• Spring 2024 meetup in Calgary - tentative date Saturday, April 20/2024. Other regions are also discussing meet ups. If you want one in your area get going on organizing it! discussion
  • We are having email/registration problems again. Diagnosis is underway. New users sorry if you are having trouble getting registered. We are exploring different options to get registered. Contact the forum via another member or on facebook if you're stuck. Update -> we think it is fixed. Let us know if not.
  • Spring meet up in Ontario, April 6/2024. NEW LOCATION See Post #31 Discussion NEW LOCATION

How are these holes made?

Janger

(John)
Administrator
Vendor
This is a close up picture of my Macbook speaker grills. The holes are amazing 144 of them per square cm. I estimate they are about 0.2mm in diameter. There are about 7500 of them drilled into the case. Or are they? Could them have been EDM cut? Anybody know?
 

Attachments

  • IMG_7679.JPG
    IMG_7679.JPG
    150.4 KB · Views: 0
Last edited:

Janger

(John)
Administrator
Vendor

in between the marketing propaganda you can see brief glimpses of the machining process. look at those lasers drill those holes.
 

PeterT

Ultra Member
Premium Member
Its hard to imagine why they would go from round aluminum log to extruded flat sheet - inferring the operation at the same facility. Flat stock is kind of a standard I would think.

The holes - that's an interesting one, Lasers have defined kerf which is a function of material type & thickness. I seem to recall ~0.005" but maybe that's outdated or based on the project I had experience with. They also have an entry stop & start strategies & tiny holes would pose certain challenges over more conventional cutouts. Laser could be their process of choice but given all the CNC milling operations already happening, not inconceivable that it was just drilled. The case is a cool looking part when you see the final form.
 

PeterT

Ultra Member
Premium Member
I read a book by Jony Ivy he is one of Apple design gurus from Steve Jobs days. Some of it is pretty artsy flakey but amazing the lengths they go through to have devices look & function a certai way. Engineering dream job or nightmare depending on how you look at it LOL
 

DPittman

Ultra Member
Premium Member
Ouch. While I haven't conducted that same research personally myself (although it's the sort of research I'd do) I could have surmised correctly at the end result and would have been happy to discuss with you only had you asked! :D
 
Last edited:
Top