I made to put it together allow it to rotate and are sturdy enough to easily carry the radio around.