What happened to part 4?
I want part 4 to be on mosfets, but I do not feel I'm qualified or capable of describing or recommending a mosfet, so I urge all to seek more capable minds for information.
Tip- The biggest key to do it yourself work is to know when you're in over your head. If you understand the limits of your capabilities, and outsource what you cannot do, you will have a more pleasurable building experience, and a better final product.
So, if you've made it this far, now it's time to start collecting and installing all the hardware you've chosen. This is merely some tips that may or may not help with that.
Time to drill
Some of us have an awesome garage with drill presses and nylon vices and mills, with a clean work bench, tools hung neatly on the walls, and some rock and roll playing on their stereos.
I live in a small apartment and my desk triples as a juice table and a machine shop. I have a battery powered drill, 3 step drill bits, a small file, a nail, and a hammer. But that's all I need. Granted, nice setups make better mods, but the difference is small if you have the biggest skill a builder needs- patience. If you take your time, pay attention to detail, and plan out your build like a chess game, you can get professional results without spending literally hundreds of dollars on tools.
Measuring- As you can see from my above tool list, there's no ruler or tape measure. That's because I'm not using one. Am I crazy? yup, a little bit. But I still don't need a ruler. How do you find center without a ruler? Well, I've always found rulers ineffective at things like finding center. If I have to transfer measurements across a job or to another person, they come in handy. But by moving a ruler or re-aligning it, you can throw off your measurements. So I took a business card, and cut it to the size of the top of my box, folded it in 4, and there's my center. Even better, my step drill bit is sae, and the 510 is metric, so I have a little wiggle room to eye the 510 to center. scratch the corner of your folded business card to mark center, give that center mark a sturdy rap with the hammer and nail, then on to step 2.
Drilling- Aluminum is a very soft metal, compared to steel. Because of this freat trait, I prefer to hold the drill bit in my hand and screw it into my center punched marking spot. This keeps my force as close as possible to the point of work, and prevents the bit from "walking" off center. The level of control you get for this often botched step is so much greater than if you're holding a drill and you're hands are literally 10 inches away from the point of work. To get even more control, I hold the box in my hand. This way I can turn the box sideways and watch where the drill bit is making contact, and adjust as necessary. And yes, you can drill aluminum with youre hands if your bit is sharp, it's really easy. Don't believe me? try it.
Now that you have a sturdy divot, you can hook up the drill and start the real work. For this, I took a bubble wrap shipping envelope and put it under my mod. This way, the force I apply down on the mod while drilling creates a gradle on the base, spreading out the surface area at the base onto the table, and the greater friction at the table holds the box in place, and prevents scratching. Cloth between hard surfaces reduces friction, so I would not try a rag or towel, small bubble wrap works just fine for me.
Pro Tip- There's absolutely NO NEED to go full speed with you're drill. I go as slow as possible, for a few reasons. First, I have far greater control of the drill When my finger is not clenching the trigger. My hand is more relaxed, the sound is quieter, and I maintain greater visibility at the point of work. The drill bit still does close to the same amount of work, because the bit bites deeper into the metal, instead of skipping across the surface. You end up taking out long ribbons of metal, instead of tiny flakes. If you're using a step bit, going slower will stop you from slamming the next step into your mod when you drill out your mark. If you're using a straight drill bit, going slower will stop the bit from "catch threading", when the bit creates the hole perfectly shaped to the drill bit and screws in until it hits the other side of the box, or the chuck of the drill hits the outside of the box, making very pretty swirl marks. Besides, if you save 20 seconds by going full speed, I'd be shocked. It's 2mm of aluminum, You're not saving time by going fast. Let the tool do the work. Your job is to control that tool and tell it exactly what to do, and you accomplish that so much more effectively by taking your time. There's no need for a 2 handed death grip and putting your body weight into the drill. It's aluminum. I drill with 1 hand on the drill, and 1 hand on the box, and I have ultimate control over my work.
Square hole, round bit
Cutting out the volt meter hole (or shut off switch) is a tough task indeed. I prefer to order a box with that cut out for me. But if you must do it yourself, I recommend drilling many small holes and really taking your time with a small flat file to make that opening as perfect as possible. I think this is a point where spending the extra few bucks for the cutout installed(or, i guess, removed?) is totally worth it.
To bezel, or not to bezel
On my mod, there are 2 pieces that must be epoxied flush to the outside of the box, sitting inside perfectly cut holes, the voltmeter, and the potentiometer. If the surface is scratched from drilling, it will show. If your holes aren't perfect, it'll show. If you drill a hole out of square, the pot will not sit square and it'll show. And even if you do an amazing job, there will still be a tiny gap at the transition between the part and the box. But there is a solution. Bezels. I picked up a volt and pot bezel at dripp3d, but many other places have them. I even got to stick to my theme colors and matchy-matchied the colors of the bezels, button, and 510. But this bezel is nothing more than a lip that hangs over the outer edge of the box, and the component sits inside if it. There's a lip on the inside that seats the component square and the overlap covers gaps, giving a nice finished look.
