Notice those clip nuts on the page, second down at the end? Those are Tinnerman, aka speed, nuts.

Yeah, I noticed them, and knew what they were.

Dagnabit, I'm going to make over 10 of these parts, then find I could have bought them for 50¢ each after I made them.

Cheaper than that, depending on the size. Maybe you should've asked the question a bit sooner so you wouldn't have had to make them.

 

Ah, but I am a procrastinator! That and I'm still working how to make a cheap box, that is one of several solutions.

I have a lot of irons in the fire, so whatever I do is going to take a while.

 

Can you cut sheet metal with a table saw? I would assume you need a special blade for cutting sheet metal.

Yes, machining aluminum with carbide cutters and wood working tools is quite common. The first time I saw it (1974), the shop was slicing 2" plate on a Delta Unisaw. In my experience, a coolant is not needed. I have used table saws to cut thinner sheet too (say, 0.050), when curling or the inherent hardness of the alloy made using a hand shear a poor choice.

If needed, the edges can be finished with a coarse file, such as a mill file or similar. I tend to use a parallel lathe file or Vixon file for thin sheet.

Even steel can be cold cut with carbide blades in chop saws. I have not personally tried that, but suspect a specialized blade is needed, compared to standard carbide wood blades that work on aluminum.

John

 

It may be obvious but boxes have 6 sides.

A frame and 6 bolt/rivet/self tap on panels is one possibility that an amateur can make a good fist of.

But it is a lot of work.

Another accessible method is to bend sheet material into two U or trough shaped components. These fit together to form the 6 sided box, which may conveniently have one sloping face.
This method is also commonly used in industry. It may be accomplished either completely by hand with panel beaters kit and a wooden block former or a powered brake.

Ready made trough shaped aluminium section is readily available from builders suppliers. It comes in suitable sizes (150mm to 600mm ) for roofing and false ceiling purposes. You can often get offcuts from a site skip or the roofers or ceiling contractor for next to nothing ask.

This sort of trough also makes an easy ready made internal chassis for mounting kit on and fitting into your outer case.

In terms of cutting sheet metal, both steel and aluminium, a lathe user would use a 'slitting saw'. This is a circular saw made especially for cutting metal.
You can also fit a large diameter metal grade abrasive wheel to a circular saw bench. Keep the feed pressure low and allow plenty for the extra thick kerf and waste. You will need to allow a waste margin to trim back by other means as there will be some bluing of the metal at the cutting junction.

Another method is to use a hand or power nibbling tool. Some of these can cut intricate shapes. Again you will need to allow trimming waste for the shear margin to get back to a square cut edge.

 

This is a bender i welded myself and use it to make my enclosure

 

Can you cut sheet metal with a table saw? I would assume you need a special blade for cutting sheet metal.

You can cut brass & aluminum with a wood blade OK. I use my miter saw all the time to chop up aluminum angles and such. If I'm going to cut iron/steel, I change to an abrasive blade.

If I start making projects, it sure could come in handy.

I don't have a table saw; they take up a lot of room. I have a couple handheld circular saws and a 10" miter saw aka chop saw. You can make very straight cuts with a handheld circular saw if you use a couple of C-clamps and a straightedge to guide it.

 

I basically got a 4' tall band saw for these kind of jobs, you can get them pretty cheaply ($100-$200). You do have to match the teeth for the job, but I've found I can use metal teeth for a lot of woodworking projects.

 

Somewhere on the web, I ran across some fellow who was using steel 2"x4"s and 2"x6" for project boxes; he would just saw them to length + 1-1/2" and then cut the excess into a tab w/ears, and folded the ends down.

I think he was using pan-head sheet metal screws to hold 'em together. Not beautiful, but cheap and easy.

 

BTW

A brake bender can be had on eBay for as little as $40.

 

Actually they are cheaper at Harbor Freight only $35! They have a 30" version for $80 but I would think 18" would be fine for most small projects.