Guides / Chassis
Audio Chassis Manufacturing: The Whole Picture
An enclosure is three or four parts made by different processes that have to end up looking like one object. This section covers how each part is made, what it costs and where those two things fight each other.
Most guidance on audio enclosures is written by companies selling enclosures, so it starts from a catalogue and works backwards. This section starts from the part instead: what process suits it, what that process can and cannot hold, and what the bill looks like at the quantities a hi-fi brand actually orders.
The thread running through all of it is that a chassis is a mixture. A billet front panel, an extruded heatsink and a folded cover are three alloys, three tolerance regimes and three surface conditions. Nothing in the finished product hides that except deliberate design, so most of the craft is in the joints.
What this section answers
- Whether a part should be machined from billet, extruded or folded from sheet
- What each line on a chassis quote is actually paying for
- How to size and specify a heatsink extrusion, and what it needs machined afterwards
- The EIA-310 numbers for a 19 inch rack panel and the clearances the standard leaves out
- Why panel gaps look wrong when every individual part measures correctly
- Valve amp chassis, transformer mounting and the weight they put on a plate
- Shielding that works, and why anodize on a joint face stops it working
- Stiffness, mass and damping, and what a press brake can actually hold
10 guides in this section
In reading order. Each one stands alone, but they are written to be read in sequence.
- Cost
Sep 18, 2026What an Amplifier Chassis Actually Costs to Manufacture
What you actually pay for in an audio chassis: billet versus extrusion, the finish line, engraving, and why 30 units cost so much more per piece than 300.
- Cost
Aug 8, 2026Billet, Extrusion or Folded Sheet: Choosing How to Build a Chassis
The three ways to make an audio enclosure, what each one really costs at 30 units and at 300, and how to mix them without the finish giving the joint away.
- Design for Manufacture
Aug 4, 2026Specifying and Machining a Heatsink Extrusion for an Amplifier
Fin geometry, thermal resistance ratings, extrusion tolerances and the secondary machining that turns a length of raw profile into a chassis side panel.
- Design for Manufacture
Jul 30, 2026Getting a 19 Inch Rack Panel Right the First Time
EIA-310 panel widths, 1U to 6U heights, mounting hole positions and the clearances that stop a beautifully machined panel from fouling the rack rails.
- Design for Manufacture
Jul 18, 2026Why the Panel Gaps Look Wrong When Every Part Measures Right
Gap is a system property, not a part property. How tolerance stacks up across a chassis, and the design choices that make a gap look deliberate, not accidental.
- Design for Manufacture
Sep 24, 2026Making a Tube Amplifier Chassis That Survives the Heat
Valve amps run hot, weigh a lot and put mains voltage on an exposed top plate. Material, thickness, socket cutouts, ventilation and the safety points.
- Design for Manufacture
Sep 22, 2026Transformer Mounting: Weight, Hum and the Metalwork
A mains transformer is the heaviest thing in the box and the loudest source of hum. Bolt patterns, plate thickness, the shorted turn problem and callouts.
- Design for Manufacture
Sep 25, 2026Shielding an Audio Chassis Without Guessing
Seams, gaps and gaskets decide whether a metal box shields anything. Anodize is an insulator, aperture length beats area, and what to put on a drawing.
- Design for Manufacture
Sep 21, 2026Why an Audio Chassis Rings, and What the Metalwork Can Do
Thin panels ring, flat faces radiate and a transformer excites both. Ribs, mass, constrained layer damping, and which of them a machine shop can deliver.
- Design for Manufacture
Sep 19, 2026Designing a Folded Sheet Cover That Fits and Looks Right
Bend radius, bend allowance, minimum flange length and why a folded box is never square. What a press brake can hold and how to draw around its limits.
Working on a part like this?
Send the drawing. We match it with up to 3 shops that machine and finish parts for audio products, and reply within 24 business hours.
Other sections
Finishing
A faceplate is judged on its surface before anyone reads a spec sheet. This section is about controlling that surface, and about the fact that most of it is decided long before the part reaches the anodizing tank.
Parts
These are the parts people pick up, turn and look at closely. They are small, which makes every cosmetic requirement harder, and they almost always come in matched sets.
Sourcing
Machining a front panel is not difficult. Making the same front panel again in a year, to the same appearance, is the whole job. This section is about buying that rather than buying a price.
For shops
The other half of this business. These are written for the shop owner rather than the buyer, because a match only works when both sides understand what the job actually costs.