Here are some photos of the recent batch of 25 in construction. The PCB assemblies come fully populated from JLCPCB.com, except for the through-hole LEDs and the rotary encoder. I wanted the LEDs to be more the T1 size LEDs of the 70s and 80s but they're work to fit. I doubt I'll do this again.
The metal chassis were fabricated by SendCutSend.com, designed by me using Inkscape (don't do that). These chassis were supposed to have swaged-in standoffs but there was a manufacturing error I absorbed and I used threaded hex standoffs. Nice rubber feet and good hardware. No plastic except the knobs.
The chassis fronts had to be hand sanded to remove the witness marks from the bending and add the brushed finish. The front panel markings are very modern; DTF (direct to film) stickers, burnished down then coated with semi-gloss varnish.
Chassis tops were painted with Montana 94 (gloss) aerosol.
The panel fronts were wet-sanded with 150 grit wet or dry, about 5 minutes per panel (gloves prevent tugging fingers from under fingernails). Then no fingerprints on the spotless brushed aluminum.
The front panel DTF stickers are weird, but work well. Two pieces of tape are used to hold it in alignment, the bottom peeled off then applied. Burnished and the top removed. Another burnish with the release film before spraying.
Rummaged around in the metal stocks to find something the right thickness; turned out to be this exotic piece of copper alloy.
The Teensy's need pins added for USB and the clock battery.
This is the assembly order of the PCB into the chassis. It's as easy as it appears, except that the front two screws must be mostly extracted, to allow the lateral insert of the LEDs, then the screws can be brought up.
Mostly construction related photos, no particular order.
