I just finished building a second version of the sheet metal enclosure for the VU meter clock.

Design wise, I changed it to a five piece design. The main shape is now 3 sides of the clock, with a flat panel covering the bottom. The side pieces now are also flanged, reducing the number of bends in the main shape piece.

I also redesigned the clamp so that it wraps around the bottom of the meters instead of covering the top. This will allow much more backlight through the meters than the previous design. Not shown in the picture is a slotted cutout in the bottom panel, which will allow for some adjustablity to slide the clamp forwards and backwards if needed. It also helped with assembly.

After cutting the pieces out I gave them a good cleaning on the bench grinder and belt sander before installing the press nuts and bending the pieces on the brake. I made one small mistake when reading the bending angle from my plans and made one bend in the main piece too extreme. I managed to bend it back fairly well but I bent the top piece a bit in the process. I think it'll be fine. It's not perfect, but it's acceptable. I like the cleaner look on the front without the holes between the meters. Next step is paint and electronics -- I also need to figure out how to replace the plates inside the meters with time graduations.