cutting holes

[Matt Haines]

>Greenlee (the dudes who make those big cable cutters) make punches that
>do 1/8" aluminum.  An eight of an inch is awfully thick though --
>somewhere between 10 and 11 gauge (U.S. Standard for Sheet Metal). Do you
>need such thick aluminum??  Is this for a panel or some sort of custom
>heat sink??
>

Er...I'm going by the ElectroNotes "Synth Building For Dummies"
instructions. :) It says 1/8" aluminum. I've also been told that a)
aluminum is sturdier than steel and 2) 1/16" will flex and be a drag, and
won't support things like power supplies gracefully. Apparently I'm
incorrect?

>Maybe you can get away with just using oversized circles (oversized just
>in case you have to float the chassis from the rack -- personally I
>engineer my grounds given that all the chassis in the same rack will be
>tied to the same ground as floating a chassis from the rack is a royal
>pain). If you know the exact dimensions of your rack, you probably don't
>need ovals.  However, if you still think you do, just drill two adjacent
>holes and then remove the metal between them with a rat tail file -- this
>should be really easy with thick aluminum.

Same here on the grounds, at least that's been the plan. Floating is for
wankers! ;) I'll probably just do the adjacent-hole method we've both
discussed, and file out the middle bit. I'm assuming a machine shop will do
that? It's not likely to break their bit or anything, is it? I surely will
ask, but it'll be a few weeks before I'm able to get around to it.


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Matt Haines  haines at apc.net         .       .       .       .
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I am not a depressed foot.