Making a hole for AC socket in a chassis

[nhuwar]

You can find greenlee punch's cheap on ebay and for our aplacation which is not thick metal you don't need hydraulic ones. You won't need a hydraulic punch unless you are going through metal over an 1\8 of an inch and it's steel. If it's aluminum you should be able to use a manual one up to 1\4 of a inch you will need it to be securley clamped the a heavy work bench but it's doable. If you are working with copper it's even easier.

The important thing is GREASE THE DIE AND SCREW!!!!!!

It make life much easier and prolongs tool life. The other tool that I would use is a wire saw they have a ver high tooth pitch and will take abit longer but you have the utmost control and it leaves a very clean edge.

If you have access to a mill and know basic machinig you could make a punch for use on soft metal like low alloy aluminum say no higher then series 3000 maybe 4000 with no t suffix or electrolytic though pitch copper. To make one for steel would require use of higher grade steel or case hardening the cutting surface.
I have used dremel tools in the past but have found that at required speeds to cut the metal the tool kicks alot and give subpar results but the drilling of many releif holes and cutting through each hole which cleans up the whole cutout.

There are many diffrent ways to do this but unfortunatly the best and cleanest way is the use of punches with copious amounts of lubrication.

Nick

[rcavictim]

12 gauge shotgun blast up close with rifled slug. Finish with square file.

[Smokehouse Bob]

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=search

[nhuwar]

Nibblers are good tools they are Indispensable for chassis work on thin metal.

Nick

[AR2]

When you calculate the price for various punches and other workarounds, it makes much more sense investing in small mill drill / machine. You could find them for as low as $ 400-500.00 and they will do much more than just this type of holes besides being drill press.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/G8689

This one is $ 525.00 brand new one. I would go for something bigger but, used one if this is your budget.
With this stuff you spend much more on tooling than on machine itself, but for what you are trying to do it will take only wise or clamping system and end mill. Once you discover what is possible...

[kevinkr]

I just gotta have one of these..
Sometime soon maybe..

[nhuwar]

Ya $525 but that doesn't include shipping probably a bit more

But if you really want to spend the money on shipping and get your money's worth I suggest this

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...264&pricetype=

But shipping is still going to be bad but with this mill you could do anything and holt tolerence with that other one it wouldn't be sturdy because it's to light.

Nick

[nhuwar]

but if you still want the small one then

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=47158

Nick

[agent.5]

Use Neutrik Powercon instead.

[DSP_Geek]

I don't like IEC connectors much, partly because of the hole issue and partly because they're not very good at high currents. I've had power cords get rather warm under load.

I prefer something like a 20 amp twistlock. The hole is huge - on the order of 2 inches/5 cm - but the damn thing is round and it'll handle all the current you can throw at it. Just make sure the power cable respects Hot/Neutral/Ground conventions.


Francois.