square holes?

[A1Full]

Hello to see if anyone can help, I would like to make some square holes in a box hammond 1590BB, as I can make? anyone have any technique, or know of a tool?
thanks

[thetrend77]

You'd need a cnc machine probably. Pedal Parts Plus can cut square holes for you.

[jkokura]

No, you can use hand tools, you just need to be careful.

What I highly recommend is that you use a drill bit as much as possible. A dremel is a good tool to then take your round hole and make it square, or even a hack saw blade can be used.. Files can be used to smooth things down.

Jacob

[jimmybjj]

No, you can use hand tools, you just need to be careful.

What I highly recommend is that you use a drill bit as much as possible. A dremel is a good tool to then take your round hole and make it square, or even a hack saw blade can be used.. Files can be used to smooth things down.

Jacob

+1 thats what i did

http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=1463.0

[stecykmi]

i use a nibbler for cutting holes like this. smallbear and futurlec both carry them, i have the futurlec model. seems fairly well made. i personally used it on sheet aluminum, just make sure that the tool you buy can cut the thickness of a BB enclosure.

[raulduke]

+1 on the nibblers and also the drilling method.

Nibblers do a good job on thinner material.

For thicker material, and also areas with less space (eg.Hammond enclosures), drilling around, and inside, the outline of the required square with a small bit and then filing it down carefully works very well.

If you get a decent set of files it shouldn't take long at all. Also, use a small a drill bit.

[A1Full]

thank you very much everyone for the advice, but if I have to do 30 holes, I'm going crazy, I do not understand as yet do not sell a machine to make these holes.

[raulduke]

There is no easy way of drilling/cutting a square hole; thats the crux of it mate.

The methods mentioned here are pretty much your only bet if you don't want to get into to CNC/Watercutting etc route.

There is no cheap machine/tool you can buy. There may be square punches available to use with hole punches but I haven't seen any readily available.

Metalwork is good for you anyway; I find filing etc therapeutic but that might just be me ha ha  !

[plesur]

Here's a video of how it's done with specialised equipment.

Very clever. But way out the price range of DIY, I would think.

[DutchMF]

That must be one of the coolest things ever: drilling a square hole! Gonna look into that. I just found out that there's a place called PROTOLAB in my hometown (Utrecht, the Netherlands) that has all kinds of fancy CNC-machines, which you can use, under guidance of course, for free on two afternoons a week. I'd imagine a place like that is quite rare, but I think it pays of to research the possibilities of pro-quality metalshops in your area. I wouldn't have found this if I hadn't googled! Not sure what they can and cannot do yet, but it looked promising. And always be friendly to your local metal-worker.......

Paul