Real TrainWreck mojo!

[Helmholtz]

Ken also said that aluminum is "faster" than steel. I have no comment on that.

Some call it immediacy . (Sorry, couldn't help it.)

[Leo_Gnardo]

Some call it immediacy . (Sorry, couldn't help it.)

I thought it but wouldn't type it... somebody had to do it, right?

Faster anyway, aluminum is faster to drill, punch & bend, hooray!

[Chuck H]

I thought it but wouldn't type it... somebody had to do it, right?

Faster anyway, aluminum is faster to drill, punch & bend, hooray!

That's why "I" use it. I have noticed though that sometimes there can be hardened or harder spots in aluminum that can skew cuts and drilling. Everything is going fine, and then there'll be an area within the cutout that takes twice the pressure and time to mill and so your tools try to kick off the intended cut line. Still better than steel though.

[Gregg]

Drilling a chassis by yourselves? There's laser cutting for that. Or maybe I'm spoiled because there are several laser cutting shops in a couple of kms radius.

[Chuck H]

Drilling a chassis by yourselves? There's laser cutting for that. Or maybe I'm spoiled because there are several laser cutting shops in a couple of kms radius.

BOOO HISSS!!!

Alot of us are no where near any sort of fabrication or specialty shops. I use to be and I do miss it terribly. I was in San Jose, Ca. If I needed aluminum fabrication, circuit board material, some tool no one ever heard of or even hear treating for steel, etc. I could drive to it in less than an hour. Whidbey is Ice Station Zebra for anything that doesn't cut wood or catch salmon.

[mikepukmel]

Drilling a chassis by yourselves? There's laser cutting for that. Or maybe I'm spoiled because there are several laser cutting shops in a couple of kms radius.

Maybe I just don't know where to go, but in Eastern MA I have never had good luck calling around to machine/metal shops asking "I need a few holes drilled in a steel chassis, can you help me out ..." usually I get a grunting voice on the other end of the phone growls the "minimum charge" and its usually more than the chassis and components cost. So, I end up, in my basement, with my hand drill, trying VERY hard not to screw up the one hole I need to drill.

[nosaj]

Maybe I just don't know where to go, but in Eastern MA I have never had good luck calling around to machine/metal shops asking "I need a few holes drilled in a steel chassis, can you help me out ..." usually I get a grunting voice on the other end of the phone growls the "minimum charge" and its usually more than the chassis and components cost. So, I end up, in my basement, with my hand drill, trying VERY hard not to screw up the one hole I need to drill.

You need to look into this you just may find access to tools you need and some you never knew you needed
Hackerspace in Maine
https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/Maine
Makerspace
https://www.google.com/search?safe=o...iz.FCOqtEeZihg

nosaj

[Chuck H]

It's sure true that a machine shop can't rig up to drill a couple of holes in a random shaped "thing" for cheap. Sometimes if you "know a guy" and there's no processing happening in the shop for a moment you can get it cheap or free. But if there's any processing that needs to happen they can't "waste" shop hours on things like punching or drilling a couple of precision holes for cheap.

I can get damn close to center on drilling a hole by denting the center point with an awl, then drilling a small pilot hole and then drilling the sized hole. It's important to get the drill speed up and use light pressure. Forcing a slow drill will skew it on it's cutters relative to it's direction.

[Gregg]

Maybe I just don't know where to go, but in Eastern MA I have never had good luck calling around to machine/metal shops asking "I need a few holes drilled in a steel chassis, can you help me out ..." usually I get a grunting voice on the other end of the phone growls the "minimum charge" and its usually more than the chassis and components cost. So, I end up, in my basement, with my hand drill, trying VERY hard not to screw up the one hole I need to drill.

Well, in Europe and especially where I live things are not that complicated maybe because I'm dealing with small to medium businesses.
You just send a CAD (or even Corel) drawing of your chassis with all holes etc to the laser shop and they would cut single pieces without any problem. Most of them have bending services as well. Some of them have welding and powder coating too so you can get a single piece ready to go chassis without any surcharges.

[Chuck H]

I've done that for face plates by taking a CAD drawing to a print shop. Most also do things like plastic lamination and engraving. Something like an amp face plate really isn't a problem. Results were ok. A couple of misses, but it wasn't a critical project. I think with some further interactions things could have gotten better. The normal charge was akin to what you might pay for a fancy desk placard or something. A lot more affordable than the custom stuff ordered on line. I did have a time finding a place that could handle projects over 12" long though. But I'm sort of remote compared to most being here on Whidbey.