Boxes

strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
Just bought the press brake, and a $15 piece of sheet metal. I will post up a pic of the in-house ade console enclosure when complete
 

ian field

Joined Oct 27, 2012
6,536
Where you guys get the boxes or "electronic enclosures" for your projects? Looking for metal and not plastic and the only thing I found was on ebay small boxes made of plastic.
Very often the enclosure can be the most expensive component in a project - I've been known to strip out a commercially produced device and salvage the box it was in.
 

jpanhalt

Joined Jan 18, 2008
11,087
Just bought the press brake, and a $15 piece of sheet metal. I will post up a pic of the in-house ade console enclosure when complete
Just a small detail on nomenclature. What you linked to in post #14 is probably called a finger brake or a box and pan brake. A press break is a different animal. Here's a cheap example: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...i_sku=145531&gclid=COjx3tmOusQCFXQQ7Aod82EAUg

A press brake can be useful for getting a specific radius on a bend, as the metal is forced between two dies. There are ways to do that with a finger brake too. For forming hardened aluminum, I preferred a press brake. Mine was homemade, and I was very fortunate to find some dies at a local scrap yard for $0.10/pound.

I am anxious to see how your project works out. The one time I did something big, like a console, I had it done at a sheet metal shop. They have all the tables and experience for set back and so forth, and the parts fit well.

John
 

strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
Just a small detail on nomenclature. What you linked to in post #14 is probably called a finger brake or a box and pan brake. A press break is a different animal.
Haha, this is the electronics forum, not the sheet metal fabrication forum. I'm supposed to be able to call it whatever I decide it should be called and nobody who knows better should be around to correct me. Yes, you are correct. The one I linked to is the one I ordered.

I am anxious to see how your project works out. The one time I did something big, like a console, I had it done at a sheet metal shop. They have all the tables and experience for set back and so forth, and the parts fit well.

John
I don't think it should be too hard. I've used the finger type brake before, maybe 4 or 5 times. I never had to scrap my work. Seemed pretty simple. And the enclosure will be simple as well. I'm not doing any hinged doors or spot welding or intricate corners/radii. I'm just going to take 24"X48" piece of sheet, cut it down to 16" wide, and put 6 bends in it like this:
console.png
It's going to be freestyle, the dimensions are not concrete. Whatever they turn out to be, that's what they are. for the sides, I'll try making them on the brake too and pop rivet together, but I'm already counting on plan B: cutting them out of MDF or similar.
 

strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
I am anxious to see how your project works out. The one time I did something big, like a console, I had it done at a sheet metal shop. They have all the tables and experience for set back and so forth, and the parts fit well.

John
Sorry I'm late, but here's the result of my endeavor to build my own console. I ended up building my own spot welder in the process. The actual bending and welding of the metal was not that bad. I used 22ga and 20ga sheet steel. I found that working with sheet metal is quite gratifying. I also found that owning a press brake does not enable you to do anything more than what you can do with a hammer and a straight-edged table. All it does is make things faster. I could have done this without the brake no problem; actually I DID have to do a good portion without the press brake because once you put a bend in the metal a certain way, you can't get it back into the brake to make another. The brake makes your bend lines perfect though, hard to make perfect lines without it. If you're going to get a press brake, don't get a little one like I got. Get one larger than the maximum dimension of the pieces you intend to work with.
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strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
I know the problem. It is things like this that make my projects take a lot longer than I had planned... ;)
It is things like this that make my projects never reach fruition! I start a simple TASK (won't even call it a project at this point) and a week later find myself neck deep in 3 or 4 parallel projects that all depend on each other being finished to become finished themselves. Then life knocks on my door and I must put out a fire. Then a month later I encounter a need, followed by a task, which leads me back to the workbench where my various works in progress are still languishing. I'm seriously "in the middle" of no less than a dozen projects, some of them going on 5 or 6 years now.
 

strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
Strantor - VERY impressive work. What is your day job?

ak
Thanks. I'm definitely not a sheet metal fabricator!
My title is "Controls Engineer" - A title that I extorted out of my now-boss before accepting the job offer (I don't have a degree). Before that (and still, on the side) I am a self employed industrial controls Field Service Technician/Consultant. At my day job my main gig now is designing control systems for subsea tools (and training programs, and now simulators, and apparently welders). My main self-employed gig is troubleshooting industrial machines (PLCs, VFDs, etc.) and making changes and integrating systems.
 

Reloadron

Joined Jan 15, 2015
7,501
That came out incredibly nice. You may not be a sheet metal worker but could fool me. All my designs went into off the shelf pre fabricated boxes. :)

Ron
 
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