[cakeman]

I had trouble with my first one getting the holes the right size without looking like *insert bad word*

I used a normal battery hand drill with a metal drill bit(for metal)
Should I try an electric drill?

 

[tangent]

Use a very small twist drill for a pilot hole. 1/16" or so. Then switch to a step drill to complete the hole. Yes, step drills are expensive, but because they make the hole in small increments, they avoid the problems you ran into last time.

If you don't have a step drill, you can approximate its effect by just going up through the drills you have, in 1/16" increments. This is effective on metal, but not as good as a step drill on brittle plastics.

 

[cakeman]

Well thanks alot ;D
I was also just recommended a hole puncher... Sounds silly ;P

 

[nikongod]

someone once reccomended filling the tin with water and freezing it. Never tried it myself though.

 

[Emooze]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nikongod /img/forum/go_quote.gif someone once reccomended filling the tin with water and freezing it. Never tried it myself though.

Right concept, when you drill your holes, you want something fairly solid on the other side of the material. Scrap wood works wonders for this.

 

[Fred_fred2004]

I use a paper punch and a ream works a treat on the thin tins

 

[iareConfusE]

Paper hole punch.... Easy peazy.

 

[tomb]

Here's another vote for the paper punch - use the ones that have handles like pliers. They'll actually work just like a nibbler ... did several Alien DACs in Mint Tins that way - even used it to cut the square hole for the USB jack.

 

[Heady]

I support the paper hole punch for Altoid tins. Works far better than a step drill for me. The metal is too soft to drill without distorting it.

 

[iareConfusE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomb /img/forum/go_quote.gif Here's another vote for the paper punch - use the ones that have handles like pliers. They'll actually work just like a nibbler ... did several Alien DACs in Mint Tins that way - even used it to cut the square hole for the USB jack.

Circle shaped holes for a square shape?! Thats just siiiiiiiillllllllyyyyyyyy

 

[tomb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iareConfusE /img/forum/go_quote.gif Circle shaped holes for a square shape?! Thats just siiiiiiiillllllllyyyyyyyy

You'd be surprised.

Just by "nibbling" a little bit with the hole punch, you can easily get it close enough for Guvment work or Mint Tins.

P.S. Note that the hole punch is good enough to punch through the lip of the mint tin, as well.

You can see I do worse with the stupid pliers used to tighten the 3.5mm jack (scratches).

 

[iareConfusE]

^^^ Wow that actually looks really good haha. I thought when you mentioned using it to make square holes for the USB bit it would be like.. perfectly square, and I forgot that the corners of those USB jacks are beveled.

Anyways, I might actually be making an alien DAC soon and I guess I just found out what case I'm going to use