I have been in service/repair side of the machine tool industry for about 25 years and have an opportunity to do some side work manufacturing some electrical control panels- complete process all machining, wiring, assembly.
The boxes are all standard Hoffman enclosures 14 gauge steel with I believe a polyester powder coat finish.
Trying to do this the most economical way possible, I am ok with de- burring holes etc..
I need to do a total of about 7000 holes for conduit (1.115" or
1.362") into about 2500 boxes.I have made a few local phone calls and so far the most cost effective way of doing this seems to be water jetting.
I never worked in a shop with a water jet or laser so I am not familiar with there capabilities about 1500 of the boxes have a standard white 14 gauge panels for mounting components these panels need a 4 inch square hole in them ( not concerned with corner radius) so they will likely also be water jetted.
The panels need to be drilled and tapped for mounting devices six to twelve 4-40 and eight to fourteen 8-32 holes, my partner is pushing for self-tapping screws but I think it is going to be time consuming and difficult to install the screws and we will end up threading them anyway.
14 gauge steel 4-40 and 8-32 strictly tooling costs and ease of operation would you prefer to tap or thread roll? Can a water jet make holes ready for tapping or thread rolling? If it can I would thread the holes myself in lots of 20 or so with a tapmatic head on a drill press.If they can't water jet the holes it will add a second operation and vendor and part moving
Tolerances are not an issue my customer has no concept of a panel layout drawing with dimensions and tolerances. He just wants to be able to pick up a box and install it into the system he quoted to his customer.
I am open to any process recommendations, as I said this is not my area of expertise any help will be appreciated.
Cheers Mush