Cutting hole for slide switch in metal enclosure

[andrewhy]

Hi all,

I'm going to attempt the Easy Face as my first homebuilt circuit, and I have a question about implementing a possible mod.

How would one go about cutting a small rectangular hole for a slide switch in a Hammond-style enclosure? I'm sure I've seen boutique pedals with slide switches, but it seems like a very delicate operation.

I wanted to put in a dp3t slide switch to select between different sets of transistors. Thanks for your help

[Seljer]

drill a small hole and use a file to expand it into into a rectangle

[markm]

Well,
You could drill a length of small holes equal to or just under the throw size of the slider and then square it off with some small files.
Don't let this process scare you as aluminum files quite easily.

[cb]

I tried this once by drilling a hole just big enough to get my dremel router in there. The routing was easy enough, but the result was not pretty (jaggy lines). Figuring I'd be building several more of these (for friends, other projects, etc) I went through the yellow pages and found a machine shop who sounded like they could work with me. The guy has a CNC router and he charged $60 to setup and drill/rout my enclosure. But remember about $50 of that went to "setup time" - i.e. he has to enter all the dimensions into the computer. Plus I not only had him rout the rectangular holes, but had him drill all the other holes as well (I like to spend my time on the electronics, not drilling and filing enclosures). Now when I want the next enclosure routed, all he has to do is pull up that program and my only cost is the time it takes to drill/rout it. I don't know if you wanted to spend that kind of money, but the result is absolutely professional looking and can be perfectly replicated on any subsequent enclosures you might want done.

BTW, I assume you will also need two small holes for the screws that mount the switch. The machine does a perfect job whereas, if your drill bit wanders, you just ruined the enclosure.

[petemoore]

  Mount the switch inside the box, [so the slide action goes up/down {to align with a hole in the top} or slide action side to side {For alingment with hole in side of box} attach a 'slide actuator extension' on it that goes through the hole.
  I used brackets or wood to mount the switch in the box.
  I used a ziptie because it could exert enough force to push/actuate the switch [from outside the box] but not enough to damage the switch [like a stiffer rod could].
  The small hole of a RACO allowed *EZ mounting of a slide or rocker type DPDT, as found in tape decks etc. *Ugly mount job stuck out too high, but looked better when I used spacers to lower the switch position, then used a covering over the box [T shirt transfer or leather] that helped hide the 'half moon' holes on either side of the switches.
  I used these switches in a couple of RACO boxes.

[Dan N]

If you can score cheap enough slide switches, you can sacrifice one to take apart to use as a template.