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Dave & Gangue,

The new Sea Sprite+ kit will come in all sealed up in a 401 size can....with a special label.

Short lesson on cans for QRPme proto boards is here: ??

Back in the DeMaw's day (1976), there was no such thing as an EZ-Open can so mounting a board to a tuna can was quite tedious. When it was 'Back to the Future-ized' by Doug Hendricks in his NORCAL adventures it was still tedious. I bought a 1930's canning machine from a museum in Lubec Maine and started kitting the kits INSIDE tuna cans. I remember when it would take more time to mount & wire up the connectors down in the can that it would take to build the entire rest of the kit. Even then, EZ-Open lids were a rarity usually only found on cat food cans as nobody wanted to dirty up their can openers opening up that disgusting cat food!. That's when I discovered the Dole's pineapple can. It was so easy to open and then mount the pcb on the lip that remained from the opening but I still had mount and wire those connectors down in the can. I thought: "Gee, if I could only can the kits using an EZ-Open lid, I could design an EZ-Builld TT2 with all the connections ON the PCB and make it really EZ to Build...." I could find EZ-Open lids but I had to buy like 8000 lids at a time and even then, if I could find the $$$ to buy the lids it would cost me $800 or so to have a special chuck made to seal them.

One day, I mentioned my EZ-Open lid dilemma to my can supplier and he said to check with his canning machine service troubleshooter "Maybe he will know where you could find one!". I tracked him down, told him about my tuna can adventures and he told me he had such a chuck right on his desk and he that was using it as a paperweight!! He sent it to me for free and I got my first batch of EZ-Open lids from him in the same box....all for FREE! He finagled them from a customer and then sent them to me...

Then I found a supplier where I could buy the special lids and scored on another canning machine for about $1500 that came with extra chucks for 211 & 401 cans. I took those lids to my friend the machinist and he modified both of my antique regular chucks for EZ-Open lids. I've never looked back and have had lots of FUN bringing out all kinds of kits in all 3 sized tuna cans.

W1REX

#443

Rex,

The big three Ham manufacturers have nothing on your tuna cans!? Thanks for sharing and thanks for the history lesson!

Davey - KU9L

On Friday, February 17, 2023 at 09:49:51 PM EST, Rex Harper <tunacankits@...> wrote:

Dave & Gangue,

The new Sea Sprite+ kit will come in all sealed up in a 401 size can....with a special label.

Short lesson on cans for QRPme proto boards is here: ??

Back in the DeMaw's day (1976), there was no such thing as an EZ-Open can so mounting a board to a tuna can was quite tedious. When it was 'Back to the Future-ized' by Doug Hendricks in his NORCAL adventures it was still tedious. I bought a 1930's canning machine from a museum in Lubec Maine and started kitting the kits INSIDE tuna cans. I remember when it would take more time to mount & wire up the connectors down in the can that it would take to build the entire rest of the kit. Even then, EZ-Open lids were a rarity usually only found on cat food cans as nobody wanted to dirty up their can openers opening up that disgusting cat food!. That's when I discovered the Dole's pineapple can. It was so easy to open and then mount the pcb on the lip that remained from the opening but I still had mount and wire those connectors down in the can. I thought: "Gee, if I could only can the kits using an EZ-Open lid, I could design an EZ-Builld TT2 with all the connections ON the PCB and make it really EZ to Build...." I could find EZ-Open lids but I had to buy like 8000 lids at a time and even then, if I could find the $$$ to buy the lids it would cost me $800 or so to have a special chuck made to seal them.

One day, I mentioned my EZ-Open lid dilemma to my can supplier and he said to check with his canning machine service troubleshooter "Maybe he will know where you could find one!". I tracked him down, told him about my tuna can adventures and he told me he had such a chuck right on his desk and he that was using it as a paperweight!! He sent it to me for free and I got my first batch of EZ-Open lids from him in the same box....all for FREE! He finagled them from a customer and then sent them to me...

Then I found a supplier where I could buy the special lids and scored on another canning machine for about $1500 that came with extra chucks for 211 & 401 cans. I took those lids to my friend the machinist and he modified both of my antique regular chucks for EZ-Open lids. I've never looked back and have had lots of FUN bringing out all kinds of kits in all 3 sized tuna cans.

