Sheet metal enclosures... inspire me

Feral Feline said:
How did you achieve that?

It's one of my all-time favourite finishes, but my own experimentation with engine-turning didn't turn out so well as that.

PS: Still need to finish mine, any tips/hints/help is greatly appreciated.
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It's quite simple.
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Grinding stone (in the same diameter as circles on the finish), piece of cork glued to the face of the grinding stone (with a double sided tape, then sanded with file to the same diameter as the grinding stone), piece of foam backed sanding paper (400.. to 800 grit) glued to a cork (also trimmed to proper diameter).

You also need a pattern - how to advance to the next position.
Let's say you want 10mm diameter circle. Each horizontal step - 7mm. Each vertical step 7mm down and 4mm to the left.
Then draw a brickwall like pattern on the part - with very soft and sharp pencil. Then I just align grinding stone to red "corners"

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Erik S said:
I'd like to order some of these. What size are you using? Got a good source?
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M3 thread. I have two sizes - for 1mm thick material and 1.4mm thick. I tested both on 1.5mm thick aluminium and I prefer 1mm type. There's no or very little distortion of the material after pressing in the nut. With 1.4mm there's a slight bow. At least on the test scrap. Maybe hole was to close to the edge od the alu sheet(5-6mm)...
I bought them here (aliexpress)
I have no idea if anything outside the US is a good source these days :)
 
temol said:
M3 thread. I have two sizes - for 1mm thick material and 1.4mm thick. I tested both on 1.5mm thick aluminium and I prefer 1mm type. There's no or very little distortion of the material after pressing in the nut. With 1.4mm there's a slight bow. At least on the test scrap. Maybe hole was to close to the edge od the alu sheet(5-6mm)...
I bought them here (aliexpress)
I have no idea if anything outside the US is a good source these days :)
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Thanks! Just ordered some.
 
here's some sheet metal inspiration. It's a one or two piece body. The lumpy black thing is the detachable and rollable battery. Nothing to do with pedals, but it does have to do with electricity. The builders looked to origami, so it's maybe a viable source of ideas.

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Found a file for a radius-finger that should fit one of my brakes. Hoping it works so I can get some of those big sweet @temol radiii!

I pulled this printer out of a trash pile in the rain thinking I was gonna strip some parts off it, but after I dried it out it ended up working. This is the first time over ever tried printing something at 100% infill. Says it’s gonna take 23 hours!!

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Yeah.. printing times suck. To start with, I would print a narrow finger (40-50mm) just to check if everything is ok. Length, radius, hole location, and above all, stiffness. I don't know what kind of bender you have, but it's worth making the finger the right length so that you don't have to reset the bender every time you change the radius.
 
temol said:
Yeah.. printing times suck. To start with, I would print a narrow finger (40-50mm) just to check if everything is ok. Length, radius, hole location, and above all, stiffness. I don't know what kind of bender you have, but it's worth making the finger the right length so that you don't have to reset the bender every time you change the radius.
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The brake is a 24 inch Di-Acro. Pretty fancy machine, but I almost never use it because it's out in an unheated garage. If I get into making enclosures again, it might get moved into the basement shop.

If the radius seems good but the stiffness is an issue, I'll probably just bite the bullet and machine one out of steel. When I got the brake it was missing a couple fingers, so I made some standard ones, but the radius makes it a more complicated job.

I got into 3D printing by accident, and it's not something I've put a lot of time into. I don't have any 3D cad software set up for modifying things. I pretty much just hit print on things on thingiverse that are ready to go.

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Erik S said:
Found a file for a radius-finger that should fit one of my brakes. Hoping it works so I can get some of those big sweet @temol radiii!

I pulled this printer out of a trash pile in the rain thinking I was gonna strip some parts off it, but after I dried it out it ended up working. This is the first time over ever tried printing something at 100% infill. Says it’s gonna take 23 hours!!

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We’re in the same boat! Instead of punches though I designed my first forming die! 100 percent infill. I’m trying to stamp some enclosures!

This is the male die that will be punching into the sheet metal.

3d printing kind of opens up the brake to a whole new level!

Here’s a Link to the press brake dies I use for folding my enclosures. You just need extension springs to complete them and that’s it!
 
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