Good project enclosures/cases/methods thread

[cdev]

I would like to start a thread to collect examples of good cases for projects here. I have a number of projects which are ready to go into nice project boxes but just have not seen the right case for them yet. To me a good case is one thats nice looking, easy to work with/cut and offers a good value. I don't have a metalworking shop so its difficult to get metal pieces the way i want them so several of my projects have been installed into cardboard boxes. Ultimately I would like to move them into metal cases. I don't have a lot of desk space so I am looking for nice smallish cases. Does anybody have any favorites?

[Gyro]

In terms of ease of metalworking, Aluminium diecast boxes are by far the easiest. They drill easilly without burrs and it's also easy to saw and file cutouts.  If you arrange them so that the lid is on the underside they can be quite attractive too, with nice rounded corners and no visible fixings.

[Mjolinor]

After 50 years of doing it all the troubles evaporated when I got a 3d printer a few years ago.

[ElektroQuark]

There are some thoughts about 3D printing enclosures in this thread:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/cost-3d-printed-enclosure-vs-project-box/?topicseen

[trys]

A great topic!

6mm or 12mm plywood and a good wood glue works wonders. You can butt-joint with glue four pieces of 2x1 timber for the four sides of the box, and plywood for the top and bottom. Or if you use 12mm plywood, you can do the whole lot in it.

You can also re-use old boxes or tins for a bit of fun too. Attached is a picture of two I made a couple of weeks back (a bat detector).

One project (an automated sound recording thing) I cobbled together inside an old satellite receiver box and re-wired the led indicators on the front panel with new purposes, and fitted a 4 line LCD screen.

I also made one project (a peak program meter, VU meter) inside a deep picture frame (one of those that comes with a spacer in it), mine came from Ikea.

A cheap enclosure source are junction boxes and mains pattress boxes with blanking lids put on them (although they're brittle if you try drilling them).

Trys

[ChrisLX200]

I mentioned elsewhere I like to make my (small) boxes from 10g rectangular alloy tube. This stuff can be had in sizes up to around 4" x 2" section (http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Forward-Metals-Online-Ltd/Aluminium-Rectangular-Tube-/_i.html?rt=nc&_fsub=686825012&_sid=217440252&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1513&_pgn=3) and normally bought in 1 or 2 metre lengths it's fairly economical. The disadvantages are that your project needs to slide in from the end (not an unusual situation and commercial extruded enclosures are often similar), but you do need to make your own retention fixings and also end-plates if you need them - and yes, you do need some toos to work with them. Advantages are that the resulting enclosures are cheap, extremely strong, and very customisable.

I have a 3D printer too which I use for complex shapes but the resultant feel & finish on the parts can never be mistaken for something other than a 3D printed part... It took a while to become familiar with SketchUp such that I could design what I needed but with that done it's fairly quick to design a custom part.

[cdev]

A great topic!

6mm or 12mm plywood and a good wood glue works wonders. You can butt-joint with glue four pieces of 2x1 timber for the four sides of the box, and plywood for the top and bottom. Or if you use 12mm plywood, you can do the whole lot in it.

Wood would work well for me because I have a bunch of scrap pieces of good quality white baseboarding (or whatever it is called)  from a project a few years ago that is the perfect size for small cabinets. Hadn't thought about that but it would work fine.

I also made one project (a peak program meter, VU meter) inside a deep picture frame (one of those that comes with a spacer in it), mine came from Ikea.

Ikea has tons of inexpensive - interestingly shaped plastic items that repurpose into other uses well. Too many almost. (Going there one always has to exercise restraint. Its hard sometimes.)

A cheap enclosure source are junction boxes and mains pattress boxes with blanking lids put on them (although they're brittle if you try drilling them).

I've used various junction boxes a fair amount in the past for projects and they are great for that if the project is the right size and the shape appropriate.

Super durable plastic boxes designed for outdoor use work well too.

I mentioned elsewhere I like to make my (small) boxes from 10g rectangular alloy tube. This stuff can be had in sizes up to around 4" x 2" section (http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Forward-Metals-Online-Ltd/Aluminium-Rectangular-Tube-/_i.html?rt=nc&_fsub=686825012&_sid=217440252&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1513&_pgn=3) and normally bought in 1 or 2 metre lengths it's fairly economical. The disadvantages are that your project needs to slide in from the end (not an unusual situation and commercial extruded enclosures are often similar), but you do need to make your own retention fixings and also end-plates if you need them - and yes, you do need some toos to work with them. Advantages are that the resulting enclosures are cheap, extremely strong, and very customisable.

If I had some way to cut it that would be ideal, but I cant think of any way I have now besides a dremel and it seems like I would be pushing its capabilities quite a bit to attempt that.  Since I don't quite need the durability of a solid aluminum case now with the freq counter I think that if I can successfully use fluorescent or clear plastic (basically if I can score or cut it with a saw blade neatly and then glue it) I will try that first.
Wonder how I can do the buttons?

