EEVblog #644 - How To Design Front Panels On Extruded Enclosures - µSupply Part

[German_EE]

With a small amount of searching it's easy to find hundreds of small enclosures but can anybody suggest a source for large enclosures? I'm looking for some 330mm x 330mm x 110mm (13  inch x 13 inch x 4.33 inch) boxes and the only things that keep on coming up are rack mount units.

[djacobow]

What is the best way for a hobbyist to mount a typical 16x2 LCD panel or something to it looks professional, the backlight does not leak out the edges etc.  Whenever I have just cut a hole, and stuck the LCD behind the hole it really does not look that good. 

I have had the same issue. I've been using the Hammond boxes with the clear top. Then I can just mount the LCD on my PCB. In some ways this is cool if you like looking at electronics, but it doesn't exactly look professional. But at least it is neat and you can read the LCD.

[Chipguy]

Ok the infos in the first 1:15 minutes of the video are pure gold to me.
Those encloses are exaclty what I need for several projects to come.
However I had no luck in researching a trustworty source abroad.

Could you post the link to the sources for those you found?
....hmm maybe  I should keep watching the video before I post... hehe

[telefunken]

   Probably too late for this project, but here's my suggestion. My preference would be to have the display and interface on the top. It's a huge area compared to the end caps, so there would be some advantages. The display would be more visible pointing up, where my face will be, instead of my belly at bench top level. Most importantly, the buttons can be spaced enough to allow sausage fingers like mine to operate the device easily.

[Refrigerator]

Hey, Dave, what do you think about those Nokia5110 display modules? They're dirt cheap and eBay is full of them!
Nice to see the µSupply project up and running again.

[David_AVD]

Probably too late for this project, but here's my suggestion. My preference would be to have the display and interface on the top.

Something to be aware of when choosing an LCD is the viewing angle.  Some displays are optimised for 6 o'clock (from below) or 12 o'clock (from above) viewing and are very hard to read from the opposite angle.

[max666]

I dunno about using a board mounted heatsink that radiates into such a small enclosure cavity.  Surely that would just heat soak the insides and then provide poor transfer to the outside?

My thought exactly. Plus using that nice aluminium case as heatsink surely must be superior to any heatsink you can mount inside, as long as you’re not drilling holes and use a fan.

   Probably too late for this project, but here's my suggestion. My preference would be to have the display and interface on the top. ...

I agree, but you can't do that without doing a lot of machining on the aluminium case. So if Dave is going to produce several hundred or thousands units, how is he going to that?

[EEVblog]

Nobody spotted that throughout the entire video dave is holding the lcd upside down ?
So it wouldn't work... You would have to mount the board on the top and the buttons would sit above the lcd ...

I was waiting for someone to mention that.

[EEVblog]

   Probably too late for this project, but here's my suggestion. My preference would be to have the display and interface on the top.

Then you can't stack them to get multiple supplies.

[senso]

With the display in the front, put a spacer under it and have it angled.
My single 6632B is angled up using the ears that came with the supply that are suposed to mount the supply in a rack mount, perfect angle.

[EEVblog]

Notwithstanding that this is Dave's "pet" project it still seems like he is designing it for mass production. No matter how clever it is electically I can't help but think that picking the smallest case and therefore everything else is going to compromise the usability of it. And therefore its ultimate success.

The benefits of a pet project, you don't have to care about success.

[wigman27]

Dave,

Would you please provide a link where one can order these cases from China?

Thanks.

Hi,

I think this is it http://www.aliexpress.com/store/group/Aluminum-extrusion-and-metal-enclosure/505449_211537741.html

[Royce]

Timely video for me. I'm investigating cases myself. For my first effort, I am trying out taobao.com via an agent.

I didn't buy this particular one, but there are a lot of oddly specific things there like this instrument chassis http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=2013.1.0.0.YSvCB7&scm=1007.10009.518.0&id=19699719516&pvid=07dcd755-0eb8-4128-952c-d5016c1595a3.

I should spend some time on AliExpress. I'll be curious to compare effective costs. AliExpress is certainly appears to be easier to use. And I get the impression from the video that one can grow into a direct relationship with the factory where customization becomes possible.

[sleemanj]

I should spend some time on AliExpress.

For one-off products (that is, one or more of a single item), Aliexpress or eBay is usually (but not always) cheaper than sourcing via an agent from taobao - mainly because of free slow-boat shipping, and you're not paying the fixed minimum agent fees and domestic shipping.

Taobao is cheaper for mixed orders of various products from various sellers at the same time (naturally, trying to get everything from as few different sellers as possible is better, to save the china domestic shipping costs).

For potentially heavy (or otherwise troublesome for international shipping) like these enclosures, I would tend to use Aliexpress because the international shipping will almost certainly be cheaper there than through a TB agent for heavy items, even if it is slow-boat.

I might import from 6 different TB sellers in a single order containing maybe different 50 products of various quantities each from 5 to 1000, pulling that order together on Aliexpress would be expensive and painful.  But on another week I might have a need to buy just 100 3.5mm plugs, for that I'd go to Taobao or eBay.

