Perferated metal manufacturer
Hi All;
I need to find a person who can take a grill design and stamp out some perforated speaker grills for me. Does anyone know of somebody who can do this?
Don
Hi All;
I need to find a person who can take a grill design and stamp out some perforated speaker grills for me. Does anyone know of somebody who can do this?
Don
When you say stamped out, do you mean just cut out to a shape, like a cookie cutter? Or do you want them formed too, as in having 3-D shapes, like doming or recessed flanges?
For simple shapes cut out of sheet stock, you might contact a local welding shop. They probably have perforated sheets as well as other similar grille things like expanded metal. Here is one example of that from a quick google, the page even includes the edge trim stock.
MetalsDepot® - Expanded Metal Steel Sheet
Even perf comes in various hole shapes:
MetalsDepot® - Buy Perforated Steel Sheet
Those materials are common and a local shop should have the shears and bending brakes to shape it.
For simple shapes cut out of sheet stock, you might contact a local welding shop. They probably have perforated sheets as well as other similar grille things like expanded metal. Here is one example of that from a quick google, the page even includes the edge trim stock.
MetalsDepot® - Expanded Metal Steel Sheet
Even perf comes in various hole shapes:
MetalsDepot® - Buy Perforated Steel Sheet
Those materials are common and a local shop should have the shears and bending brakes to shape it.
I think I used reliablehardware.com. The product was of extremely good quality, cut very clean and straight. I chose their most open design for my custom grills.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks guys. I meant perforated metal in a 3-d shape. Looks like a curved trapezoid
Where the curve is along the long side. I have contacted several manufacturers
and they all declined. It isn't a very complicated shape either.
Where the curve is along the long side. I have contacted several manufacturers
and they all declined. It isn't a very complicated shape either.
Have you contacted a local shop? This is sheet metal, and what you are looking to do is less complicated than making a fender for a motorcycle.
To stamp a piece like this out of sheet metal requires a die to be made for the stamping press. The cost of the stamping die would be in the thousands of dollar range. I don't know what shape you are trying to produce but you may be able to have your grill design laser cut flat and spot weld it into an existing grill with the centre removed? Another option is to CNC mill it from billet but that will be expensive also.
It's actually more complicated than a fender because of the thickness of the material and compact size. Bends and holes in close proximity to each other in thin material is usually disastrous. It's very tough to keep the part from deforming with each process when you are manufacturing it.
With due respect, a stamping press is required if you intend to stamp it out. But ither manners of forming ar still there. Maybe a fender was a bad choice, how about a made from scratch cycle fuel tank? I don't see this project as a serious challenge to a skilled fabricator. Even 30 years ago we were having local fabricators make us up curved and formed steel control surfaces for arcade games.
I don't know what is designed here but on a normal speaker grill the face is perforated pretty close to the outer perimeter, then there is a sharp bend forming the outer edge. That sharp bend is the problem. On heavier gauge metals you would form a ring and weld it to the face. If the speaker grill is being made of 16 gauge sheet this is an option. On lighter gauge metal it would need to be pressed with dies because the heat from welding would warp everything. Trying to form the edge with a roller would be an art form. Not many fabricators with the skills and patience to do that any more.
You mean this kind of "3 D trapezoids" ?
What, say, Mesa Boogie uses in some 4x12" cabinets?
Because if so, it´s easy .
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
He's talking about expanded steel. You can buy that stuff anywhere (yuck). What are you trying to have made? Can you post a sketch?
Let's make sure we are all on the same page. I read it to mean the whole grille was a curved trapezoid. I THINK Fahey is reading as the perf holes are rounded trapezoids like the expanded metal. Just what is to be trapezoidal?
I wouldn't think that spot welding would overly heat the material while putting on a support edge. But I claim no expertise.
I wouldn't think that spot welding would overly heat the material while putting on a support edge. But I claim no expertise.
Yes, just wanted to confirm we are talking about the same thing .
That´s expanded steel, the cheapest metallic grill material.
They just cut narrow slits in a flat sheet, and then stretch it *hard*.
The sheet metal lengthens as much as 3:1 and forms that 3 D structure.
If you want it flat, they pass it between 2 huge rollers.
As you see, it has no waste material and 1 meter of original sheet can provide as much as 2 or 3 meters "expanded".
VERY efficient 🙂
Enzo posted a couple shops who carry it and sell precut sizes,
The 2 ft x 2 ft square is perfect for 4 x 10" or 1 x 15" or 18" Bass cabinets.
Post pictures of your finished cabinet 😉
And just as a personal suggestion: I commercially make Bass amps and cabinets, and know metalworking is a PITA, so I´d rather use the available grill and adapt the cabinet to it than the opposite choice.
EDIT: hi Enzo !!!
You are right, spot welding does not distort metal, it´s very fast and localized.
FWIW some respected Bass cabinet makers (cough! cough! SWR) use expanded metal cut at random (not following the romboidal vertices) and sometimes you have dangerously sharp points on edges, sharp enough to make your fingers bleed if you are not careful ... yet nobody complains.
Since they are below surface and cabinets are covered in carpet, only way you can prick a finger is if you carelessly unmount the grill to replace a speaker.
In my own grills, I have a small batch cut and then send them to a shop which paints them in a rubbery oven cured thick paint, which both protects them from knocks (being rubbery it does not chip), rust, razor sharp edges *and* damps them.
If you hit them with, say, a screwdriver handle, they do not "clang" but dull "thud" 🙂
Although maybe it´s not economically feasible for single grills.
That´s expanded steel, the cheapest metallic grill material.
They just cut narrow slits in a flat sheet, and then stretch it *hard*.
The sheet metal lengthens as much as 3:1 and forms that 3 D structure.
If you want it flat, they pass it between 2 huge rollers.
As you see, it has no waste material and 1 meter of original sheet can provide as much as 2 or 3 meters "expanded".
VERY efficient 🙂
Enzo posted a couple shops who carry it and sell precut sizes,
The 2 ft x 2 ft square is perfect for 4 x 10" or 1 x 15" or 18" Bass cabinets.
Post pictures of your finished cabinet 😉
And just as a personal suggestion: I commercially make Bass amps and cabinets, and know metalworking is a PITA, so I´d rather use the available grill and adapt the cabinet to it than the opposite choice.
EDIT: hi Enzo !!!
You are right, spot welding does not distort metal, it´s very fast and localized.
FWIW some respected Bass cabinet makers (cough! cough! SWR) use expanded metal cut at random (not following the romboidal vertices) and sometimes you have dangerously sharp points on edges, sharp enough to make your fingers bleed if you are not careful ... yet nobody complains.
Since they are below surface and cabinets are covered in carpet, only way you can prick a finger is if you carelessly unmount the grill to replace a speaker.
In my own grills, I have a small batch cut and then send them to a shop which paints them in a rubbery oven cured thick paint, which both protects them from knocks (being rubbery it does not chip), rust, razor sharp edges *and* damps them.
If you hit them with, say, a screwdriver handle, they do not "clang" but dull "thud" 🙂
Although maybe it´s not economically feasible for single grills.
Last edited:
- Status
- Not open for further replies.