Cutting Metal

[hhamama66]

I live in the US and know absolutely no one who is handy with power tools who can cut an aluminum panel for me. I tried a couple local Home Depots but they only cut wood, Lowe's is the same story. Where could I possibly look to get someone to cut a rectangular hole in an aluminum panel? It's not that I can't use power tools or that I'm too afraid, I just don't have the proper tools, don't feel like spending money to buy them and honestly my hands aren't very steady. I couldn't get a straight cut if I tried.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Try looking for sheet metal shops or airconditioning shops that make their own ductwork. However, for what you would spend to get one hole made, you might be able to buy a halfway decent Dremel tool set and a few files (a halfround mill bastard is a good begining). You can get instructions on how to use one on YouTube. Just practice on scrap before going after your existing panel. The tools and skills are worth acquiring.

[Tristerin]

I think the problem you are going to run into is no one but a mom/pop shop with these tools would even think about taking on your work...they likely don't need it, or the risk associated with doing your small (tiny) invoice of work.  Or will charge a price so astronomical it will not be financially responsible to do this.

 

Buy the tools, create a jig, cut the hole - save money, learn, and if you REALLY have to...return the tools after.  But Id keep them for future mod work 100%.

 

Youtube will literally teach you anything.

[Bajantechnician]

9 hours ago, hhamama66 said:

I live in the US and know absolutely no one who is handy with power tools who can cut an aluminum panel for me. I tried a couple local Home Depots but they only cut wood, Lowe's is the same story. Where could I possibly look to get someone to cut a rectangular hole in an aluminum panel? It's not that I can't use power tools or that I'm too afraid, I just don't have the proper tools, don't feel like spending money to buy them and honestly my hands aren't very steady. I couldn't get a straight cut if I tried.

demel with a cutting wheel? 

[hhamama66]

2 hours ago, Tristerin said:

I think the problem you are going to run into is no one but a mom/pop shop with these tools would even think about taking on your work...they likely don't need it, or the risk associated with doing your small (tiny) invoice of work.  Or will charge a price so astronomical it will not be financially responsible to do this.

 

Buy the tools, create a jig, cut the hole - save money, learn, and if you REALLY have to...return the tools after.  But Id keep them for future mod work 100%.

 

Youtube will literally teach you anything.

I'm not against learning, it's just that I only have two panels to work with. If I ruin both of them, I'll have to spend $200 buying another case because Silverstone doesn't sell replacement parts

[Tristerin]

5 minutes ago, hhamama66 said:

I'm not against learning, it's just that I only have two panels to work with. If I ruin both of them, I'll have to spend $200 buying another case because Silverstone doesn't sell replacement parts

Understandable - can you use paint to draw a sketch of what you are trying to accomplish?  I case mod often may have some ideas at minimum.

 

If not, then your best bet is to have that sketch with numbers of dimension then hop around town looking for metal cutting shops owned by non-corporations (I work for a Corp metals shop, they wont take a look at your stuff even) and see if they are willing to do some fab work for cheap. 

Either way you need drawings and dimensions etc for me or them

[hhamama66]

2 hours ago, Tristerin said:

Understandable - can you use paint to draw a sketch of what you are trying to accomplish?  I case mod often may have some ideas at minimum.

 

If not, then your best bet is to have that sketch with numbers of dimension then hop around town looking for metal cutting shops owned by non-corporations (I work for a Corp metals shop, they wont take a look at your stuff even) and see if they are willing to do some fab work for cheap. 

Either way you need drawings and dimensions etc for me or them

Here are two pictures of the panel I'm trying to cut. Hope this helps. It's made of aluminum probably about 1/8 inch thick

[Tristerin]

42 minutes ago, hhamama66 said:

Here are two pictures of the panel I'm trying to cut. Hope this helps. It's made of aluminum probably about 1/8 inch thick

As long as your lines are exact, if it were me (besides finding a mom and pops metals shop)

 

Looks like you did the initial drill hole

Use a jig saw with a bi-metal blade for cutting metal

Clamp down aluminum then take my time

Use drill holes to change directions and not turn to make corners meet (unless I leave them rounded to be cleaned up later so I don't accidently saw into the places I don't want cut)

 

A jig saw with blades is under $20 at Walmart...you could technically return it once you are done if the cost if of concern.  

 

I bet a cutting house will want $75-100+ to cut that out unless you know them personally and the friendship price enters the arena.

[hhamama66]

27 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

As long as your lines are exact, if it were me (besides finding a mom and pops metals shop)

 

Looks like you did the initial drill hole

Use a jig saw with a bi-metal blade for cutting metal

Clamp down aluminum then take my time

Use drill holes to change directions and not turn to make corners meet (unless I leave them rounded to be cleaned up later so I don't accidently saw into the places I don't want cut)

 

A jig saw with blades is under $20 at Walmart...you could technically return it once you are done if the cost if of concern.  

 

I bet a cutting house will want $75-100+ to cut that out unless you know them personally and the friendship price enters the arena.

$20 doesn't sound too bad now that I think about it. I do have a wooden table I can use as a work bench and have a few clamps instead of paying $100 for a cutting table.

[Tristerin]

2 minutes ago, hhamama66 said:

$20 doesn't sound too bad now that I think about it. I do have a wooden table I can use as a work bench and have a few clamps instead of paying $100 for a cutting table.

My local Walmart has the jig saw that comes with blades for $18 and some change (only looked at the first thing that came up) - key here is take your time, don't let the aluminum get to hot (not sure about discoloration) and don't rush the corners.  Best to get close to point X then drill another interior hole on intersecting line and come in from the other angle and get super close to the first cut, bend it off then sand off the nub left (helps so you don't cut outside of the bounding box).  Anything that looks ugly use a file then sandpaper:

 

If it were me Id drill (in red) 4 interior (but on the lines with its OD) then let that be the hole I use to insert jig saw blade to cut to the next hole rinse repeat.  Then use a fine file to get rid of the curve (blue) and sandpaper to touch it up

 

ALWAYS, measure twice so you only have to cut once. 

[Ravendarat]

If you really dont wanna do it Im sure you could just put an add on craiglist and someone would do it for a nominal fee

[Mick Naughty]

Just buy a cheap Dremel cutting wheels. Isn’t hard work at all. Get a spare case and practice if need be. 

 

Do something to each of my cases now. Just to lazy to do more. 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

2 hours ago, Mick Naughty said:

Just buy a cheap Dremel cutting wheels. Isn’t hard work at all. Get a spare case and practice if need be...

Definitely practice before doing any cutting on your case panel. You can using any piece of sheet metal to practice on: old cookie sheets, old toys, whatever.

 

I suggest watching this video. There are a lot of videos on boobtube YouTube on how to cut sheet metal using Dremel cutoff wheels but this one is the best I've found.

 

Most people plunge the cutting wheel too deeply into the work. This causes increased wear on the wheels and makes the wheel more likely to bind and break. Note how shallow the guy in the video keeps the wheel in the metal. Also, don't force the wheel. It's hard on the motor and will also cause premature wheel wear.

 

Also note that the guy in the video doesn't cut right on the line. This makes cleaning up a ragged cut posssible (and, unless you are exceptionally good--I know I'm not and I'm still probably better than most--the cut will be ragged). I don't recommend using a grinding drum however. Invest in a good half round file for cleaning up the cuts. It's much, much easier to do an accurate job with a file. A needle file slightly smaller than the drill bit used on the corners will make cleaning the corners up easier although some wet/dry sandpaper wrapped around a nail could be used in a pinch. Radiusing the inside corners is more work but the results look much better and is worth the extra work.