Tired of the chassis options available on the market I have started to make my own.
I have found some local shops to laser cut and bend sheet metal, but they are not equipped with machines for press-fit fasteners.
Since they would have to fit them manually, they recommended me to get a manual press and fit the fasteners myself, in order to save costs.
I tried fitting the inserts with a pillar drill I have but it clearly doesn't have enough force so I will need to get a dedicated press but I am unsure on what to choose.
THIS is the main kind of insert I will be using and the chassis material is 1.5mm mild steel.
I have attached a section of the PEM inserts catalog that lists the required force for fitting the inserts, the range is very wide and from what I can see it really affects the price of the press, I can get a decent quality 5kN press for about 100 euro, but a 25kN one is over 500 euro !
Main thing I am wondering is if the smaller press could do the job with just a bit more elbow grease ?
There are also some low cost pneumatic press sold from China like THIS but the force is specified at 200kG so a lot inferior to what the insert datasheet recommends.
An interesting bonus that could potentially come with a pneumatic machine is the ability of punching M3 countersunk holes instead of making them with a rotary tool. But I have no idea of the force needed for this job.
Any insight or recommendations about this subject would be very welcome.
I have found some local shops to laser cut and bend sheet metal, but they are not equipped with machines for press-fit fasteners.
Since they would have to fit them manually, they recommended me to get a manual press and fit the fasteners myself, in order to save costs.
I tried fitting the inserts with a pillar drill I have but it clearly doesn't have enough force so I will need to get a dedicated press but I am unsure on what to choose.
THIS is the main kind of insert I will be using and the chassis material is 1.5mm mild steel.
I have attached a section of the PEM inserts catalog that lists the required force for fitting the inserts, the range is very wide and from what I can see it really affects the price of the press, I can get a decent quality 5kN press for about 100 euro, but a 25kN one is over 500 euro !
Main thing I am wondering is if the smaller press could do the job with just a bit more elbow grease ?
There are also some low cost pneumatic press sold from China like THIS but the force is specified at 200kG so a lot inferior to what the insert datasheet recommends.
An interesting bonus that could potentially come with a pneumatic machine is the ability of punching M3 countersunk holes instead of making them with a rotary tool. But I have no idea of the force needed for this job.
Any insight or recommendations about this subject would be very welcome.