I need a sheet of alum, perferably like the lian-li brushed alu, in a 1ft by 2ft sheet. Where is a good place to get it in the California? thanks
Online metal supplies I bought 2 sheets of 2'x4' Aluminum sheet metal from them before. Its relatively a good price for metal. Paid $40 for all of mine where it would have costed me $20 locally for a 2'x2' piece.
sweet, how long does it take them to ship? and any idea on what type (ie 2024, 5052, 6061...) its easy to bend and work with to make a replica lian li front face plate?
I bought 5052 in .025" thickness and it was very easy to work with. My order took 1 week to get to my house because it was so big (June2-June9). You probably wont get exact (unless you are really good) to the lian-li front but you can get fairly close. P.s. Dont use a jigsaw to cut it tho you will just tear it up if you get the thin stuff like i did.
yea i measured the lian li alu and it is 1/32 thick and i was planning on dremeling the whole thing .
err edit, what kind of finish did u do on it? im trying for a brushed look and i dont know how hard it will be
i was going to do a brush but i couldnt get access to a band sander so i used a random orbital sander to do it. THe link in my sig will show you pictures of the case. Its completely made out of aluminum. For a brushed look you should use a band sander with a medium to light grit
nice case, i love those fans. esp the bottom one...im thinking about doing that in my lian li kuz i wasnt an fan a of a top blow hole. yea i have access to many diff types of sanders so i think i can get close to the look, i know the only way to be perfectly on is to buy another front for 40$! damn rip off considering the alu only costs 5 dollars +shipping. and i have the special angled edges one and i could REALLY use replacement end caps.
yea that was one of my ideas BUT mine is style 2... with the diagonal edges in front. Now trying to find that face plate is nearly impossible. Im pretty sure that the pc601 face will fit but i really like the look of the pc602. thnx for the link
call a local sign shop and ask them for the price for some bare aluminum. Ask for 080 thickness. Luckily, I have a sign supply business near me and I can buy whole sheets of the stuff. A sign shop will be able to even cut it to size for you, they use it for making, well, signs. Most stock they carry will have a baked on white enamel finish. If you are lucky, they will have stock that has no finish on it. But if all they have is the white, it can be sanded off fairly easily. It's local and cheap.
this site might be able to sell you a sheet of brushed aluminum. http://www.cuttingedgeinc.com/referenc.htm Edit: Actually this looks like is an even better site, although you have to order a lot. http://www.tapeease.com/anodized.htm
and another site http://www.metalsdepot.com/index.phtml I don't see brushed aluminum, but they have brushed steel so I would think they would be able sell ya some brushed aluminum.
if you read the thread lowes and homedepot is more expensive and the pieces you buy are usually scratched up
This depends on what kinds of tools you have access to. If you want to be able to cut it with tin snips, then .080 aluminum is WAY too thick. one-sixteenth-inch is .0625, so .080 is more than that.... For tin-snips you'd want .025 or .032 aluminum. .080 aluminum would need to be cut with a saw. A cheap coping saw or hacksaw would certainly work but it would take a while.... As for what alloy of metal, you want 6061 aluminum if they have it. ------ For steel, you'd want about 2/3 thickness of aluminum, so .016 or .020. For 4130 or mild steel. ------- I would say to forget totally about using stainless steel at all, unless you can get a plasma cutter to cut it with. Stainless is amazingly tough to cut by regular means--you want proof, get a cheap stainless table knife, and try to cut the blade! A dremel wheel is about all that will work, no hacksaw, no tin snips will do it well. ----- Thin sheets are much more convenient to cut but they tend to get bent up during working, and you can't ever get them to flatten out like new again. Thicker sheets are more difficult to cut but stay flat better. Look to the nearest big city for a metals supplier, if they sell in single-sheet or smaller quantities.
