The more common fly cutters, purchased as Sears, Harbor Freight, etc. are
not sturdy enough and
flex and chatter during use. They are no problem usually when making holes in
wood. But unless you
have an expensive sturdy fly cutter, and sturdy milling machine or drill press,
the cutter will grab the
soft 1100 aluminum and then it is a matter of what gives first. It could be the
clamps on holding
the aluminum, the belts slip on the drill press or in some cases the fly cutter
will end up being
twisted out of shape. The instructions for these common fly cutters suggest
that they can be used
in with a handheld drill.
I either use, when possible, Whitney Punches (expensive), Greenlee Punches,
also expensive, or
hole saws. And sometimes drilling many holes and file.
73
Bill wa4lav
________________________________________
From: Amps [amps-bounces@contesting.com] on behalf of Jim Thomson
[jim.thom@telus.net]
Sent: Friday, September 13, 2013 10:47 AM
To: amps@contesting.com
Subject: [Amps] Workshop Danger
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2013 06:24:16 -0600
From: "Jim Garland" <4cx250b@miamioh.edu>
To: <amps@contesting.com>
Subject: [Amps] Workshop Danger
My least favorite part of homebrewing an amplifier is making the meter
cutouts and tube socket holes. Last evening I cut three 2.90 holes for
GU-74Bs and survived the experience. I have a set of hole saws, but not
metric ones for Russian tubes, and therefore had to use a fly-cutter. IMHO,
fly-cutters are the most dangerous tool in a workshop. I hate the things. I
securely clamped the sheet aluminum stockl to the bed of a large
(floor-mounted) drill press, set the drill press on its slowest speed, and
used aluminum cutting fluid. One has to advance the fly-cutter VERY slowly
to prevent the cutting tool from grabbing the aluminum. If that happens, the
sheet aluminum is likely to go flying around in a big circle like a sythe.
The other danger is absent-mindedness, which can lead the drill press
operator to reach in with his fingers to remove a piece of aluminum debris.
Fly-cutters should never be used with a hand drill, as I stupidly tried once
as a teen-ager. They absolutely require a large floor-mounted drill press
with a sizeable bed.
73,Jim Garland W8ZR
## A W6 sent me a fly cutter so I could cut holes for my 2 x 4-1000 amp. I
used
a hand drill, since the huge STEEL chassis would not fit into my drill press !
Also had to use it to cut 5 x meter holes..also in a STEEL front panel.
## after just about killing my new wife and myself at the time... this was on
the kicthen
floor too, I took the entire mess to work, and borrowed the electricians
hydraulic
green lee punchs..wham bam..done. Don’t EVER use steel for either a
chassis or a front panel.
## I have a huge set of green lee punchs..that do meter holes, socket holes
etc...that came with the
big greenlee wrench. Then bought a similar set from harbor freight, which
also include the 11 ton hydraulic
hand pump. The chinese knock off was $99.00 The identical hydraulic punch
and 7 x greenlee punchs is $1300.00 !!
## The chinese knock off has not let me down yet....and the hydraulic punch
also works with my green lee punchs !
## I now have a modified drill press that will handle huge sheets of AL.
Also have the bench mount roper whitney 5 ton
punch with the 30 inch arm. Why drill hundreds of .187 holes..when you can
punch em 20 times faster than
any drill press. These new greenlee /chinese punchs are slick, they also
split the slug clean in half too. making
its removal easier.
## dunno what happened to the fly cutter. I did cringe one day though... I saw
an even bigger version of the same fly cutter,
huge thing, that would cut a 16 inch hole. greenlee also now makes hole
saws that will cut clean holes in al plate.
Electricians at most places will use em. My buddies at work had greenlee
punchs up to over 6 inchs ! Now those
are great things when doing 100 cfm fans that need a 4 inch hole etc.
## My bosch jig saw looks like a sausage....and with the thin blades, will
easily cut a 3 inch perfect hole, freehand,
into .375 inch thick AL plate. those blades are good up to .75 inch thick
AL plate.
## fly cutters... forget it, toss em. They really should be banned.
Jim VE7RF
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