| I have made radio towers with brass tubing
for many years. They typically have a beacon on top that
flashes out some message in Morse Code. I took a stab at designing a tower that could be cut from 1/8" plywood on my 50 watt laser cutter. It turned out well and I thought that others might like to make one, too.
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| There are 8 parts that make up the tower.
Three tower sides that interlock with tabs, three tower-top sections
that also have tabs and a bottom and a top for the tower-top.
There are three holes in the top triangle that fit 5mm LEDs.
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| These two downloads should work with
most laser cutters.
Corel Draw File - RadioTower-V4.cdr PDF file of the tower - RadioTower-V4.pdf |
| Blink the Lights? To add lights to the tower I wired three 5mm red LEDs in series and connected them to a PIC 12F683 that was programmed to flash out a message in Morse Code. If you just want flashing LEDs there are any number of different circuits for the Arduino and other microcontrollers that will do the job. There is a Morse Code example using a PICAXE on my web page here: http://trainelectronics.com/artcles/MorseCode/index.htm
The electronics and a 9 volt battery can be put under a shack at the base of the tower.
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| Files for the shed are also available.
The rectangle at the bottom is the base.
Corel Draw - Radio-Shack-with-base.cdr |
