Chassis Drilling

[Chuck H]

Yup, these were slant front Deluxe Reverb dimension chassis. No sissy boxes for sure. Very reasonable I thought.

I can't find any current info for his business on line. Hope he's still at it (and didn't go bust with the economy). His name is Ron Work. Here's his Email:

rkwork (at) tisd (dot) net - mod edit - crude anti-spam measures

I have another but I think it might be for a day job. If this one doesn't work I'll give it to you.

[Bruce Gerard]

The main reason the holes are all off is because of the torque of the drill motor. You have to physically counter act the directional force and torque of the drill. Almost impossible to keep the thing straight if drilling by hand. This problem is even worse on thin stock - because as the cutting edge bit bites into the sheetmetal, a lot of force is created 180 degrees from where the cut is occouring. A quality hole saw will to reduce this, but since the sheet metal doesn't make a very substantial anchor for the pilot - hand drilling is real tough to get right. A drill press works, but only as good as the cutting head quality, and the ability to hold the chassis completely level and locked to the bedplate. A punch is the only way to make a chasis look real pretty & it's faster too. Like Chuck - the last metal project that I did, had the holes punched by the metal fabs here in town. They have a massive press that pops 'em out in a flash - all for a minimal sheering fee. Totally worth it.

[dchang0]

Thanks, Chuck!

Hey, could I ask you a favor? Would you mind editing the guy's email address so that it reads rkwork at tisd dot net or something like that to prevent spambots from hitting his address?

Thanks!

[Chuck H]

Hmmm... We never think much about that sort of thing round these parts but it's probably not a bad idea.

[GregS]

The main reason the holes are all off is because of the torque of the drill motor. You have to physically counter act the directional force and torque of the drill. Almost impossible to keep the thing straight if drilling by hand. This problem is even worse on thin stock - because as the cutting edge bit bites into the sheetmetal, a lot of force is created 180 degrees from where the cut is occouring.

That's what I thought originally but what's odd about this is that the direction of drift always occurs towards me - not random.

A punch is the only way to make a chasis look real pretty & it's faster too. Like Chuck - the last metal project that I did, had the holes punched by the metal fabs here in town. They have a massive press that pops 'em out in a flash - all for a minimal sheering fee. Totally worth it.

I don't need it to look pretty as it will be covered with the panels anyway. I just need the holes to line up with the panels reasonably well. I would prefer to have a pro job done if I could find someone nearby that would do one-offs or small volumes at a good price so I may look into that.

Greg

[Casey4s]

I have never had this happen to me. I always drill pilot holes for everyting it keeps the steppers from drifting. I use a 1:1 paper template and use an impact punch (Harbor Freight) to initiate the hole. For larger holes I use chassis punches but there are steppers that big from Klein.

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[J M Fahey]

Well, it *did* happen to me a lot, in my case I found it was

I don't have the drill exactly perpendicular to the surface

The drill "eats" at an angle and shifts the (correctly punched) center.
And yes, I was very consistent erring ... I *thought* I was holding it perfectly square, while it was very accurately shifted 10 or 15 degrees *away* from me (shifting holes towards me).
Easy to see when watching others work, of course, but not when self-applied.
Oh well.
After an initial stage using drill presses and Greenlee-type hole punches, I threw everything in the garbage and bought used die punches in different sizes and shapes.
Some bigger holes must still be punched combining smaller dies, but even so is much cleaner and faster than any other method.
The machines were really quite cheap, not much more than a good regular drill press.

[tubeswell]

I love my greenlee chassis punches

[Tom Phillips]

I love my greenlee chassis punches

I had a brief experience with cheap chassis punches and then made the plunge and switched to Greenlee. My first Greenlee purchase was a ¾” and a 1 1/8” size. I still have those in the original boxes. I can barely make out the faded numbers of the price sticker on the box in the photo. It says $4.50. That was a big commitment at the time for a high school kid. However, I quickly learned the value and the joy of working with good tools. The larger punch make a 3.5” hole for a panel meter.

[GregS]

If you only require one or two hole sizes I can see using punches. However, if you have many different hole sizes it would be quite expensive. Also, it seems to me you're limited to holes that are 1/2" or larger with punches.