Constructing metal cases

[James Husted]

Punche do make great holes, particularly non-round holes, but are not cheap
an still require a hole drilled before they can be used, You drill the hole
and one half of the punch is on one side - the male part, a bolt goes
through this and the panel to the other part of  the punch - the female
part, to a nut. You tighten the nut and the panel is punched out. Typical
need for punches are large holes (like XLR connectors) or square holes
(rocker switches and input power modules) and can run in the $30 and above
range. At some point it is cheaper to either have a local metal shop proto
up a part for you (they usually like quanities in the 5-10 range and will
ding you $100-200 to do them) or run down to the local Eagle or Home Depot
and price out a cheap drill press. I've been sitting on a set of chassis
designs I made for Oberheim SEMs for ever because I want our metalshop (I
do metal design for SymetrixLucid Technology in Lynnwood/Seattle WA) to
bang them out (at $250-$300 for 10pcs) and can't afford it yet. My designs
have gotten simpler and simpler because of this. The advantage of the
metalshop route is that you can have nuts, standoffs, tabs, bends, dimples
and all sorts of  features added that require 2ton presses and brakes to do
right. After a metalshop programs up their punches, the next time you need
the parts, it's much cheaper. So if you can, design as generic as possible.
Remember the first Serge synths? The metalwork was a grid of holes on the
panels. Some of the modules didn't use all the holes and the front panel
`decals' covered up the unused ones. Made for a universal and cheaper
design. Good luck-
-James


At 4:12 PM -0700 4/19/99, Brian Towles wrote:
>I really want to start putting my projects into metal cases - well, at
>least metal rack mount face plates.  However, I'm very unsure how to
>approach this at all ... working with metal is new to me.  The Morgan
>Jones "Valve Amplifiers" book addresses this topic briefly and
>mentions metal punches for creating holes.  To me this seems like an
>attractive idea because I don't have a drill press.  Plus the author
>seems to indicate the punches give better results for bigger size
>holes.  I know several of the list members use either blank rack mount
>plates or custom metal plates, so any ideas or feedback would be
>appreciated.  Also, if anyone knows a good source for metal working
>tools or services in the tacoma, washington area ...
>
>Please cc me with replies because I'm currently off the synth-diy
>list.
>
>Thanks,
>Brian Towles
>
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James Husted
Art Director, Web Master, Symetrix Inc/Lucid Technology
jhusted at symetrixaudio.com
jhusted at lucidtechnology.com
jhusted at halcyon.com