Long skinny aluminum enclosure?

[PBE6]

A friend of mine has asked me to make him a controller for his two Eventide pedals based on this simple but clever design:



http://www.guitarforum.co.za/effects/eventide-factor-aux-switcher/

He'd prefer if it were built in a long, skinny box. The longest/skinniest one I could find is the 1411WU (12"x3"x2.2") from Smallbear:



http://smallbear-electronics.mybigcommerce.com/enclosure-sheetmetal-hammond-1411wu/

Just wondering if anyone has had experience with this type of enclosure. I've never used sheet metal before, it is easy to drill? And is there excessive flexing when using pressing the stompswitches?

[Jdansti]

Hi!

I've used shorter versions without any flexing problems when stomping the switches. I suspect that the narrowness of the box you're looking at would keep it from flexing too much.

As for drilling, it would be best to have the surface you are drilling to be flat against a sacrificial piece of wood or your drill press platform. That means if you are drilling from the outside, cut a piece of wood that fits on the inside and make it slightly taller than the sides of the piece you are drilling. If you're drilling from the inside, just make sure the piece is on a hard flat surface. Same goes if you use a punch before drilling. I haven't had any problems drilling through the material with moderately worn bits.

Also clamp it in a way that won't cause it to get bent if the drill bit grabs and tries to spin it.

Good luck!

[mth5044]

PPP has a similar enclosure but made in the aluminum fashion of the standard Hammond type boxes

http://www.pedalpartsplus.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PPP&Product_Code=1203&Category_Code=ENC14

[R.G.]

http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?id=1268&step=2&top_cat=60

[PBE6]

Thanks everyone! Hey RG, just taking a quick look at your metals website link and wondering how would you cap the ends of the aluminum tube?

[PRR]

> how would you cap the ends of the aluminum tube?

Got wood? A saw?

Stain it Wonderful Walnut, or wrap with duct tape (REAL duct tape, not the stuff in R.G.'s sig) for that all-metal look.

If you are very handy with wood or plastic, you could make the whole case. Unlike pedals which have audio inside, here you don't need shielding. Only thing is most switches are made for metal (thin) boxes, so wood or thick plastic may need cobbling or a metal panel.

Aluminum drills real easy with an electric drill. The problem is the bit grabs, whips the panel/box around, gashes you. That's why you clamp to wood on a bench, so it can't go wild and let your blood run.

[R.G.]

As Paul notes, a wooden plug works.
You could get fancy and make the wooden plug be the same profiile as the aluminum extrusion, or bigger. Your woodworking skills are the only limit on that.
You could find some aluminum sheet, 0.040" to 0.050" thick is fine. You could make a (crude) wooden plug, and face it with a carefully cut and filed sheet of aluminum glued/screwed/whatever to the wooden plug and run screws through the extrusion to hold the plug in.
You could GREASE the inside of the extrusion on one end, set it on a flat greased surface and pour epoxy or casting resin into the thing until you have 1/4" to 3/8" thick at the bottom and let it harden. Bang/slip the plug out, decorate it with the appearance material of your choice and use it as a custom made plug as in wood, above.
You could make an L-bend from the plate. Make one side of the L be enough to wrap entirely around the end of the extrusion, and screw the other short side of the L to the bottom of the extrusion. You could bend plate into a wide "U" that just fits inside the opening of the extrusion and screw through the extrusion to the edges of the "U".
You could set up your table saw or radial arm saw with a carbide tipped blade and (very gingerly!!) cut a slot along the bottom of the extrusion, removing maybe an inch or two. Then putty the ends closed with screen wire and bondo, then make a bottom plate that comes off with screws.

The real question is what could you NOT do??   

[PBE6]

Ahh, I didn't realize this box didn't need to be shielded. Plus I had a bit of a failure of imagination..not to mention my questionable fabrication skills.

If it can be wood instead of aluminum, I do have a friend with tools who would do something simple like routing a piece of lumber for free.