Welding Tips and Tricks

ok not exactly welding related, but my next project is building a new switch box for my race car that will mount on my halo (ceiling) roll cage bar, welding it up out of 6061 (either .063 or .080 sheet) with 14 toggle switches, each with an LED and a blade type fuse... The panel blade type fuse holders snap into a small rectangular hole, which is where I have a problem... How to make a rectangular hole, and accurately and consistently. It has to be .041" x 1.0625" (give or take a thou) for the fuse holders to snap in well (for your basic automotive ATO blade style fuse, I'd like to go to a mini ATM blade but can't find a panel mount style holder for them, and anyway the minis are a real pain to manipulate with my fat fingers). I don't want to drill holes and then use a tiny file to try and make rectangular holes, I'd rather get my hands on a punch die, but so far have been unable to find one that is that small. I'm thinking of creating my own punch out of steel in the correct size and see if i can successfully punch (i.e. using a big hammer or maybe in a vice) the rectangular hole without mutilating/warping the aluminum. Any ideas, suggestions, or even a place to buy a die that small? thanks!

Take a look at Greenlee knock-out punches. Pricey but the best you can get.

www.greenlee.com

Anyone around you do lazer cutting?
Get the whole panel cut out with all the holes, screw holes, outer edge etc all cut out for less than a set of punches.

AndersK wrote:Take a look at Greenlee knock-out punches. Pricey but the best you can get.

http://www.greenlee.com

yikes... yeah I'm looking at just shy of $400 for their punches... sure would be nice but a bit out of my range at the moment, and I don't see the size I need either. Trying to find another manufacturer that maybe just sells the die itself, I can rig up something to punch it. I'm thinking of buying some tool steel and see if I can make my own, though I bet it's a bitch to work tool steel. But then, maybe just regular carbon or maybe just a piece of CM steel would work, I am only trying to punch aluminum, and only .080... hmmm..

ex framie wrote:Anyone around you do lazer cutting?
Get the whole panel cut out with all the holes, screw holes, outer edge etc all cut out for less than a set of punches.

yeah I'm sure there's a shop around here that can do it, but I hate bringing anything to anyone to get something done, I'd always rather do it myself

Can you use a leather punch?

Poland308 wrote:Can you use a leather punch?

IDK, maybe... the key is to make a nice clean rectangular hole, if I mutilate it the fuse holder probably won't fit nice and snug. The weekend is coming up, I'm gonna try to fab something up and go to town on some scrap aluminum sheet and see what happens.

If you need to sometimes you can harden small items by heating them red hot and then dropping them in a can of heavy oil. It will catch the can on fire. So it's an outside thing. But the rapid cooling in a high carbon enviroment will make the metal a little harder. Old guy I knew showed me that and it worked the few times I needed it to.

Poland308 wrote:If you need to sometimes you can harden small items by heating them red hot and then dropping them in a can of heavy oil. It will catch the can on fire. So it's an outside thing. But the rapid cooling in a high carbon enviroment will make the metal a little harder. Old guy I knew showed me that and it worked the few times I needed it to.

hmm I'll give that a try... motor oil I've got plenty, and lots of fire extinguishers.

I used an old coffee can so I could just cover it with some sheet steel to keep the flames in check till it cooled.

You can drill square holes with a special drill bit, but I don't know about rectangular ones.

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I'm thinking of creating my own punch out of steel in the correct size and see if i can successfully punch (i.e. using a big hammer or maybe in a vice) the rectangular hole without mutilating/warping the aluminum. Any ideas, suggestions, or even a place to buy a die that small? thanks!

if you make the punch as you plan, then take a piece of hard wood like oak and carefully
chisel it out a matching hole so the punch fits it snugly. clamp you aluminum to the wood on a secure surface
and aline the punch and drive it through. if you have arbor press or hydraulic even better.
that is how i would approach it. hope it helps.
craig

Not sure if anyone near you stocks them - but could you use a " Q max punch " ? they're certainly available square - not sure about rectangular - they used to be common for the sort of work your doing - also instrument panels prior to cnc systems.

raticus,

I think you'll find what you're looking for in racing supply-house catalogs, like Jegs, for example. Fabbing switch panels is common in most amateur and semi-pro divisions.

I'll dig just a bit, and see if I can give you a starting point.

[Edit] This may be an example, but the information is sketchy at best and no picture...
http://www.jegs.com/i/Mittler-Brothers/ ... oreDetails

Steve S

I typed square metal hole punch into ebay and saw cheap hydraulic sets with round and square dies.

Here's a ton of rectangular punches on e-bay. The first page is all sets for ironworkers, but a serious DIYer could adapt them for manual use.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=Rec ... ch+Die+Set

Steve S

Here's a company with a good variety of manual punches for sheet metal:

http://www.dinmountingrail.com/Page.asp ... and%20Dies

These should at least point you in the right direction.

Steve S

thanks for the links guys, but I still can't find the size I need out of those... .041 X 1.0625 (or up to 1.08) or rather, 10.5mm x 26.9mm (or up to 27.5)... They're usually a lot bigger listed for sale. I'm limited to the very few panel fuse holders that are available that I've been able to find, lots of companies selling inline fuses and other types, but almost impossible to find those for building your own switch boxes (that snap into a rectangular hole). The ones I did find at least have actual dimensions for the hole I need to make at least. Another option is to simply go with a round circuit breaker (that I only need to drill a round hole for) instead of a flat fuse, but they're a bit pricey and I just like fuses better

My schedule for this weekend is to finish up installing my new aluminum gauge pod that I built for the race car, replace the differential bearings and axle bearings in my daily driver, rebuild the carb as well, powerwash the engine bay of my truck now that the engine is out of it, design the plans for my new switch box, more TIG practice on both aluminum and stainless, and fab up the rectangular die, and try to watch some racing live online... Oh yeah, better take the wife to the market or else I'll only be eating water and aluminum chips for dinner... I'll be lucky to get two of those things done knowing how plans usually go...

My most used mechanic's sayings are, 'There ain't nuthin' easy', and 'There's always sumthin'!'.... Hopefully none of those will apply this weekend.