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FYI: DIY Cases and more!

post #1 of 12
12/7/02 at 2:12am
Thread Starter 
I thought I'd start up a thread for DIY case links. I was thinking to put up both companies where people can purchased interesting items for DIY cases, and eBay or other sales where possible items are for sale.

Maybe the mods could put a sticky on this??



Here's what I've got so far:


www.frontpanelexpress.com

- This is a company out of Seattle that will custom cut front panels for your enclosures, either out of material you provide to them, or from anodized aluminum. The prices are very reasonable (I made a sample panel, 3" by 6", with 3 small holes and one large hole, and the price came out $13.34 before tax and shipping).



www.thlaudio.com

- This is a site out of Taiwan, but their selection of knobs is incredible. They also have Black Gate Capacitors, Cardas solder, and other DIY goodies.



www.onlinemetals.com

- A place to get all kinds of metal sheets, from stainless steel to titanium. They provide custom cuts, and prices are reasonable.




www.shopmaninc.com

- These folks sell many different carbon fiber fabrics. If you are interested in something truly unique, try them out.




www.activeplastics.com

- These folks do custom acrylic cases. I have no idea if they have minimum order requirements or not.


CASE-RELATED THREADS

Enclosure Tools and Methods

How to construct a battery pack?

CURRENT AUCTIONS

NOTE: If someone is interested in one of these already, and would like me to pull it from this post, please PM me.

Black Acrylic Suggestion Box Ends 12/12 6:30 pm PST

Airport Base Station Ends 12/9 5:30 PST

Acrylic Hockey Puck Cases - Lot of 72 There's 72 of these things, which might be too much for the average person. A hockey puck is 3" by 1", FYI. Ends 12/8 8:30 PST
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post #2 of 12
12/7/02 at 4:42am
smartmetal.com is onlinemetals.com, just FYI.

Looks like a decent place if I were ever to need 1/4" aluminum (EDIT) plates for a power amp.
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post #3 of 12
12/7/02 at 1:24pm
good thread, I made it a sticky




Hammond Enclosures

http://www.hammondmanufacturing.com/scpg.htm
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post #4 of 12
12/7/02 at 7:08pm
Love that frontpanelexpress link!
Thanks. I've been considering having a panel machined locally, but the price was quite a bit higher (~135.00) so I dropped it.

I have an enclosure from a network-attached hard disk (with removeable rackmount ears) that I want to build an amp into, but the front panel is steel with a decal over it, so the existing holes are of no use. Figured I'd mount my components where appropriate, and (the steel has a 1/16th " recess overall) I could keep the locknuts from the pot and switch against the steel, with holes cut in some thin billet mounted flush with some nice flathead torx screws, or even blind studs.

Ok, enough blabbing. Thanks again!
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post #5 of 12
12/8/02 at 2:00am
A thought about Front Panel Express....

They do not anodize your panel. They buy their aluminum in sheets that are already anodized. This means that all of the edges of your panel will be natural, unanodized aluminum. The insides of your holes will not be anodized. If you have any cavities in the panel, which is very nice, they will not be anodized and it will look like crap. Sure, you could get your panel anodized by another company afterwards, but think how expensive that will be. You would also have to get any lettering on the panel done by a separate company after the panel is produced.
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post #6 of 12
12/8/02 at 9:10am
Good point, Antness. I have used clearcoat before on the inside edges of pot and switch holes (concealed, to help stave off oxidation) but that does not address the edges, which would be fully exposed.

Do you know if they deal in stainless?

If not, I'll just go for it with the aluminum, and have the whole thing sprayed and baked at a local body shop... I have a friend there.
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post #7 of 12
7/11/10 at 6:24pm

Great thread, worth reviving. Needs more links.

