Is it OK to use stainless steel for enclosures?

[Bluesgeetar]

Is it OK to use stainless steel for enclosures?  I have come across some nice units made of polished stainless steel.  Can they be used for effects enclosures?  Just wondering before I do anything to electrocute myself.  I ask cause the Hammond jobs are Aluminum and I didn't know if there was a reason for that or not.  

But old vintage pedals are metal and diecast enclosures.  :?

[RickL]

If it was good enough for Roland... I'm pretty sure the Funny Cat enclosure was stainless steel. If it's real important I can check mine, but I can't imagine any problem being caused by using stainless for an enclosure.

Have fun drilling the holes though. Galvanized Raco boxes are hard enough, stainless is a bitch to drill.

[Travis]

You can absolutely use stainless steel.  I don't know about any differences in finishing it, but (provided you can drill/punch it) it should be ideal.

[Peter Snowberg]

Stainless alloys can be soft, so as long as you don't smoosh it when switching... use away! You won't have to worry about rust.

Take care,
-Peter

[Bluesgeetar]

Yep!  I figured there would be a sceptic or two.  So just for my amusement and so I could tell you Peter and any other sceptic I put the stainless steel thing under the front wheel of my Bronco 4x4.  Rolled up on top of it, left it there for an hour, pulled the Bronco off it and hey!  The thing didn't budge an inch on smooshing.  It did put a scratch or two on the polished part on the outside.  I also jumped up and down on it several times and nuthin.  Didn't move.  I weigh 220 pounds at about 10-12% bodyfat.  I drove some serious meat into her and nuthin.  So yes sir she will hold up to a many many many many hard stomping.  Hell it's made in Korea!  Anyone who knows anything about manufacturing and quality knows that the best stainless comes out of Korea.

[Jered]

...but have you tried drilling it yet?
 Jered

[Thomas P.]

I used stainless steel for some of my enclosures ( the excat describtion of what I used is V2A - better versions are more expensive and even harder to drill).
They are no fun to drill compared to aluminium boxes but they are really strong. Make sure you've got really sharp drills. Even for finishing the you should spend some time.
What I also found was that they don't like paint very much so I would suggest a plain finish.

[Bluesgeetar]

Quit!!!!!!!!!!  Your scaring me!  No I haven't got around to drilling on her yet.  But now I'm getting worried.  Maybe some carbon tip bits or Titanium tips?  Gotta be something that works.  I'm thinkin now!  :?

Their only a $1.00- $1.99 a piece.  So I can afford to screw a few up trying differnt things.  :?

[Jered]

Yes, those will work, cutting oil and medium speed also helps a lot. If you are going to do 5-6 or more boxes I would highly recomend a vari-bit. Well, I highly recommend them anyway, perfectly round holes with no guess work.
 Good luck, Jered

[petemoore]

I was drilling stainless all day every day for a time.
 Hard as...uh well hard as stainless.
 Prepunching makes all the difference.
 Yes, slow to medium speed works. high speed only slows the cutting and makes more heat.
 Replace the bit more often than cutting softer materials.
 Really hard stuff though. Does not rust.

[Peter Snowberg]

Sceptic? I'm not a sceptic at all. You didn't post a material thickness or the type of stainless and I was just pointing out that some stainless alloys are soft. That's all. There are dozens of stainless steel alloys.

-Peter

[petemoore]

A great starter bit, then work up or go right to your size.
 I found the effort was less when working my way up through a few bit sizes to get to say 1/2''.
 Cutting oil is recommended to cool and lube the area to be cut. The bit should not get so hot as to damage itself or it is probably not sharp enough, not hard enough, not the right size to start cut with, not the right type. even among same type bits sometimes one seems to bite' in the others get deflected by the surface.
 Punch using many strokes, the first being lighter as there is less surface contact area till the punch gets a dent started. Use hard heavey backing like anvil for punching.

[petemoore]

when the bit is about to go through, toward the end, it starts digging in big time, removing metal very fast comparitively, increasing speed and reducing pressure at this point will tend to make your bits break off or chip less often and stay sharper, as the amount of stress at it's surfaces is greatly increased at this point in the drilling process.
 I like to drill into hardwood, as it seems the clamped piece comes out with smaller burrs on the 'out' side of the hole, and the bit is less likely to be yanked by a large burr.

[petemoore]

Drill press?

[Jered]

Vari-bit
Jered

[dosmun]

As far as having a hard time finishin it  leave it plain I am sure it looks awesome.