Panel cutouts at home

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bobschwenkler

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 8, 2005
Messages
483
Location
Olympia, WA
What do folks here do? I just want to be able to do basic panel cutouts at home. I went to the hardware store today and the guy there told me to look up a tool that they were out of at that particular moment and I promptly forgot the name of it, basically a smallish router, not quite a Dremel tool. Something like this is all I think I need or want, I'm not looking for any lathe type device.
 
He may be referring to a roto-zip or rotosaw. But I wouldn't... If you drill corner holes, you could use a nice metal blade on a jig saw to cut squares, just go slow and use some cutting oil to keep the blade cool, or you'll be burning though them pretty quick.
 
Roto zip just won't have the power to but through more than .060 aluminum... If you're steady, you could also use a dremel with a cutoff wheel. Either way, you're going to want to cut inside the lines, then file to a nice finished edge...
 
RotoZip will cut drywall, will never cut a metal electrical junction box, will hardly scar a plastic junction box. You drywall OVER the boxes, poke the RotoZip, find the edge of the box, then RotoZip around the outside of the box.

Great for that. Not ideal for unguided cuts in stuff harder than drywall.

Odd holes in metal is "Fine Carpentry" but ironmongery. A carpenter's apprentence will spend a lot of learning-time whacking out workbench mortices, then dining-chair mortices, before getting good enough to do a hole which will show.

CAM systems is the shortcut.... BUY your skill.
 
I use a jigsaw loaded with blades suited for the metal I'm cutting for larger slots and rectangular areas. I have a bunch of techniques and a lot of practice so can cut a large slot and dress it to better than 0.25mm pretty quickly
 
It's hard to beat a Greenlee Knockout punch for making perfectly clean holes in steel or aluminum....but they are pricy at about $40 per size.  I bought three:  one for octal sized tube sockets, and another for minature 9-pin tube sockets, and a 1/2" inch one for large switches and for holes for feeding wires.  You can also buy rubber grommets that match to protect the wires.  You drill a pilot hole for the draw bolt, then use a socket wrench to pull the two parts of the die together.  It's fast and easy.

For other shapes (XLR connectors, IEC power inlets, etc), I use a sheet metal nipper to get close to the final shape.  Then a Dremel cutoff wheel or round sanding disc to clean up the edges.  Metal nippers are great for quickly nibbling out complex shapes and save a lot of wear and tear on the Dremel bits.

Most panel-mount components that mount from the outside have a plastic or metal flange around their perimeter to hide any uglyness in the hole.  The only thing I've mounted from the inside are tube sockets, and since the punched holes are perfectly round they look very nice that way.
 
for round holes, a drill press, or a drill with a drill guide using either drill bits and or uni-bits.  For squares it's a little more tricky. I have in the past use a jig saw with a metal blade. drill 2 holes in the corners of the square or rectangle you want. this allows for the blade to go through. then cut slow and steady. I have also tried jackob's method of drilling lots holes in the shape you want,  then cutting it out. Lastly using a file to make the edges even. Lastly for squares/rectangles I have tried using a dremel with a metal routing bit and or cutting disc. Again going slowly. This I have found to work well but you have to be steady. I am thinking better off just sending to a machine shop, or in my case I attach the IEC cables to units with  hole so the cable goes in and a rubber gromit so it is tight.
 
Square or rectangular holes are mostly what I'm looking for more information on. It seems like a dremel with a metal bit and a stand-off adaptor (to make it like a small router) using a straight edge as a guide could work fairly well. Anyone tried this?
 
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