[rbs_phoenix]

I think the black enclosure is this one:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/OEM-Custom-Wall-mount-Extruded-Aluminum-Enclosures-88-38-110mm-w-h-l/892642886.html

Another Case with nearly the same size (10mm shorter) is here:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/88-38-100-mm-w-h-l-free-shipping-Customized-Aluminium-Extrusion-Enclosure/892571094.html

They really look like the case in the video

[FrankBuss]

I think the black enclosure is this one:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/OEM-Custom-Wall-mount-Extruded-Aluminum-Enclosures-88-38-110mm-w-h-l/892642886.html

Dave mentions the prices at the beginning of the video at 1:30 and he says the anodized enclosure costs $5.60.

[rbs_phoenix]

I think the black enclosure is this one:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/OEM-Custom-Wall-mount-Extruded-Aluminum-Enclosures-88-38-110mm-w-h-l/892642886.html

Dave mentions the prices at the beginning of the video at 1:30 and he says the anodized enclosure costs $5.60.

Yes, I know. I searched for "aluminium enclosure" and sorted the results by price. That was the cheapest black, 2 part aluminium enclosure with a size of 110x88x37mm (38 seemed close enough for me) I found. There were a few more offeres of the same case but they were all more expensive (up to $30+ with shipping). I would really like to buy it for only 5.60! So if someone have a link for that $5.60 offer.. I would like to find that offer dave mentioned.


edit: Maybe it is this offer. 5.19 Australian Dollar, but its not free shipping. So it is a litte cheaper, but not much (because of the shipping costs). And it is only 100mm deep, not 110mm
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Aluminum-extrusion-housing-enclosure-can-design-change-the-length/1850074314.html

[sleemanj]

FWIW, I had a quick look on Taobao for pricing of similar 110mm units, and estimating that the weight of each is around 185g, and plugging numbers into my fairly finely tuned estimation system (secret sorry), I come up with a landed price for 10 units from Taobao via an agent would be around $7 USD each (by EMS, but given the domestic shipping and repacking etc it's still 2 weeks really).

Compared to $10.73 each on Aliexpress.

But if you only bought one piece from Taobao and imported just that one piece, the price would be in excess of $15 USD. 

So that's a good example of where buying from Aliexpress is cheaper than Taobao.  Incidentally, the swap-over point is at about 5 units probably.

[Legit-Design]

What if you get 100 or more and 10% has problems with the anodizing? The blackness just falls off when you rub them with a finger because they just rushed everything through and didn't bother cleaning them? Or how critical is it to have perfect cases?

[EEVblog]

I should spend some time on AliExpress. I'll be curious to compare effective costs. AliExpress is certainly appears to be easier to use. And I get the impression from the video that one can grow into a direct relationship with the factory where customization becomes possible.

Yes, that's what I like about AliExpress, it works just like ebay, no mess, no fuss, price and postage options right there to see and buy right there. As the name suggests it's the express version of Alibaba where the same companies also list, but on there they generally either don't have prices, or some silly price guide that isn't accurate, you have to contact them to get quotes. Messy.
Almost all the companies you can then deal with direct for larger qty or custom stuff.

[Royce]

FWIW, I had a quick look on Taobao for pricing of similar 110mm units, and estimating that the weight of each is around 185g, and plugging numbers into my fairly finely tuned estimation system (secret sorry), I come up with a landed price for 10 units from Taobao via an agent would be around $7 USD each (by EMS, but given the domestic shipping and repacking etc it's still 2 weeks really).

Compared to $10.73 each on Aliexpress.

But if you only bought one piece from Taobao and imported just that one piece, the price would be in excess of $15 USD. 

So that's a good example of where buying from Aliexpress is cheaper than Taobao.  Incidentally, the swap-over point is at about 5 units probably.

Awesome advice! It helps to have a bit of a pointer when one is first wading through all this stuff. Thanks much!

[zapta]

This uSupply can be a huge hit and the black box has perfect size and look.

What is the planned output voltage/current range?

What's the input power?  (I hope a standard micro USB I can connect to a 2A charger).

[Phaedrus]

With a small amount of searching it's easy to find hundreds of small enclosures but can anybody suggest a source for large enclosures? I'm looking for some 330mm x 330mm x 110mm (13  inch x 13 inch x 4.33 inch) boxes and the only things that keep on coming up are rack mount units.

I'm also interested in this. I could use a 330mm x 225mm x 35mm(ish) enclosure for one of my products, and it's impossible to find non-custom.

[Chipguy]

Thanks for all the links guys.
I kinda ignored AliExpress because it always showed up in search lists with those dodgy part brokers.
Just realized what it actually is, someone (in this case Dave) had to grab my head and stick my nose into it, hehe.
They really have a lot of offers on there. Take it this way, my ebay purchased may drop in the next months

[EEVblog]

I kinda ignored AliExpress because it always showed up in search lists with those dodgy part brokers.

It's totally legit, the Chinese equivalent to ebay for westerners.
BTW, totally worth it to get the EMS postage option every time, unless you can really wait 3-4 weeks. Most sellers offer it in the postage drop down box and prices are very reasonable.