steel ,stainless or alum for TW chassis

[mikhett]

Whatis the best choice for aTW clone chassis ,steel SS or aluminum?. Thanks Mike

[Bruciep07]

It's all about aluminum. For one thing, I think it's much easier to work with as far as drilling holes and mounting hardware, and with a thick enough chassis it's plenty strong for what we are doing. Probably the most important aspect of using aluminum is that it is not ferromagnetic (ability to be magnetized) like steel is. With steel there is a possibility of "magnetic interference" for lack of a better term as you have 2 large transformers with a decent magnetic field both mounted to a chassis that you are using as a common ground. It's possible (and probably) that it will be more difficult to "tame" a TW in a steel chassis, as many people will tell you, it's easy to cross the line between a stable amp with a completely noisy amp by moving just one component or wire just a little bit in the wrong direction...

[doctord02]

+1 on what Bruciep07 said.

Not to mention, stainless is a nightmare to work with.

[flood]

aluminum hands down for all amps i make. stainless is a PITA, i don't have and can'T afford the tools to work with it. aluminum is actually fun to work with.

[briane]

That said many have used steel with no issues (including me).

Steel is the choice if longevity and durability are issues.

[rmb550]

Do you think 1/8" will not be durable? Just wondering as that's what I am planning to use.
rmb

[benoit]

Do you think 1/8" will not be durable? Just wondering as that's what I am planning to use.
rmb

1/8" aluminum is sturdy enough to jump up and down on. I've done it. But consider this when using 1/8" thick chassis: most pot/jack bushings are not long enough to allow a faceplate to be attached unless you screen print directly on the chassis or use a sticker/decal faceplate. You've been warned.

.09" should be plenty thick.

[rmb550]

I plan to anodize and laser etch.
rmb

[Andy Le Blanc]

There are different alloy's, some are much harder to fab. The softer alloy's
tend to gum up your tooling if your not paying attention. The thing about
aluminum is that it has a higher conductivity than the various steel alloys.
This becomes important depending on the grounding choices you make.
If you plan to not use the chassis as a ground plain it doesn't matter too much,
and, transformer orientation for a project is one of the most basic considerations
when you begin a project, if you end up with magnetic coupling issues because
you screwed the pooch here, Its not going to matter what metal you fab your
chassis from.