W1REX

#444

Rex isn't kidding. I've built a few TT2 transmitters that way. Be thankful for the lip and up-top connectors. In the pic, you can see a Rex Super Tuna, an updated (aka toroid version) TT2, and an as-close-to-DeMaw's-version-as-I-could-do-in-2022 model. The two on the wooden bases that look like Dr. Who props (my original and the DeMaw version) were scratch built, including rotating the pcb by hand against flat sandpaper to make them round, painting the traces with enamel paint, and etching the board. Wiring the can took quite a while and was trickier than it should have been. I have another couple that aren't pictured because they aren't in the cans yet. I still need to make a base for the Super Tuna as well. (And finish about 50 other QRPME kits... Ah, grad school takes up so much time!)

A funny story about the DeMaw version-- I found a vintage can on eBay and did some research on the company. It turns out it came from a long-defunct canner that sold some bad tuna that did some folks in. I hope my can wasn't one of the bad ones. ;)? I used as many vintage parts as I could scrounge up, although I'm not 100% certain the chokes were newer Millers or actual Radio Shack ones--I had both mixed together. I think they are the exact same part (or very, very close). I worried that the ferrite properties wouldn't be close enough, but they were. I get about 300mW-350mW out.

The really beat up one was my very first. I had been a Ham a little while when I made it, but that's been every bit of 20 years ago--if not 25--I've been licensed for over 30 now. I've made a dozen or more contacts with it.? It's officially retired as it's pretty fragile. I did a bunch of things wrong when I mounted it in the can (no lip, stupid kid, limited/no tools). It survived the Joplin, MO EF-5 Tornado in 2011 (I pulled it out of the rubble), repaired it, and finally put it on the air a few years back. I'm leaving in its original state (minus a new final transistor that replaced one that broke off at some point in the jostling) and it's retired with honors, mistakes and scars and all.

Moral of the story-- it's a HECK of a lot easier to build these with the good thought Rex & Co. have put into it.?

-HRS

H. Russell Smith, N0QLT??? ?????????????????????????????

On Friday, February 17, 2023 at 08:49:51 PM CST, Rex Harper <tunacankits@...> wrote:

Dave & Gangue,

The new Sea Sprite+ kit will come in all sealed up in a 401 size can....with a special label.

Short lesson on cans for QRPme proto boards is here: ??

Back in the DeMaw's day (1976), there was no such thing as an EZ-Open can so mounting a board to a tuna can was quite tedious. When it was 'Back to the Future-ized' by Doug Hendricks in his NORCAL adventures it was still tedious. I bought a 1930's canning machine from a museum in Lubec Maine and started kitting the kits INSIDE tuna cans. I remember when it would take more time to mount & wire up the connectors down in the can that it would take to build the entire rest of the kit. Even then, EZ-Open lids were a rarity usually only found on cat food cans as nobody wanted to dirty up their can openers opening up that disgusting cat food!. That's when I discovered the Dole's pineapple can. It was so easy to open and then mount the pcb on the lip that remained from the opening but I still had mount and wire those connectors down in the can. I thought: "Gee, if I could only can the kits using an EZ-Open lid, I could design an EZ-Builld TT2 with all the connections ON the PCB and make it really EZ to Build...." I could find EZ-Open lids but I had to buy like 8000 lids at a time and even then, if I could find the $$$ to buy the lids it would cost me $800 or so to have a special chuck made to seal them.

One day, I mentioned my EZ-Open lid dilemma to my can supplier and he said to check with his canning machine service troubleshooter "Maybe he will know where you could find one!". I tracked him down, told him about my tuna can adventures and he told me he had such a chuck right on his desk and he that was using it as a paperweight!! He sent it to me for free and I got my first batch of EZ-Open lids from him in the same box....all for FREE! He finagled them from a customer and then sent them to me...

Then I found a supplier where I could buy the special lids and scored on another canning machine for about $1500 that came with extra chucks for 211 & 401 cans. I took those lids to my friend the machinist and he modified both of my antique regular chucks for EZ-Open lids. I've never looked back and have had lots of FUN bringing out all kinds of kits in all 3 sized tuna cans.

W1REX

IMG_3639.jpg

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short lesson on food cans

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