cutting holes in an aluminium instrument panel

Again I beg forgiveness for disagreeing - cutting aluminium , especially thin sheet (aircraft grade), is not like cutting compost, which in my opinion responds/feels like similar to wood.

 

I am not saying a hole cutter/saw can not be used but in my experience it has more risk of unforeseen damage (the more so the thinner the sheet) and the result tends to be messier (needs more cleaning up). I would only a hole saw, in this context, where little alternative existed.

Never had a problem with holesaws on aluminium either, and I've gone down to 0.016". As long as you clamp the ally to a flat piece of wood it's fine.

What I have had problems with is the type of fly cutter shown in post #15. Besides taking chunks out of your knuckles, they have a tendency to bite in thin aluminium and wreck it unless you're really careful. A holesaw in a drill press is child's play compared to those buggers.

Use some aluminium lube wax when cutting aluminium with any saw blade (scroll or holesaw) - it's great stuff that reduces heat and wear, and stops the aluminium sticking to the saw teeth.

It works very well when applied to grinding and cutting discs, as well. Just a good trick taught to me in recent times, by an Italian aluminium welder bloke.

https://www.cuttingedgesaws.com.au/article/use-a-lubricant

Use some aluminium lube wax when cutting aluminium with any saw blade (scroll or holesaw) - it's great stuff that reduces heat and wear, and stops the aluminium sticking to the saw teeth.

 

It works very well when applied to grinding and cutting discs, as well. Just a good trick taught to me in recent times, by an Italian aluminium welder bloke.

 

https://www.cuttingedgesaws.com.au/article/use-a-lubricant

Good tip Ontrack - where do you get it from ?

When I had my fabrication business I bought it in about 400mm long x 100mm in diameter cylindrical sticks from the Aluminium supplier. You just poke the end into the spinning saw blade for an instant & the teeth were instantly coated. If you didn't use it the teeth of drop saws we used for cutting tube and extrusions clogged up & the Aly almost welded to the saw teeth. You needed a good pair of pliers to wrestle it off. I didn't use it (didn't have any) when building my plane as the Aly was between .016 & .032 so with a sharp saw it cut pretty fast.

Skippy, in the link I put up, you'll find the last line at the bottom of the text says, "Click here to purchase aluminium saw wax". The word "here" is a live link, that when you click on it, takes you to the page where you can purchase the wax.

What have you guys done? I see there is a really cool thing called a panel punch, but that's over 300 bucks just to cut five or six holes! Unless someone has one to lend

 

So what methods have been employed on this site?

If you cut the holes and a little under size you can sand a little bigger using sand paper wrapped around the neck of a wine bottle as it has a suitable tapper on it so then the hole are nice and even in roundness, use a file to get real close and dress off with the wine bottle.

A drill-driven sanding drum kit is a useful investment, and relatively inexpensive. You don't even need to drink a bottle of wine before you start on the sanding, if you have this kit.

https://www.amazon.com.au/10342-Sanding-Woodworking-Assorted-Sleeves/dp/B000RLZ8S6

If you cut the holes and a little under size you can sand a little bigger using sand paper wrapped around the neck of a wine bottle as it has a suitable tapper on it so then the hole are nice and even in roundness, use a file to get real close and dress off with the wine bottle.

Forgot to mention, use an unopened bottle and when finished post to me in Mackay, royality on idea:)

Forgot to mention, use an unopened bottle and when finished post to me in Mackay, royality on idea:)

You should specify a certain type of bottle, otherwise you'll end up with some bottom-shelf vinegar that costs less than the postage...

I use a holesaw then finish with a Drinking glass surrounded with 120 sandpaper. Perfect hole.

Find a sheet metal place that does water jet cutting.

Yes. Plasma cutters work on any conductive material. See under, "How does plasma cutting compare to oxyfuel cutting?", in the fourth paragraph in the link below.

 

https://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-ca/support/welding-how-to/pages/plasma-cutting-basics-detail.aspx

And water jet works well

Well there you go - you still want/need to make nice round air spaces in an aluminium sheet.

 

Spend the dough and use the services of a laser/water jet service provider or go the econo way with hole saws (messy) or circle cutters (fiddly & slow) OR invest in the poor mans laser (scroll saw).

