Aluminum enclosure fabrication

So. i am building a couple of mono power amps in the not too distant future. Why buy a case ready made and be restricted by its dimensions ?

Don't ask me how but i have a lot of aluminum sheet of various sizes and thickness along with various angle, box and other profiles that are just too nice to leave doing nothing.

As the cases are for power amps then they will have to be sturdy enough to take the weight of heavy transformers and provide adequate heat sinking.

Here's what is going in them;

*Canterbury windings 340VA toroids with separate windings for front & back end

*Avondale Cap6 and Minicaps

*NCC200 modules

*PFM gyrators

*soft start (possibly)

*speaker protection circuits

*pixie dust or some canned air from Stonehenge

I have 6mm and 3mm aluminum sheet available along with some 3mm tread plate.

What are peoples thoughts on what would be best. Does thicker plate give better heat sinking ? What about tread plate for the top, that has a larger surface area for getting rid of heat. But will it look an arse ?

6mm is very sturdy but is so much harder to cut and my amp will be a back breaker to lift when everything is inside.

There are other considerations to take into account like will etching primer and a few thin coats of hammerite hammered finish be durable? What about jointing ? I am well aware that i will not be able to construct something like the shoebox cases with no visible fixings on the outside unless i get some aluminum brazing rods and braze the hell out of them. I can weld and solder so brazing can't be that hard to learn can it ? Practice on some scraps is probably the way forward before plunging in at the deep end.

Only things to consider with brazing are will i have to provide additional earth continuity between the different panels because the joints are not conductive ? Could be a pain. I know the brazing joints can be filed and sanded smoothed but are they still going to visible ? Only one way to find out.

I suppose the best thing about making your own cases is being able to make it to fit what you are putting inside. I have got very frustrated with being limited by the dimensions of the Naim shoebox cases and their limited heat sinking abilities.

It is lucky i have the materials to hand, the tools to do it, patience, a perfectionists outlook and the metalwork skills to pull it off.

Back in a year or two.

STU

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Aluminum enclosure fabrication