BITX 40 v 3

I have been gone for a while visiting family, and have not had a chance to work on the projects I have on the bench.  One of these is a SMD version of the BITX 40, that was only available in India.  Just before I left, I saw that a newer SMD version was available for sale world wide.  And, at only $45.00 including shipping I decided to order one.  A couple of days after I returned home, I received a little box from India.  Inside was a very nice assembled SMD BITX board, and a bag of components needed to build a working transceiver.  Since the local QRP club was going to have a table at a hamfest next week, I decided to quickly build this up for something to display.
I want to make a few minor changes to the kit, first I wanted to use a 10 turn pot instead of the one included in the kit.  Along with that I will add one of the re-packaged DL4YHF counters I designed a couple years ago. I also will use an external hand microphone with PTT instead of the electroet mic. that came with the kit. 

 Next was to come with a case to put it in.  This is exactly what I bought the 3D printer for.  I printed some 6" corner pieces I had designed right after I got the printer, and cut up some double sided circuit board material to use for the sides of the case. I have switched to using .032" PCB material for chassis panels. It is very easy to cut accurate size pieces with a simple paper cutter. The back panel is very simple just two mounting holes for the power and RF connector, and 4 screw holes for mounting the panel.

The front was a little more difficult.  I needed mounting holes for the tuning pot, volume control,a separate power switch, along with a hole for the display. I also decided to add a grill opening for a small speaker to mount behind the front panel.  I went with a panel .2" thick to give room to build in a bezel for the display, and allow enough depth to add a recess to hold the 7 segment display for the counter.
After a couple hours to lay out the design and a few more to do the printing I came up with a very nice looking case for the project. I cleaned up the printed parts, assembled the top and bottom of the case, and gave everything a coat of paint.

 Now to put everything together tomorrow, and see how it works.