[Amps] Chassis construction question

[Will Matney]

Dan,

You've got me on cheap pricing. If you have a local steel supplier, they generally carry both aluminum and steel sheet. Another place would be to buy from a local sheet metal shop. Mail order is the 3rd option and is more expensive over paying freight charges. Now some might not agree with this but I like aluminum cabinets with a steel chassis. You can solder directly to steel for direct grounding. On aluminum, you are forced to use mechanical connections which can corrode over years, and come loose causing the amp, etc. to go squirelly. So my choice of being a steel chassis inside an aluminum enclosure. A lot of projects I've used all steel and it worked ok to me. Aluminum supposed to be better in shielding than steel. Steel sheet is a lot cheaper and stouter than aluminum too.

One type of chassis construction uses aluminum sheet cut into squares and drilled. Then you use alum. angle to construct the frame the panels screw to. More professional is having it bent if you have the luxury of a break. That way, well let's see how to put this, you don't have to screw yourself to death..LOL!

I myself would like to find some cheap supplies if any know who they are.

Best,

Will

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 8/2/05 at 7:22 PM Dan K9ZF wrote:

>I've found this to be a very interesting thread.  It is on topic, but 
>quite different than the usual subject matter.
>
>Building chassis has been more of a hold up for me than the electronics 
>part of homebrewing amps.  But I found some nice old cabinets at the 
>last ham fest I went to, so I'm about ready to get started now.
>
>Where is a good place to buy sheet metal?  Most of the places I have 
>found seemed awfully expensive.
>
>73
>Dan
>
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