Hi, This is one project I had been wanting to do for a long time. I have some modest (a small 'apartment') space that is just sitting around empty. It has a high ceiling (4 m) and I had wanted to turn it into first a 'modest' shielded chamber and latter into a FAC (fully anechoic chamber) without having to spend lots of money and in the process irritate all my neighbours. It may be useful for the list to know that I don't live there.
So, if anyone out there is also interested there are some places that I have seen and perhaps this list can give us more examples and serve as an update. Namely the 'copper-fiber woven' wall-to-wall carpeting in one of the rooms at FH Kiel (Fachhochschule Kiel in the northern parts of Germany). I must add that, that room had a high probability of working i.e. if they apply the fixes to all the metal/copper pipes entering the room. It may be helpful to note that I last visited the premises in 1995. Who knows, the place may have been dismantled by now... Just my 2 cents worth... Tim Foo [email protected] wrote on 03/06/2006 08:16:07 AM: > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > > Sent: Friday, June 02, 2006 1:18 PM > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: Distributors for RF Chamber Components > > > > I'm looking to build a screen room/rf chamber. To save money, > > I would like to purchase components, such as wall panels, > > doors, air and cable penetrations, absorbing materials, etc. > > and do most of the construction work myself. > > > > Are there distrubutors out there where I can purchase these > > materials? Right now I'm trying to get prices so we can > > determine our budget for what we want to do. > > > > I'm building the screen room in Florida. If anyone has a > > screen room in the Florida area that they want to sell, > > please let me know. > > > > Thanks, > > Brian > > Brian: > I'm assuming that you don't need to build a MIL grade room, with > shielding to the extreme lower and higher frequencies. And that you > don't need a huge chamber. And, you look like you want to trade > sweat for money. > You can build a standard room frame out of 2x4's. Then you can buy > rolls of copper screen. Just staple the screen to the frame and tuck > roll the seams. Soldered seams would be a nice extra. You can buy > chamber filters on eBay, or from any of the regular chamber > builders. With the copper screen, you can just put a big fan outside > for ventilation; no need for air ducts. The door is the biggest > problem. You can buy a modular door and merge it into one wall of > the shielded box. (You did make the frame extra strong around the door frame?) > Penetration panels can be as simple as a flat aluminum plate over a > framed hole in a wall. Use a lot of hold-down bolts, and a strip of > wire braid mesh for a gasket. Aluminum is nice when it comes time to > add 6 more coax feedthroughs to the plate! > With the cost of copper screen rather high, consider using tin- > plated 20-gauge steel sheet. You can buy that from a metal supplier. > Just screw / nail it to the frames, with a bit of overlap between > the sheets, and then sweat-solder the seams. The tin plating makes > this fairly easy. Solder over the screw heads too. > If you decide to buy modular panels, then you will move to a new > level of complexity. The concept is simple, but the execution is a > lot harder. Those panels are heavy, nothing ever fits perfectly, and > you have to be meticulous about seam mating. If you haven't done it > before, you probably don't want to learn all about it now. A small > chamber (maybe 12x20x8) is feasible for a home-built project; any > bigger, and you need to worry about spans and stiffness and building > inspectors and insurance guys. If you really need a moderate > chamber, it's usually good advice to stick to your core competency > and get a pro to do the job for you. > There are some service companies that specialize in the > modification, service and moving of shielded enclosures. They often > have extra pieces left over, or they can include you in a multi- > party deal that makes everybody happy. For instance, I wanted a > 4'x8' door added to my chamber. The service company got a job to > move an existing multi-door chamber about 150 miles, and the chamber > owner didn't need all those doors at the new site. The service > company put the deal together, and we all ended up happy. I'm sure > there must be other companies, but you might want to call Henry > Osgood at (858) 679-8737. > Ed Price > [email protected] WB6WSN > NARTE Certified EMC Engineer & Technician > Electromagnetic Compatibility Lab > Cubic Defense Applications > San Diego, CA USA > 858-505-2780 (Voice) > 858-505-1583 (Fax) > Military & Avionics EMC Is Our Specialty