 

Oh! and by the way my panel above is aluminium, with aircraft grade 1.5 (I think) plywood glued on for a "sporty ambience" - all holes , except mounting points (drilled) cut with scroll saw.

.

Water jet is typically not expensive and does a REAL nice job. I was amazed at how it does small holes with tight tolerances. My first experience was a fair size chunk of 16mm (or so) ally (thick) that was to be a false firewall for a Rotax 912 going into a Jab. That gives some idea of the size. It was a relatively complex shape with a big hole in the middle and mounting holes all over the place. Cost $300 including the metal ..... I had been all worried about CNC machining and needing to bump up the mortgage ..... :-) The guy casually mentioned that if I had wanted more than one he would have just clamped up a couple more slabs and blown them all at once.

IabBoag - did you mean 1.6 mm ?

Yes all the modern CAD capable cutting equipment does a fantastic job BUT COST!

Water jet is typically not expensive and does a REAL nice job.

Cost $300 including the metal

Clearly the idea of inexpensive is rather subjective.

I'm sure it does a nice job, but I think I'd rather spend the other $250 on something else and have the experience of doing the part myself.

I find no satisfaction is being able to say I paid someone else to do it, but that's just me.

That's why I wanted to do everything when I built my aircraft & I did. The paint job is not as professional as an expert spray painter but it is OK & I did it. Never spray painted anything else in my life before.

I used a circle cutter in a cheap drill press and sprayed lots of WD-40 while cutting. And as old man emu said don't forget the deburring tool. Turned out really neat.

I used a circle cutter in a cheap drill press and sprayed lots of WD-40 while cutting. And as old man emu said don't forget the deburring tool. Turned out really neat.

Nice !

Another one done with cheap holesaws and a half round file.

Just take your time.

Clearly the idea of inexpensive is rather subjective.

I'm sure it does a nice job, but I think I'd rather spend the other $250 on something else and have the experience of doing the part myself.

I find no satisfaction is being able to say I paid someone else to do it, but that's just me.

Yep. Whatever I do would want to be under $100. For $300 I could buy those snazzy panel punches and do it myself and get to use them again if I need to, or resell them.

My worry with CNC stuff is that you usually provide a file of the whole object and they cut it from blank stock. But supplying an already cut shape (which also has a bend) like my panel they will need to try and manually line it up, and face down.

I used a fly cutter and had no problems. It was a good quality fly cutter, not cheap rubbish and set up in a drill press with the panel securely held perpendicular to the drill. To clean up I used a home made bearing scraper, that is a triangular file with the teeth all ground off, leaving a triangle with 3 sharp corners. Final finish on a scotchbrite wheel.

For non circular shapes I have used a nibbler, but they are not so precise in operation.

Sounds good. Looks like there aren't any in Australia. But it's going to be a while before I cut the panel. So I'll get it on Amazon. Free tip guys- if you are getting something from overseas, if it's on Amazon go there. Aust Post priorotise Amazon parcels :) You need all the help you can get with the limited number of international flights at the moment. Although there is some vague talk that Amazon may be buying up some of the superfluous A380's that no one wants anymore. Won't help me right now of course :D

 

I've been mocking everything up on a 3mm MDF instrument panel so everything is in its place. I can sit in the cockpit and really make sure things look right and are in reach and it helps with seeing whats going on behind the panel too. I think I've had a change of plan for the radio for instance and the hole I cut out for that is damn close to the battery so I know to move that hole over a little on the final product.

I mentioned Amazon in a different thread just thought I'd update this. Received the tool today. So that's a bit over two weeks from the US. Plus a few days because for some reason a local courier delivered to my work address but refused to until I gave them my home address, 35 km further away. All of a sudden they could deliver to my work address after all ?

If you have a variety of shapes and holes to cut out of a panel, I would suggest you plan it all out carefully with a sheet of cardboard and then take it to someone that does laser cutting.

If you have a variety of shapes and holes to cut out of a panel, I would suggest you plan it all out carefully with a sheet of cardboard and then take it to someone that does laser cutting.

Yeah like $$$$$$

Wouldn't laser cutting create heat distortion in the panel? Water-jet cutting avoids this, but I'm not sure that WJ cutting is any cheaper than laser or plasma.