Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!clyde.concordia.ca!rutgers!usc!apple!fox!portal!cup.portal.com!mmm
From: mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Project Enclosures
Message-ID: <25869@cup.portal.com>
Date: 13 Jan 90 04:36:53 GMT
References: <126@gazette.bcm.tmc.edu>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 23

Printed circuit board material is also handy for small projects, especially
because you can run a bead of solder around the corners to shield it.  Looks
crummy though.

The suggestion of Plexiglas is a good one.  I've made some real cool large
cabinets just with a Plexiglas cutter, a bender, and some 1/4 inch thick
Plexiglas.  The cutter is a small hooklike knife.  You run it along your
score line, against a straightedge.  It digs a groove, and after a few
strokes you can dig the groove deeper without the straightedge.  After
you dig about halfway through, you can snap the board apart.

You can also cut it with a straight handsaw, like what you would use on
plywood.  That produces a cleaner edge.  Most power tools don't work very
well on Plexiglas.

A bender is a long metal case with a channel across the top.  In the channel,
there is an electric heating element that gets real hot.  Lay the Plexiglas
across the box with the line for the fold directly above the heating element.
After a few minutes, reflected light from above the fold line will indicate
the Plex is starting to get distorted.  That means it's soft, and you can do
a fold immediately.  The fold stays soft for a minute, so you can easily adjust
the angle to just what you want.  Freeze the angle by throwing cold water on
it.