Electronics > Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff

Square holes on aluminum.... how do you do it?

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BrianHG:

--- Quote from: EEEnthusiast on October 09, 2019, 06:05:58 am ---Buy a cheap CNC router machine from China. Something like this

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32919397764.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.54db57f5O012h9&algo_pvid=c1d5f8e0-b557-4959-bcf6-b11b82acb20c&algo_expid=c1d5f8e0-b557-4959-bcf6-b11b82acb20c-7&btsid=e9376042-133e-4e2f-8bca-df0b401da4fa&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_53

It can cut any shape on metal sheets and it is really precise for hobbyist. I have the same one and have cut square holes on 1.6mm thick Aluminium sheets.

--- End quote ---

If you go this route, I have .dxf and gerber files for complete DB9 and DB25 connectors with adjacent mounting holes, DVI connectors, BNC connectors, RCA connectors, S-Video connectors, 2 Line LCD character displays, Square push buttons, LED holes, IR receiver holes, volume & rotary encoder controls and including complete front panel keypad & LCD displays with mounting PCBs & 3mm square fan grill openings.

EEEnthusiast:
Bench top CNCs are the way to go these days. One time high cost, but they do a perfect job. You could use it to route wood, engrave on metal, cut any shape holes and much more. The drill bits are cheap too on Aliexpress. There are plenty of free software to control the CNC routers. You have to be careful though. The basic ones do not have limit switches but have some very powerful motors on them. You could damage your CNC machine and the work piece with improper programming.

beanflying:
The question with CNC Square holes is are they Square or sort of square with rounded or dogbone corners? Even Lasers still have a beam diameter so a small curve in the corners.



The time taken to set up for a one off job doing it by hand will win out for $/hole in most cases But if you have one they are a great tool. Must get onto rewiring my router and getting it into use :palm:

Yansi:
I am yet to see how that garbage CNC mill copes with a 3mm steel rack case panel.

I rather stick to my set of good ol files.  Good enough for aluminium, good enough for steel racks.

EEEnthusiast:

--- Quote from: Yansi on October 12, 2019, 11:01:13 am ---I am yet to see how that garbage CNC mill copes with a 3mm steel rack case panel.

I rather stick to my set of good ol files.  Good enough for aluminium, good enough for steel racks.

--- End quote ---
Those are some really great pieces of work. A bench top CNC cannot cut panels that large for sure. But it can surely cut thicker metal by going 0.1mm deep in one stroke and repeating over and over again. It takes a lot of time, but the machine does the job.

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