You really don’t need solid aluminium at this size, I use Alupanel (the stuff they use to make outdoor signage) which you can get cut to size quite cheaply. I go with a company called Simply Plastics who are UK/EU based but I am sure a little googling will turn up a US supplier.
They turn out nice and sturdy, with very little flex at all over the ~18.2cm gaps between Kosmo rails, and are super easy to work with.
This one cost me about £4 in materials to make…
Quick googling doesn’t turn up any cut-to-size Alupanel suppliers outside the UK. At least not when I look.
And yes, you can get 7 7/8" square aluminum cut to size in the US, but seems to start at $20 (plus shipping) per piece.
You might have some luck finding Dibond, which I believe is the US trade name.
You could also try walking into a local sign writers shop and seeing if they use it/have any offcuts. We don’t exactly use huge panels
I think the sign boards are often called aluminium (or aluminum) composite material (ACM for short.) The thickness of each layer of the sandwich and the quality of the filling will affect rigidity, so you may have to kiss a few frogs to get the true prince of your heart’s desire.
As before, in the US you may not have much luck getting boards cut to metric sizes. If they’ll do custom jobs, though, you can convert mm to inches and tenths just by dividing by 25.4. The international standard inch is defined as 25.4mm. So 200mm is 7.9" close enough. 100mm is a hairsbreadth over 3.9".
Buying aluminum is NUTS. I took a look on ebay.co.uk and found lots of vendors who apparently will sell a 20 cm by 20 cm piece of 1.5 mm alumin(i)um for a couple of pounds with free shipping (in the UK…).
In America? Basically no similar vendors on eBay, and when I went to onlinemetals.com (who sold me some pieces cut to size a number of years ago) I find they no longer offer cut to size, and a 12" by 12" piece of 0.063" aluminum (6061) costs $9.35 plus $15.35 shipping!
Oh, hey. Just found a vendor on AliExpress offering 20 cm by 20 cm by 1.5 mm (1060) for $8.60 with free shipping. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32747928567.html
I seem to recall that aluminum and steel tariffs were raised by the American President a couple of years ago as an attempt to provoke a trade war with China.
Because of the way tariffs work, this would raise the price of aluminum and steel in the US domestic market, while having no effect on the prices in the outside world. It was an odd move, I thought at the time.
really very nice !!!
Love the SciFi look!
Yup. Meanwhile im over here handing money to Chinese pcb manufacturers to make front panels and raiding cigar boxes from a liquor store.
In the US there is https://www.metalsupermarkets.com. I live in Arizona, and there happens to be one of their warehouses nearby. I am picking up my first batch of panels on Saturday, and I was quoted ~20USD for 5 20cmx20cm 0.063" thick aluminum panels.
Im not sure if they ship, but I can ask when I go pick my order up on saturday.
They do have a buy online store on their site. Five pieces 20 cm x 20 cm x 0.063" 5052H32 grade come to $38.13 before taxes and shipping. I don’t know how much the grade matters; they have two others that cost a little more and two for which you have to request a quote.
That’s great. The aluminum doesn’t need to be anything special, and should be pretty rigid at 20cm long, especially when mounted to a rack.
The person I talked to was really helpful over the phone, so once I mount a couple of PCBs to these, I’ll upload some photos. I should have my modular case finished by then also.
I talked to a few people from there, i live like 3 miles away from one. However i could never get anyone to look at my quotes or discuss. I waited 3 weeks to get anything back from anyone and thats why i use PCB now. If its different for others, thats great i hope it was just me.
I really like the PCB method though and appreciate the tutorial on how to do it in Easy EDA. I need to go back and watch it again in fact. I should have the actual electronics pcbs coming Tuesday if there’s no quarantine issues in DHL customs.
Stumbled upon this when googling for something else, and they’re not cheap, but this might be interesting for people looking for really stylish PCB front panels (copper/gold on black substrate):
Quick Update
Metal Supermarkets ended up being too far away from my house, and I found another vendor close to my house.
My local metal supplier (AZ metals) can cut ten 5-10cmx20cm panels for ~25USD, and they are open during the times of COVID. Depending on your region, Im assuming that similar local vendors are available in most states. If not, they do mention shipping on their website. Since they do work in inches, my 20x10cm panels were cut to 7 7/8" x 3 15/16", and they are spot on perfect every time
I put this in the Mail Day thread but it’s relevant here:
The one local place I contacted tried to tell me $9 and change for a 20 by 40 panel, then said “Oh by the way, there’s an incoming UPS fee of $13” so I went online.
i’m starting to work out where/how I want to source front panels as I start making some of my own. has anyone had much luck sourcing aluminium in the US? I found a vendor on ebay selling 20cm x 20cm for ~$7 per panel. it’s not bad, but I also want some smaller panels and I’m not sure my current tool set is ideal for cutting straight lines…
i’m also thinking of picking up a table saw for some projects. might be able to use that to rip smaller panels… probably not great for the saw.
You can order out on the internet, sites and prices have been discussed on here. Their tolerances aren’t that great tho and aluminum isn’t the easiest thing to grind. But the table saw will have no problem with the Aluminum if you take it slow. I have a bunch of kosmo sized panels I’m not going to use if you’re interested
