Electronics > Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff

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

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Bassman59:

--- Quote from: SiliconWizard on October 14, 2019, 08:29:18 pm ---Well, I suppose the right adhesive to use also depends on the type of plastics you used. Is that PLA or ABS?

--- End quote ---

It's PLA.

I did some searching and most of the results for "best adhesive for PLA" return things that assumes you want to glue two pieces of 3D-printed plastic together, not put a decal on a large-ish piece. There are various cyanoacrylate suggestions. Applying the glue to the panel could be annoying.

To experiment, I took a piece of the printed plastic and sprayed it with two coats of primer paint, let it cure, then sprayed it with the E6000 adhesive and stuck my decal on that. Then I put some weight on the thing and let it sit for a day, and the sticker seems well stuck on.

Bassman59:

--- Quote from: max_torque on October 14, 2019, 08:38:49 pm ---As soon as you have to include any of your own time as a "cost" then just farming the whole thing out to your local Laser/Waterjet cutter suddenly looks like very good value indeed, especially if you value accuracy and repeatability...

They tend to have minimum order quantities, but once over that value the cost is trivial.

--- End quote ---

For a one-off prototype that's kinda expensive, but for making, say, 25, it's a no-brainer!

I checked and Front Panel Express will make my panels for $32 each in qty 1, which is now sounding better and better. But I'd like to get my design correct before I spend real money, so 3D printing to at least get the holes in the right places is reasonable.

I should revisit the idea of using aluminum printed circuit boards with black soldermask as panels.

dom0:

--- Quote from: beanflying on October 16, 2019, 11:58:00 am ---The issue becomes the blades on most coping saws and in particular electric scroll saws. I have owned an electric one for over 30 years and I don't use it on Aluminium ever. Balsa, Ply and some plastics is about it. You will do much better with the hardened teeth on a jigsaw blade than a scroll saw on Aluminum.

--- End quote ---

There are scoll saw and coping saw blades that work for aluminium, but most blades are only meant for wood and plastics.

soldar:

--- Quote from: dom0 on October 16, 2019, 05:04:24 pm ---There are scoll saw and coping saw blades that work for aluminium, but most blades are only meant for wood and plastics.
--- End quote ---

I guess I have the right ones because I have never had a problem sawing aluminum.

Also, for straight longer cuts I have used a regular hacksaw blade.

Gyro:
Likewise. You need a finer pitch blade than you use for (soft)wood but that's about all. Jewellers use very similar blades to cut Sterling Silver.

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