[sdiy] pcb mounting hardware

[asfi at eol.ca]

Quoting Paul Perry <pfperry at melbpc.org.au>:

> I think meccano is back in production, I've seen
> a photo of a dual pot (odd bvalues!) made from 
> two pots beside each other, each with a cogwheel
> on the shaft, both driven by a third cogwheel on
> a shaft with the knob!

Oh my, my *other* obsession!

Meccano has never been out of production, actually. There have been periods
when marketing and distribution was truly non-existent (for some years the
business was a glorified hobby of a wealthy French industrialist) but it's
always been around in some form or another. Even more remarkable, parts
from current production (now in China....*sigh*) work just fine with the
first parts made 105 years ago. It's probably the last remaining mass-
produced use of British Standard Whitworth thread, for what it's worth....

Geared pots are *nothing* .... how about an entire analogue computer:

http://www.dalefield.com/nzfmm/magazine/Differential_Analyser.html

(To the best of my knowledge, nobody's been sufficiently crazy to build
an analog synth -- Cahill's Telharmonium, in other words -- out of Meccano.)

> Don't know if meccano will sell separate bits,though.

The factory relies on (spotty) distribution to handle parts sales. There are
parts dealers in New Zealand, France, and the UK. There's also a thriving
network of aftermarket manufacturers of compatible parts, with suppliers
based in Argentina, Canada, India, and right in your 'neck of the woods'
in Melbourne.

There's also eBay, of course, which is a great way to get overpriced rubbish
as well as the occasional genuine bargain.

And yes, Meccano "nuts" are every bit as obsessive as S-diy folks.....

- Colin Hinz
  Toronto, Canada
  (with a foot in each camp)