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Tins

Posted: 04 Sep 2009, 18:41
by thelostdot
If I'm building something not to be used under my foot I prefer to get my box free if I can. In the USA they seem to use Altoids tins, but you can't get those here in the UK, so instead I found some German sweets in a tin for about a Euro in the shop BM. See my picture. I sing as well so I use the sweets to keep my mouth wet while all the singing is blowing it dry, then I get the tin for projects. Thing is, How do I make the necessary holes in this? It doesn't look very drill friendly to me, do I need a big nail and a big hammer, or is there another way? Thanks in advance for any info.

Re: Tins

Posted: 04 Sep 2009, 22:01
by himister
:applause:
Idea is...well...funny but I think worth to try. :D
Just to say, I have 5-6 of this "funny" sweet boxes and I was also thinking to make some fuzz project on them.
Same question here...how to drill it? Well the best thing is to make some wooden circular pattern which will be support under the circular aluminum edge then to drill side holes where jacks would be mounted, as for the stomp switch and pots, same thing but this one should be flat and small enough to be under the cover. First to make pointers then drill with smaller drill gauge then use bigger.

Also I was having idea to reinforce the top cover with some metal \m/ :wink:
I had a broken computer hard disk and I've disassembled it, so I left the magnetic disks. Few days ago I was looking at it and idea has came to try to reinforce the top cover with it, since they fit under perfectly, even I had a hole in the center, almost no drilling needed. :lol:

Hope to put some photos as the guide these days.

Just go for it, it will be fun I hope.

:thumbsup

Re: Tins

Posted: 19 Sep 2009, 23:10
by JiM
I think the best way to make holes in such tin is to use what is called in french an "emporte-pièce" :
http://www.leroymerlin.fr/mpng2-front/p ... erall=on#8
You hit that with a hammer, and it stamps out a hole from any thin material.

I had a hard time finding a translation in english ... it seems to be called a "dinking die" or a "hollow cutter".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piercing_( ... g)#Dinking
http://www.custompartnet.com/wu/images/ ... inking.png

You can also use a drill on low speed (preferably a hand drill), the key in all these methods being to use some scrap wood as a support to punch or drill into.

Re: Tins

Posted: 20 Sep 2009, 13:46
by KindaFuzzy
I usually use a hand drill and a piece of wood behind, like JiM said. I've built a bunch in this type of tin:

Image

Re: Tins

Posted: 20 Sep 2009, 14:06
by himister
Yeah! 8)
That's really cool Fuzzy. :thumbsup

I had another idea with small Lucky Strike cigarette box. One more idea was to use Ballantine's scotch tin box top covers as a cover for an OT for some small HI-FI amp. It really looks great.

http://www.cumparaieftin.ro/userfiles/p ... _cutie.jpg

Re: Tins

Posted: 26 Sep 2009, 04:34
by soulsonic
I use one of these when metal is too thin or soft to drill.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=91510
It is a wonder with thin aluminum boxes!

Re: Tins

Posted: 26 Sep 2009, 12:22
by B Tremblay
soulsonic wrote:I use one of these when metal is too thin or soft to drill.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=91510
It is a wonder with thin aluminum boxes!
The product name sounds like a leftover from that notorious list of terms (like Dirty Sanchez and Rusty Trombone)!