Up Beat Radio

This radio was designed for a University project. We were to chose a target market and then design the radio to suit that market. I chose to design my radio for people living in Indian slums so they can get important medical information. 

This is an exploded drawing of the radio and all its parts. With a list of the materials used.

Materials: 
- Hessian 
- 6mm Plywood
- Sony ICFS22 Personal Radio
- Wood glue

Tools:
- Soldering Iron
- Sewing Needle
- Laser cutter or a small saw good for cutting detail 

I unscrewed the radio and discarded the casing. I kept the battery pack however but cut it down to the smallest size possible. You are left with the switch board, the speaker, the aerial and the battery pack. My radio shows a wind up handle for powering it but I run this radio by battery because I don't yet have the skills to make it windup powered. 
The two parts you need to desolder and extend are the tuning dial and the volume/power dial. 
After i had done the soldering, I made a card mock up of the radio just to make sure it all fit in.

The shape of the radio is one that when you cut out many at a time (mass produce) there is minimal material wastage. I cut mine out on a laser cutter. You can find the template i used attached. Once you have cut out the wood bring the two sides up so they are perpendicular to the base and glue them in place.
cut your hessian to size but leave room for a hem. The hem will stop the hessian from fraying.   

The next step is adding in the electrical components. The Volume and Tuning are cut out of the side wall so you may need to back up the hole created. I used thick black paper and that worked fine. I also created a little stand for the switch board out of card. It's not necessary but it keeps the inside tidy. The images attached show how I organised the inside of mine. For the aerial you can either attach a wire to the end of the aerial wire and just keep it all under the hessian or you can screw the original aerial to one of the walls of the radio.

The next step is sewing the cover on. you will need to drill holes all around the edge of the frame. I did them about 10mm apart. Then you take the needle and sew the hessian onto the radio, I used a thread of the hessian to stitch with but any thin string you have should also work. 

After the sewing is done your radio should be finished and you can send it off to India, or keep it for yourself.