Any interest in Fulltone style enclosures?

[calculating_infinity]

I would be interested in these type of enclosures.   I could see myself buying a one or two at a time though.  Looks nice.  Looks perfect for a parallel universe.

[skiraly017]

Few questions:

So how/where are getting these made?
How have you managed to get a decent price?

John

Please re-read the original post. They do not exist yet.

[John Lyons]

Yes, I know they don't exist, my question more accuarately is:
Do you have any leads on getting these made or are just thinking it would be nice?
A few people have already looked into this with other sizes and styles and it's not really feasable unless you order a lot... and even then they aren't cheap...

John

[skiraly017]

Yes, I know they don't exist, my question more accuarately is:
Do you have any leads on getting these made or are just thinking it would be nice?
A few people have already looked into this with other sizes and styles and it's not really feasable unless you order a lot... and even then they aren't cheap...

John

I have several metal fabrication places near me. I have not visited anyone yet as I am still trying to find a cheap Fulldrive that I can use as an example.

[Mark Hammer]

Aluminum is so much easier to machine than steel, especially if you're a cheap drill bit, cheap drill press kinda guy like me.  Moreover, the gauge of steel you need to have to impart some sort of stiffness and rigidity to a sloped front enclosure that is more than 3-4" wide starts to get both pricey and heavy, and is a REAL bear to drill.  Far better to use a nice heavy gauge aluminum.

[mojotron]

Aluminum is so much easier to machine than steel, especially if you're a cheap drill bit, cheap drill press kinda guy like me.  Moreover, the gauge of steel you need to have to impart some sort of stiffness and rigidity to a sloped front enclosure that is more than 3-4" wide starts to get both pricey and heavy, and is a REAL bear to drill.  Far better to use a nice heavy gauge aluminum.

I agree, I have drilled out about 30 electrical box covers for use as effect enclosures with uni-bits, as well as many Hammond enclosures and drilling out 16ga steel is many times more difficult than Al enclosures. In fact, you really have to pay attention to safety while working with steel - you can kill yourself doing this stuff.

That said - I've played with what it takes to bend 16ga steel in a relatively precise way using a vice, mallet, and a 2x4 in some experiments; I think I found a method for making 4x6-8" steel enclosures with a vice for about $4 each once you buy about $20 worth of stuff - assuming you have a 4-6" vise and some tools like a drill. The results are not perfect - meaning the bend is not quite as nice as a brake would do, but it's good enough IMO. So far I have just done folding/cutting experiments with 4" pieces - but it seems like it's totally doable. I'm planning on making an enclosure this weekend - I'll see how that goes. However, even if this method pans out - this would end up being too labor intensive to make money at (assuming you would have to sell at a price less than $25) and may not be something someone could do without the environment like a garage. It would, however, give DIY-ers an option rather than having to order 10 hammonds at once to get a discount as well as having an option to make more creative enclosures.

[Gilles C]

These posts about drilling steel boxes remind me that where I work, they use knock-out punches to make holes in this kind of boxes. That's the best way to deal with steel boxes.

That's also why I prefer alu boxes. They are easier to drill.

Gilles

[ovnifx]

I have a Heinrich Model 6 punch, and it makes holes of any size up to 9/16" (square or round) in any reasonable gauge of sheet steel with very little effort, noise, or mess.  Living in an apartment, and not wanting to get aluminum powder and shavings all over the place, I far prefer punching holes rather than drilling.

[AC30Dirty]

I believe Mouse sells the fulldrive type enclosure. I dont know for how much but it might be worth checking out.