Midibox making tools & a idea for a slot cutter

[Artesia]

Hi,

       I have sourced some tools & parts which are hard to come by (affordably). People here may find these useful in making cases for midi boxes... The three suppliers mentioned here are www.SCREWFIX.com, www.MACHINEMART.co.uk ...and the well known B&Q.

       One thing i will mention before i continue; is that screwfix is extreemly good value for money (particularly if you order online), and very reliable. Thier site is well worth a visit ...as they stock just about everything imagineable for the 'trades'.

From www.machinemart.co.uk:

1a/ Clarke 24" Sheet metal bender (bench mounted) £47 inc vat. upto 90 deg bends in 22ga mild steel.

1b/ Clarke 36" Sheet metal bender (floor standing) £177 inc vat. (not so affordable) upto 90 deg bends in 20ga mild steel.

       This tool will allow you to create entire cases with neat professional folds, and will allow cases with 'stepped' front pannels to be made with ease. If £47 is abit much for your budget, you could copy the principal of the design (a heavy duty hinge set, afew thick heavy bits of L girder, some long bolts + sturdy assembly); and make your own metal folder.. which wouldnt be too much work to make at that.

       Also a tip as for a good source of 'free' sheet metal; a number of computer refurbishers near me frequently throw out tons of old Computer Cases, which have alot of good metal in them ...as well as perfectly good fans, component stock, leds & fixings in them too !

        I usually cut up the cases into the flat sections with a 4in angle grinder. ...and take the remainder of the casings to the metal recycling section of the local tip.

Talking of which.. www.screwfix.com:

2\ 115mm 710w ferm angle grinder £16

3\ 36 piece 4mm number & letter stamping set £10 Great for adding lettering to metalwork...

4a\ 19pce Titainium coated HSS drill set (1-10mm) £10

       Gives a much faster & neater cut than standard HSS bits.

4b\ 7pce 5% Cobalt drill set (1.5-6mm) £8

       Even more efficient & longlasting than Titainium coated... The only things to cut through the high grade steel steel some of my flight case catches are made from.

       Also, you may want to try cobalt drill bits for fibireglass pcbs, goes through it like butter ...and doesnt take the edge off the bits too quick.

4c\ Job lots of standard HSS drill bits. 1-10mm in packs of 10. Ie: one pack of 10x1mm £1.49.

       Great for stocking up on drill bit sizes frequently worn out/broken.

5\ Star, hex & other 'exotic' bolts & screws (screwfix)..

        Screwfix seem to specialise in fixings funnily enough.. buying fixings in bulk will save alot btw.

       When standard satin finish slothead screws start to look a little tired or boring, there are some very neat (star, hex & etc) dome, countersunk & bolt fixings available. They also sell the driving bits for these fixings as a 33 pce security bit set £10.

From B&Q www.diy.com:

6\ B&Q's 'nutool' brand minidrill with 300 (or so) free cutting, milling and grinding bits, with a flexable driveshaft attachement. £20 !

       An immensely useful gadget... great for doing fine detailing, cutting & trimming most materials on a small scale. and puts a evil edge on any blade ;)

       The small and large cutting discs work great on non ferrious metals ..and useable with caution on aluminum.

       The steel cerrated cutting discs do a great job of working wood & will work plastic at low speeds. The sanding discs and small grinding wheels work great on smoothing out rough edges. ...and so on.

       Though, getting to the main point on this item; i have thought up a possible way of using the driveshaft attachment & large cutting discs to cut any length linear slots in metal pannels for those darned faders :]

       This can be made with the guts out of a old scanner or printer... the metal runners & sliding mounts (which hold the printer head/scanning element) are removed to make the basis of a linear guide for the cutting disc. ...which is lowered into the material from above. ...this gadget will probably look like some of those gilotene style tile cutters often seen about.

       I shall make this in the coming months, though right now i dont have the time or the space as i am moving house halfway across the country.. :)

       Another (less tidy) way of making fader slots is to make 'I' shaped pannel inserts which are fixed in place between the faders... if cut & trimmed carefully, this could look quite neat. ...and would allow a redesign of the fader section at a later date without remaking the entire fascia.

       

       Btw.. there is one item i would definately advise people not to get. I had one of those rivet guns with the 360 degree swivel heads; for one it was increadably stiff to use ..and secondly the mechanism totally chewed itself to bits after a meer 2000 box of rivets !

       I now have a cheapo 'blackspur' style £6 pressed steel rivet gun. ...and it works wonderfully.

       Well... thats it for now folks, when im comfortably rehoused ..i will be building one of the new midi sequencers ..and can't wait to get my four sid chips humming ! :)