Cutting IEC Socket in Chassis

[Atilla]

Originally posted by theAnonymous1
A drill, a file, a dremel tool, and a bottle of whiskey.

Maybe the whiskey should come first.

Agreed. Measure it .. about three times. Then get a glass of whiskey and measure it once again .... for good measure :P

Do note that a sip of whiskey may help for a steady hand, but a few too much may help for stitches in the local emergency ward.

Drill 4 holes carefully in the exact corners of the opening. The IEC sockets are usually square, having the corners already drilled helps with not dremelling too far by accident.

Get the metal cutter disk on the dremmel and start the process. Be careful, take it slow. Those disks are very easy to snap. For the love of eveything that is sacred, do use protective glasses. You will, sooner or later, break one of them, especially if the metal is not too thin. They explode in spectacular fashion and fly everywhere at pretty admirable speeds.

Also - do not that the bloody thing will get hot, which can be an annoyance when you're cutting aluminium.

Once you're done, use a file to smoothen the lines and make everything wide enough for the component to fit. Snap it in and use some hot silicon glue on the inside for good measure.

[lgreen]

I do it freehand with a dremel using a standard cutting disk. I have a set of micrometers to measure every once in a while.

If you go slowly and don't get carried away it will may work out.

I admit that sometimes they didn't come out perfect!

[Atilla]

Aye aye. But if you cut on the inside of the lines you marked the material with, you've got about a half of millimeter error margin. And then you perfect it out with the file.

[Mr Evil]

Originally posted by Atilla
...Get the metal cutter disk on the dremmel and start the process. Be careful, take it slow. Those disks are very easy to snap. For the love of eveything that is sacred, do use protective glasses. You will, sooner or later, break one of them, especially if the metal is not too thin. They explode in spectacular fashion and fly everywhere at pretty admirable speeds...

Use the fibre-glass reinforced ones. They are slightly less efficient at cutting, but I don't remember ever having broken one. Eye protection is still required of course.

It's quite possible to cut perfect holes with a cutting disc, with enough practice.

[Atilla]

Hmmm, I didn't see those in my store. Those were the type I was looking for, since that's what big metal-cutting devices use. I didn't find them so I assumed they didn't make them for the dremmel.

Other than that - results are usually great. I've had to cut a bajilion holes in wood and steel and aluminum the last few months ( god, casework is so demanding) and nothing has ever turned out better than the square IEC socket holes from the dremmel. It's actually a little spooky how good they got.

[ttan98]

Build the chassis using wood, easier to work with and you can make BEAUTIFUL wooden chassis.
If you like lined it with copper sheets, internally.

Overall cheaper too.

[Atilla]

Yeah, you see, wood can be trickier to work with sometimes. Although some mistakes can be fixed quite easy.

Also - the blasted thing burns if not treated with anything and DIY-product fire-hazard material is ... well .. You've got to be careful. Aesthetics are fine but do take care of the construction and make sure you insulate everything. What if the wood gets wet for some reason and becomes conductive?

You also can't earth it so you sacrifice some of the metal chassis benefits.

[quadtech]

See this thread -

http://www.diytube.com/phpBB2/viewto...er=asc&start=0

Gyros brand fiber wheels were recommended
Specifically, Gyros part # 11-32156 and their mandrel model #80-18100

You can get this as part of a set -

http://www.amazon.com/Gyros-Precisio.../dp/B000066B53

[gpecke]

If you want to cutout a rectangle in a hard material such as steel, a small grinding disk in Dremel or equivalent does a good job.

[poynton]

I did it the easy way.

I found a local sheet metal shop with the correct punch and persuaded them to do it for a "drink".

I have now invested in an oblong punch (off EBAY) which does the job in 4 cuts and a bit of filing.


Andy.

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