For the pot, there's no real issue. Just drill a bigger hole. The bezel drops in, you have a little wiggle room for centering, and epoxy in place.
For the volt meter, it's a little harder. The bezel hole needs to be cut larger than the voltmeter hole that may come pre cut in your box. But, this is an easy fix as long as you follow 1 rule: Only file 2 sides of the cutout. For my box, I filed the inside(the edge that is away from the door) and bottom(away from the 510 end) edges only. This does a few things for me. This sends the centerline of the cutout toward the box itself, not the box and lid. That makes the edges of the bezel look more intentionally centered as if the lid was not a factor. This also keeps some meat on the edge that meets the door, which will get thin If I chose to file in that direction. But the biggest advantage of filing in only 2 edges is that I keep 2 square edges so my bezel can stay aligned properly to the box, not at a weird or ugly angle.
Pro tip- Take your time, and file as straight as possible. You can peer through the hole and try to eye the filed edge to the outer lip of the box. If those 2 edges are aligned, you are as square as you can get. Stop and check your work often. No point in filing out more than you need to. This will also give your hands a break, I sharpen chainsaws a lot, so I know there's a lot of cramping holding a file for long periods of time. You can also peer into the box and watch the angle of the file. Try to keep the file parallel to the bottom of the box, and you will get a more square cut. I went too agressive at first and bounced the file off the inside of the box a lot, and pulled the file out too far and nicked the finish once, of course in a place the bezel doesn't cover. So, I've learned the hard way that brute force is not the way to go. You could try a dremel, but I always found they like to take off on you, and that will make some cool tiger stripes on your box. So, try it on something else first, to see if it's something you can control, before you scratch up your mod. It took me an hour to file the opening bigger, but it came out almost perfect, and with the extra breaks, I did not tire or cramp. The file is the best way for me.
Another unforseen issue was the bezel itself, it did not fit the voltmeter. It was machined, with a round bit. The voltmeter has square edges. So I took my file and made maybe 3 passes on the sharp corners, and it pops right into place. And since the bezel has a lip that covers the edge of the voltmeter, you can't see the corner anyway.
Epoxy is not glue
It's yay better! You don't need much to hold a part in place. And you don't need much to seep to the outside of the box and leave weird stains on your finish. I use it just like I weld. I put some small dabs i a few spots to tack it in place. Ten add a few more spots to get it to stay there. Just like bondo, skim coating, or painting, lots of little coats produces a better result than 1 big glob.
If you take your time, and pay attention to the little details, you can have a fun and pleasurable building experience, with a final product you can be proud of.
Thanks for reading, and enjoy!
I want part 4 to be on mosfets, but I do not feel I'm qualified or capable of describing or recommending a mosfet, so I urge all to seek more capable minds for information.
Tip- The biggest key to do it yourself work is to know when you're in over your head. If you understand the limits of your capabilities, and outsource what you cannot do, you will have a more pleasurable building experience, and a better final product.
So, if you've made it this far, now it's time to start collecting and installing all the hardware you've chosen. This is merely some tips that may or may not help with that.
Time to drill
Some of us have an awesome garage with drill presses and nylon vices and mills, with a clean work bench, tools hung neatly on the walls, and some rock and roll playing on their stereos.
I live in a small apartment and my desk triples as a juice table and a machine shop. I have a battery powered drill, 3 step drill bits, a small file, a nail, and a hammer. But that's all I need. Granted, nice setups make better mods, but the difference is small if you have the biggest skill a builder needs- patience. If you take your time, pay attention to detail, and plan out your build like a chess game, you can get professional results without spending literally hundreds of dollars on tools.
Measuring- As you can see from my above tool list, there's no ruler or tape measure. That's because I'm not using one. Am I crazy? yup, a little bit. But I still don't need a ruler. How do you find center without a ruler? Well, I've always found rulers ineffective at things like finding center. If I have to transfer measurements across a job or to another person, they come in handy. But by moving a ruler or re-aligning it, you can throw off your measurements. So I took a business card, and cut it to the size of the top of my box, folded it in 4, and there's my center. Even better, my step drill bit is sae, and the 510 is metric, so I have a little wiggle room to eye the 510 to center. scratch the corner of your folded business card to mark center, give that center mark a sturdy rap with the hammer and nail, then on to step 2.
Drilling- Aluminum is a very soft metal, compared to steel. Because of this freat trait, I prefer to hold the drill bit in my hand and screw it into my center punched marking spot. This keeps my force as close as possible to the point of work, and prevents the bit from "walking" off center. The level of control you get for this often botched step is so much greater than if you're holding a drill and you're hands are literally 10 inches away from the point of work. To get even more control, I hold the box in my hand. This way I can turn the box sideways and watch where the drill bit is making contact, and adjust as necessary. And yes, you can drill aluminum with youre hands if your bit is sharp, it's really easy. Don't believe me? try it.
Now that you have a sturdy divot, you can hook up the drill and start the real work. For this, I took a bubble wrap shipping envelope and put it under my mod. This way, the force I apply down on the mod while drilling creates a gradle on the base, spreading out the surface area at the base onto the table, and the greater friction at the table holds the box in place, and prevents scratching. Cloth between hard surfaces reduces friction, so I would not try a rag or towel, small bubble wrap works just fine for me.
