What do you use to cut up your enclosures?

[blottojon]

hi. ive got myself a cheap aluminium enclosure and i want to put holes in it for the speaker bindings and interconnect connections.

in terms of previous diy experience ive just about mastered cutting paper with scissors so cutting sheet aluminium should be interesting. ive been looking around and wondering whether or not a rotary tool like a dremel or a proxxon might be the thing. I could drill holes and then file then bigger up to outlines i can draw on the sheets. does that sound like a good idea?

how does everyone else work on theirs?

[AR2]

I would strongly recommend UNIBIT step drill such as this one. It does great job on metal. I found it much better than regular one size drill bit for the bigger size holes. It creates much cleaner hole that usually doesn't need any deburing.
It is also convenient as it has various sizes. I would also suggest two purchase two sizes one that covers smaller holes and one that goes up to 1" Obviously you have to make sure that it will work for the thickness of the material you have.
Another way to cut holes are hole punches but that is very slow process and they are expensive. For sqare holes they are the best choice. Here is link for unibit manufacturer:
http://www.irwin.com/irwin/consumer/...IrwinCat100047
IRWIN Unibit Step Drills
Good luck

[blottojon]

thanks AR2. those step drills look really handy. i already have a drill and ive been looking at a drill press attachment which holds any drill, so that should be a good combination.

ive been told the dremel and proxxons are useful but they dont have much torque which outs me off.

i want to use a narrow rectangular power switch but im unsure how to cut the enclosure front panel. any suggestions?

[pinkmouse]

Rough out the hole with ordinary drills, then file to the finished dimensions. Or use a punch, but they are very expensive...

[rabbitz]

Use the largest drill you have and then use a tapered reamer.

[Elso Kwak]

The punch works great! I made large holes in VTL bolides for XLR chassis parts!
I would not drill such large holes in an expensive amplifier!

The reamer I have is not big enough!

[dnsey]

I'm with Rabbitz - a tapered reamer lets you get the hole the exact size you need.
Mind you, for years I got away with a makeshift reamer made from the blade of an old pair of scissors. Not recommended, but it works!

[AR2]

For rectangular hole a few different ways are possible. I would go with Pinkmouse's suggestion - drill holes as many as you can and than file it. Obviously punch it if you have exact punch. I wouldn't advise to use dremel as it rotates very fast and is hard to control. Another way of doing it if you have strong drill press and vise with cranks - you could use straight deburring bit. Drill as many holes and slowly feed aluminum by using cranks like you are milling on the milling machine. The key is to do it slowly and litle by litle at the time as you are using drill press and not milling machine. If you have a drill press I would strongly advise to purchase wise with the cranks or smaller cross table - it helps a lot for precise drilling and speeds up.
Lastly if you have milling machine...

[AR2]

And one more way is drill two or four holes and than cut with jig saw with aluminum blade. Than file to clean edges.

[kendle]

If you are trying to cut lots of similar sized holes (in relatively thin sheet), a sheet metal punch is quick and easy. You drill a small starter hole with a hand drill, then a couple of turns with the punch and you have a burr (sp?) free hole. For example:

http://www.lawson-his.co.uk/scripts/...Hole%20Cutters