[Shop-talk] Cutting holes in small project box

[David Hillman]

On Wed, 9 Sep 2020, Lee Daniels wrote:
> I need to cut a couple of holes in a rather small electronic project box (This
> one: https://amz.run/3YjE ) - but I'm not sure how to make nice "pretty" holes
> in this. It has both a plastic and metal covers, either one works for me, but
> I'll have wires through the plastic side. How does one cut a nice hole in a
> box like this? Ideally I'll have round holes for wiring and at least one small
> rectangle for a switch. See photo. Any suggestions appreciated!

    For nice wiring ports, drill a hole using a regular bit, and insert an 
appropriately-sized grommet to both protect the wires and improve the 
cosmetics.

    For a rectangle, I would plasma cut it, but that's because I have a CNC 
plasma table.  Fixturing small items like yours is a pain, but it'll cut 
whatever you need into the metal parts.  Barring that option, I would 
again pull out my drill, and drill small holes in the four corners, then 
connect those holes with a jigsaw.  A fence to ensure the jigsaw travels 
straight might be useful. It's larger in scale, but I just successfully 
used this method to cut a trapezoid in the deck of one of my kayaks the 
other day.


--
  David Hillman