[HBR] Ordering aluminum

[Shoppa, Tim]

N2APB writes:
> But what I¹m puzzled about is whether/how to use channel for all sides of
> the chassis.  Use on the sides is obvious, but using channel also for the
> front (and rear) presents problems with the controls needing to go through
> this additional thickness (perhaps 3/16² channel + 1/8² front panel).  Am I
> missing something?  Perhaps use large hole cutouts in the channel to allow
> the controls to connect only to the front panel?

3/16" thick channel is truly truly extra heavy-duty. The chassis I
see using channel or angle aluminum frames in boatanchor homebrew
projects are usually for kilowatt-range power amps, not for
receivers, and they're done to help support the heavy filament
and plate transformers.

At 3/16" thick you are past the thickness of 6 foot tall relay
Racks used to support multi-hundred pound stations. Although
Admittedly few of those were aluminum, they were mostly 1/8" steel channel or angle iron. But the stiffness generally comes not from the thickness
But from the web of the channel.

I would suggest that for a heavy duty receiver chassis, that a
1/8" thick channel or angle aluminum frame is more than heavy duty enough. And I urge you to think in terms of a stiff frame rather than
Thick everything.

Tim N3QE