right .. ive used the search and not much luck. whats a good place in the uk to buy some 1mm thick aluminium for making a new backplate for a cd player im converting (see my sig) can you just walk into a shop and get a piece cut to size? or will i need to get my dremel / some other tool thats best, out for the job? I will also need to bend the edges (top and bottom) by about 1cm and need to do it precisely without many tools. any handy tips? to this end i am an aluminium newbie and need your help cheers Q
You could find some in a do-it-yourself store, like Home Depot in the US. Before you go to buy you should decide what grade to use. There is a soft grade to make flashing for roofs. Aluminum gutters use a harder grade. There may also be sheets with different color anodization for trim.
hmm.. well i guess this isnt such a common answer for the uK so i'll go round a few homebase, focus DIA type places.
have you checked out the places in the useful links sticky at the top of this page??? well in there there is http://www.technologysupplies.co.uk/ who are very good for all types of raw materials http://www.technologysupplies.co.uk/acatalog/Aluminium_Sheet.html they do 0.9mm and 1.2mm think aluminum sheet these people are also very good- http://www.metalsontheweb.co.uk/ and will cut the stuff to size for you - they are more expensive however then then techsupplies
You could check out local sheet metal shops in your area as they have off cuts etc' that they may let you have. I worked for a firm in Farnborough and we often had the odd guy looking for a bit of sheet and we let them have a rumage through the skips and stuff. Talk nice to them and they may cut to size. Most of my metal mods all began in the off cut bins. If I still worked there I would get you what you wanted as you are not so far away - sorry.
I tried this simple bending method - you just wrap your piece around a metal pipe of desired diameter for rounded corners. For right angles and such just lock it in a vise. You said 1cm wide? Kinda narrow... How about a wider piece and then trimming the excess - would be easier. Anything that will give you leverage... will help. If you go with hammering - put piece of wood behind your aluminum and hammer that - this will give you clean bend and won't leave hammer marks. With thin aluminum it works like a charm but thicker pieces could start cracking. hope this helps. radek
cheers guys... found that homebase do different sizes of 1mm aluminium.. i used my vice.. small.. and painfull doing the 1cm bend.. unfortunately i read the idea of doing it larger after the fact. all worked out well in the end though.
