Making rectangular holes in Hammond boxes

[SonicVI]

Anyone have any tips for making rectangular holes in hammond boxes for things like slide or lever switches?  Is there a good dremel bit that I should look for?

[C Bradley]

The best thing would be to have it cut out on a milling machine. Barring that, you can use a drill press to drill a series of holes in a line and then file the rest out. Long, slow process.  

[sir_modulus]

don't bother...You'd want a chassis punch to do that (you're gonna get bad lookin' holes with the dremel, and you'll break a ton of bits doing it).

Cheers,

Nish

[markr04]

I think a "nibbler" might do it.

[Coriolis]

What's a nibbler?

[SonicVI]

Nibbler is Leela's pet on Futurama.

[sir_modulus]

http://www.jdr.com/interact/item.asp?itemno=NIBBLER

 Nish

[The Tone God]

Nibbler is Leela's pet on Futurama.

Nibbler still lost to The Hypnotoad. All hail The Hypnotoad!!!

Back to our program I think a standard nibbler will not work well on the thick top of those cases. It will especially not work if you need tight slots in the middle of the case. Same applies for punches and the dremel. For at home one-shot jobs I would go with the series of holes and a file.

Andrew

[ninoman123]

Two words

PLASMA CUTTER

[The Tone God]

PLASMA CUTTER

With cast aluminum alloy ?!? Can you say "blown hole" ?

Andrew

[gez]

Hand nibbler will work on folded aluminium, not die-cast though...unless it's a machine one.  A tool company I buy my stuff from does a 'power nibbler' that fits into the chuck of a power drill.  It will cut 2mm sheet steel, so should be ok for die cast aluminium.

Doesn't cost much, don't know how easy it would be to control mind...

[gez]

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=23286&name=SMC&sfile=1&jump=0

Order code SMC

[Joe Hart]

Just a thought... how about cutting a small "bezel" type thing, then bolting that to the box? That way you can make the actual rectangular hole in something easier to work with (and if you screw up, you didn't ruin the box), then drill some holes in a line on the actual box (and here is where my genius really shows) -- the hole in the box doesn't have to be neat at all, it just has to be bigg enough for the switch and smaller than the bezel.

I use this idea all the time when cutting a strat pickguard for a humbucker. I can cover my messy routing with a humbucking mounting ring and it all looks super professional.

That would be my best suggestion.
-Joe Hart

[Ry]

I have used a nibbler to cut a rectangular hole in a Hammond box.  It didn't turn out badly, but it was by pure luck.  I drilled holes in the box where the corners of a DC jack were to be...then cut the vertical lines up to them (from the edge of the box) on either side.  The horizontal line portion of the cut-out snapped off before I could consider how to cut it.  Hammond boxes are far too brittle to cut this way, they crack and break easily.

[grapefruit]

I've found the only practical way for diy is to drill and file. You need a range of file sizes. Some "normal" sized files of different shapes and sizes. 2nd Cut is usually the best for diecast boxes. If you're pedantic you can finish it off with a smooth file. You'll need a wire brush to clean the file periodically or you'll be doing more work for little gain. It's also handy to have a set of miniature files. You should be able to pick up a set of 5 of different shapes.

Mark out the square hole. If the hole is large enough (say 7mm x 10mm - the bigger the easier) I find it easiest to drill a couple of large holes (almost as wide as the slot) and overlap them a bit. You have to be carefull when the drill starts to cut into the existing hole. and then just hack into it with the file. Just slow down when you get near to the size hole you want.

The more you do the easier it gets.  Having said all this, I try to avoid using parts that need square holes!

Stew.

[ninoman123]

When I needed square holes for my amp build. I just drilled out the whole with a drill. Then I took this air powered grinder thing to make it smooth. Faster and easier.

[Paul Marossy]

I have also done the "drill some holes and file it" method. It doesn't really take that long, aluminum isn't too hard to file. If you are conscientious, you can make a nice looking square-ish hole. I try not to do square openings, though - it's just a lot easier to simply drill a hole!  :lol:

[bioroids]

Since we are at it, how do you do the squarish holes for mounting the PCB-Mount jacks for DC power? I mean the little black plastic ones, used by boss and other pedals.

I've been using the same "drill several and unify" aproach, but if someone knows something better, I'd like to know  

Luck!

Miguel

[C Bradley]

I own a milling machine.  :twisted:

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Since we are at it, how do you do the squarish holes for mounting the PCB-Mount jacks for DC power?

I don't like PCB mount power jacks, because people have a bad habit of forcing wrong plugs in & breaking the jacks off the board (sounds impossible, until you have seen it happen a few times!). So I prefer chassis mount.