Pro Tip- There's absolutely NO NEED to go full speed with you're drill. I go as slow as possible, for a few reasons. First, I have far greater control of the drill When my finger is not clenching the trigger. My hand is more relaxed, the sound is quieter, and I maintain greater visibility at the point of work. The drill bit still does close to the same amount of work, because the bit bites deeper into the metal, instead of skipping across the surface. You end up taking out long ribbons of metal, instead of tiny flakes. If you're using a step bit, going slower will stop you from slamming the next step into your mod when you drill out your mark. If you're using a straight drill bit, going slower will stop the bit from "catch threading", when the bit creates the hole perfectly shaped to the drill bit and screws in until it hits the other side of the box, or the chuck of the drill hits the outside of the box, making very pretty swirl marks. Besides, if you save 20 seconds by going full speed, I'd be shocked. It's 2mm of aluminum, You're not saving time by going fast. Let the tool do the work. Your job is to control that tool and tell it exactly what to do, and you accomplish that so much more effectively by taking your time. There's no need for a 2 handed death grip and putting your body weight into the drill. It's aluminum. I drill with 1 hand on the drill, and 1 hand on the box, and I have ultimate control over my work.
Square hole, round bit
Cutting out the volt meter hole (or shut off switch) is a tough task indeed. I prefer to order a box with that cut out for me. But if you must do it yourself, I recommend drilling many small holes and really taking your time with a small flat file to make that opening as perfect as possible. I think this is a point where spending the extra few bucks for the cutout installed(or, i guess, removed?) is totally worth it.
To bezel, or not to bezel
On my mod, there are 2 pieces that must be epoxied flush to the outside of the box, sitting inside perfectly cut holes, the voltmeter, and the potentiometer. If the surface is scratched from drilling, it will show. If your holes aren't perfect, it'll show. If you drill a hole out of square, the pot will not sit square and it'll show. And even if you do an amazing job, there will still be a tiny gap at the transition between the part and the box. But there is a solution. Bezels. I picked up a volt and pot bezel at dripp3d, but many other places have them. I even got to stick to my theme colors and matchy-matchied the colors of the bezels, button, and 510. But this bezel is nothing more than a lip that hangs over the outer edge of the box, and the component sits inside if it. There's a lip on the inside that seats the component square and the overlap covers gaps, giving a nice finished look.
For the pot, there's no real issue. Just drill a bigger hole. The bezel drops in, you have a little wiggle room for centering, and epoxy in place.
For the volt meter, it's a little harder. The bezel hole needs to be cut larger than the voltmeter hole that may come pre cut in your box. But, this is an easy fix as long as you follow 1 rule: Only file 2 sides of the cutout. For my box, I filed the inside(the edge that is away from the door) and bottom(away from the 510 end) edges only. This does a few things for me. This sends the centerline of the cutout toward the box itself, not the box and lid. That makes the edges of the bezel look more intentionally centered as if the lid was not a factor. This also keeps some meat on the edge that meets the door, which will get thin If I chose to file in that direction. But the biggest advantage of filing in only 2 edges is that I keep 2 square edges so my bezel can stay aligned properly to the box, not at a weird or ugly angle.
Pro tip- Take your time, and file as straight as possible. You can peer through the hole and try to eye the filed edge to the outer lip of the box. If those 2 edges are aligned, you are as square as you can get. Stop and check your work often. No point in filing out more than you need to. This will also give your hands a break, I sharpen chainsaws a lot, so I know there's a lot of cramping holding a file for long periods of time. You can also peer into the box and watch the angle of the file. Try to keep the file parallel to the bottom of the box, and you will get a more square cut. I went too agressive at first and bounced the file off the inside of the box a lot, and pulled the file out too far and nicked the finish once, of course in a place the bezel doesn't cover. So, I've learned the hard way that brute force is not the way to go. You could try a dremel, but I always found they like to take off on you, and that will make some cool tiger stripes on your box. So, try it on something else first, to see if it's something you can control, before you scratch up your mod. It took me an hour to file the opening bigger, but it came out almost perfect, and with the extra breaks, I did not tire or cramp. The file is the best way for me.
Another unforseen issue was the bezel itself, it did not fit the voltmeter. It was machined, with a round bit. The voltmeter has square edges. So I took my file and made maybe 3 passes on the sharp corners, and it pops right into place. And since the bezel has a lip that covers the edge of the voltmeter, you can't see the corner anyway.
Epoxy is not glue
It's yay better! You don't need much to hold a part in place. And you don't need much to seep to the outside of the box and leave weird stains on your finish. I use it just like I weld. I put some small dabs i a few spots to tack it in place. Ten add a few more spots to get it to stay there. Just like bondo, skim coating, or painting, lots of little coats produces a better result than 1 big glob.
If you take your time, and pay attention to the little details, you can have a fun and pleasurable building experience, with a final product you can be proud of.
Thanks for reading, and enjoy!