 

http://par-metal.com/index.php

 

http://www.surplussales.com/Cab-RacksHardware/encl_3.html

(see also metal boxes)

 

http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/category/219/Enclosures/1.html

 

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/484823/sources-for-audio-project-cases

 

http://www.hifi2000.it/

 

http://www.modushop.biz/ecommerce/index_l2.php

 

http://www.diyparadiso.com/price/housing.htm

 

http://www.minisemi.com/products.html

 

http://www.goldpt.com/enclosures.html

 

http://www.partsconnexion.com/

 

http://www.halted.com/commerce/misc/allproducts.jsp?czuid=1278896978624

 

 

http://www.frys.com/

 

http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/index.html

 

 

 

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post #8 of 12
7/12/10 at 12:08pm

nice bkmked!

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post #9 of 12
7/12/10 at 12:29pm

Good stuff... Just got a chuckle from one of the surplussales Metal Project Box descriptions:

 

Suckle Electronics U.S. Army Signal Corp. metal case with latch. Olive drab. Molded and felt padded interior. Great carry case for... vibrators or telescope eye pieces / accessories or any parts that need T.L.C. when being toted. New, unused. Measures: 3-1/4"H x 10-3/8"W x 5-1/16"D.

 

As we've revived this old thread, here's a few more links I'd laying around to add to the collection (haven't used 'em so don't take this as a recommendation):

 

http://www.tekoenclosures.com/enclosures/19.htm

 

http://www.autocostruire.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=43&osCsid=724307986fc5daae67f7fb1d85125dbe

 

for mesh, feet, switches, etc.  Have used these guys & have been happy:

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=314&zenid=3f6534450f48a53373128ccbbf114c34

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post #10 of 12
7/12/10 at 12:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Voodoochile View Post

Good point, Antness. I have used clearcoat before on the inside edges of pot and switch holes (concealed, to help stave off oxidation) but that does not address the edges, which would be fully exposed.

Do you know if they deal in stainless?

If not, I'll just go for it with the aluminum, and have the whole thing sprayed and baked at a local body shop... I have a friend there.


As I recall, oxidation of aluminum is a good thing - it provides a colorless and very thin layer of aluminum oxide which protects the aluminum underneath. It's not like iron or copper, where oxidation is bad, very bad.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by renlute View Post

Great thread, worth reviving. Needs more links.

 

http://par-metal.com/index.php

 

http://www.surplussales.com/Cab-RacksHardware/encl_3.html

(see also metal boxes)

 

http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/category/219/Enclosures/1.html

 

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/484823/sources-for-audio-project-cases

 

http://www.hifi2000.it/

 

http://www.modushop.biz/ecommerce/index_l2.php

 

http://www.diyparadiso.com/price/housing.htm

 

http://www.minisemi.com/products.html

 

http://www.goldpt.com/enclosures.html

 

http://www.partsconnexion.com/

 

http://www.halted.com/commerce/misc/allproducts.jsp?czuid=1278896978624

 

 

http://www.frys.com/

 

http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/index.html

 

 

 


Nice list! I'd also like to add Lansing Enclosures (http://www.lansing-enclosures.com), they have very nice cases for prices that are competitive with the standard Hammond extruded aluminum cases carried by Mouser.

 

 

also Context Engineering:

http://contextengineering.com/split_body_enclosures.html

 

looks like goldpoint sells Context Engineering cases, with a little extra stuff (milled front panel etc).


Edited by Ikarios - 7/21/10 at 12:27pm
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post #11 of 12
7/12/10 at 3:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rickcr42 View Post

good thread, I made it a sticky









Hammond Enclosures



http://www.hammondmanufacturing.com/scpg.htm




Good idea. How does one make a thread "sticky" with this new forum software?

jk
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post #12 of 12
7/12/10 at 5:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jdkJake View Post

Good idea. How does one make a thread "sticky" with this new forum software?

jk


I think you don't. The idea is to use the Wiki feature to maintain such information. There's a DIY links page (2 actually) based of rickcr42's list of links in the old forum software already, but not this collection of links.

Although there are links to specific threads in the Headphones FS/T forum for important topics, it looks like those are for important alerts (scammers, etc.).

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