A place to buy aluminum for sandwiching?

cloneman · Post by **cloneman** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 2:42 pm

Where can buy some aluminum to sandwich hard drives (for better cooling when suspended)? Maybe a hardware store? (hardware as in nails & wood, not as in video cards)

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 4:27 pm

Most good hobby stores sell small sheets of aluminum and copper....different thicknesses. Use copper....transfers heat better, and not much more expensive.

TD22057 · Post by **TD22057** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 4:53 pm

Go to http://www.mcmaster.com and search for aluminum and work your way through the options. They have everything!

TomZ · Post by **TomZ** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 5:51 pm

A small, quiet fan would be 10x more effective than any amount of aluminum, I think.

El Doug · Post by **El Doug** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 6:22 pm

the idea is no fans...

BrianE · Post by **BrianE** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 6:53 pm

Find a scrap yard that specializes in buying and selling metal. You can find all different kinds of metals in all shapes, sizes and thicknesses there. At the least it will probably be a lot cheaper than buying new metal sheets, which probably won't be sold in very thick varieties anyway.

I went to a place like this to get some (heavy) sheet steel and the guy just let me have one.

First time customer I guess, and it would have only been a few dollars anyway.

dddibley · Post by **dddibley** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:57 pm

Hit up your local sign shop. We recycle hundreds of pounds of off cuts.

ddd

bexx · Post by **bexx** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 8:10 pm

yea stuff gets thrown out all over if you look enough u probably can get it free

http://www.onlinemetals.com/

you can try get them to cut you the size you need... usually they only say within 1 inch so it might not be exactly what you want but u can get aluminum or copper... copper is more expensive but is alot heaveir (density) so you can get a thinner piece but still be heavy enough to stop vibration.

Place is not cheap but its easy, and guarenteed to find what you want rather than looking around town.

pipperoni · Post by **pipperoni** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 9:35 pm

If you're in Canada/US, Metalsupermarkets can be a good place. I get all my aluminum from them since they some of their locations offer cutting... If you google them, they have a pretty good website.

Writer · Post by **Writer** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 12:26 am

If you're in Canada, PrincessAuto also has good prices on narrow aluminum flats, although they tend to have a limited selection. Much better prices than the hardware stores around here, anyway.