[Desmodus]

Hello All,

I'm tasked with gathering information on cutting 1/8 DIN cutouts in stainless and mild steel enclosures. There are different size enclosures as large as 16x14x12.
I'm not really sure of the best way to do this, milling, laser, plasma .... We currently have a shapeoko xxl doing the plastic enclosures and working out fine.
Now we want to kick it up a notch. Any information would be appreciated.


Thanks

[Jim Dawson]

If you have hundreds of panels to do then a laser might be the best. I would farm them out to a local vendor that has a real industrial laser, unless you can afford to spend about $500K on one. Milling panel cutouts in steel and stainless is a PITA, I've done it and it sucks at best.

But for doing the cutouts as you are building the panels, this example might be the best option https://www.amazon.com/Rectangle-Pan.../dp/B06WVBFG6C. Greenly would be my prefered vendor.

[Desmodus]

Thanks Jim,

In fact, we do have hundreds. I also think the company is looking to be able to customize the panels more.

I did think of it or knew that Greenly had a 1/8 DIN punch thank!

-Dan

[2COOL585]

you can buy a punch set from McMaster to punch those holes! I've got one, and it works great! It does struggle in SS, but it does cut it. I've probably cut a few hundred holes with my punch successfully. Very easy to use also.

[Jim Dawson]

Is the company an enclosure manufacturer or a machine/panel builder? You would approach the problem differently for each.

[Desmodus]

Hi Jim,

The company I work for makes a variety of 1/8 DIN (and some other sizes)panel meters. We now do the cutouts on plastic enclosure but have to send out the metal ones. They would like to be able to do the metal cutouts in-house.

-Dan

[Jim Dawson]

Hi Jim,

The company I work for makes a variety of 1/8 DIN (and some other sizes)panel meters. We now do the cutouts on plastic enclosure but have to send out the metal ones. They would like to be able to do the metal cutouts in-house.

-Dan

Ok, so you are working with panel meter size, NEMA rated enclosures. Now I understand.

I'm still going to go with punching, but using a power press. The power press could be a press brake, a hydraulic press, or a mechanical punch press. A hydraulic press would be my first choice for the relatively low volume production you stated, simple and relatively safe for semi-skilled operators. A press brake would be my second choice, although we do use ours for punching of our products. It's a versatile machine if you're clever with die making. A punch press would not be recommended due to the associated inherent dangers and safety requirements, unless you are already using punch presses in your production and your personnel is already familiar with them.

I think a laser would be a bit of a problem for the powder coated enclosures but we have no discoloration of our laser cut uncoated SS parts. The down side of a laser is that it is expensive to purchase and set up to do it correctly. We have all of our laser work done by a local vendor. Punching is generally clean with no damage to the finish on powder coated panels.

If you are doing your own injection molding of the plastic meter cases, then I would assume that you have a mold maintenance shop in-house. That would mean that you have a real talent pool in-house who could build whatever dies/machine you need. A chat with your shop personnel would be in order. Using off-the-shelf punch sets would make this a simple project.