It would be good to do what you did, make small buttons with a ridge around the back to hold them in the hole.

I have a 3D printer too which I use for complex shapes but the resultant feel & finish on the parts can never be mistaken for something other than a 3D printed part... It took a while to become familiar with SketchUp such that I could design what I needed but with that done it's fairly quick to design a custom part.

Yes, back in the day I am pretty sure that I had some chairs made of this aluminum tubing material, it was extremely strong and would have made a great choice for devices like the frequency counter.

... that you used for your freq counters.

 (which looks very nice!)

How do you cut the square windows in the sides? I have a dremel but I get the feeling that's not enough..

@ChrisLX200 I very much like that tiny. freq. counter. we both now have.

Even with its funny choice of input connection. Really looking forward to putting it in a nice case.
It is extremely bright at the 8 setting! Like you I had to turn the brightness down to 3.
Like others experience, it also seems quite accurate out of the box so to speak.. What a great deal!

I saw somebody on YouTube who had put theirs inside of a PVC pipe, with four little feet for it and PVC caps for the ends.  Looked good for outdoor use, and perhaps with some kind of plastic cover, impervious to almost anything like that.

Wonder what the green LED would look like illuminating say, a box made of green, pinkish/magenta or orange acrylic? (since its edges glow when illuminated)

I have a miter saw, which is useful for making nice cuts in smaller materials. I wonder if I could use it to saw the plastic sheeting successfully without breaking it. Not at an angle, just flat/90 degrees?

Actually, acrylic sounds like perhaps it would be just the thing, if I can saw it with my miter saw without it shattering.  Need to do some Googling on that.

One good option is reusing some case that houses some other no longer useful device..

Another option is plastic.. I wonder if I could simply score it with a knife and break it along a straight edge?


 And of course wood also can be used. Wood is a very versatile material and can be made quite nice looking.

And for anything involving audio and speakers it has quite good acoustic properties.

[cdev]

In terms of ease of metalworking, Aluminum die-cast boxes are by far the easiest. They drill easily without burrs and it's also easy to saw and file cutouts.  If you arrange them so that the lid is on the underside they can be quite attractive too, with nice rounded corners and no visible fixings.

I have some RF projects (low noise amplifiers) that I have put in small non-anodized, die cast "Pomona" boxes.

The ones I used I had had for years and they were much cheaper when I bought them. They are too expensive now.. IMHO, compared to other cases.

But there are other brands. They are all a bit larger though. In many cases the devices I build are quite small. Filters, etc. I use them in a modular way, with patch cords between them.

I mentioned elsewhere I like to make my (small) boxes from 10g rectangular alloy tube. This stuff can be had in sizes up to around 4" x 2" section (http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Forward-Metals-Online-Ltd/Aluminium-Rectangular-Tube-/_i.html?rt=nc&_fsub=686825012&_sid=217440252&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1513&_pgn=3) and normally bought in 1 or 2 metre lengths it's fairly economical. The disadvantages are that your project needs to slide in from the end (not an unusual situation and commercial extruded enclosures are often similar), but you do need to make your own retention fixings and also end-plates if you need them - and yes, you do need some tools to work with them. Advantages are that the resulting enclosures are cheap, extremely strong, and very customisable.

Come to think of it, Chris, those hollow square aluminum pieces may be just the ticket for small RF devices like filters and low noise amplifiers. If I could successfully work with them economically.

 I need to get a book or something, a small handy reference on the raw basics of metalworking.

[cdev]

How strong can 3D printed parts be? Could they ever be as strong as say, a nylon or teflon (molded?) part?

Alternatively, how expensive is it to 3D print something and then use that as a model to have a metal part made?

(unrelated to cases but till electronics related-there are some parts I would like to make for antennas out of metal or metal and low loss plastics which might be gotten that way.)

After 50 years of doing it all the troubles evaporated when I got a 3d printer a few years ago.

Unless the 3D printer was pretty cheap, it would be hard for me to justify the expense unless I could really count on the produced parts strength - so they could be used in DIY machinery.

[tggzzz]

How strong can 3D printed parts be? Could they ever be as strong as say, a nylon or teflon (molded?) part?

Alternatively, how expensive is it to 3D print something and then use that as a model to have a metal part made?

The strength entirely depends on the material and the process. Sintered nylon is pretty good; I presume sintered titanium is better

If you want to see a price, upload a model to Shapeways and the prices will magically appear. Expect the metal to be noticeably expensive, since it is based on material volume and primarily geared to small intricate objects such as jewellery. (Hint: notice you can print in gold and silver!)

Also upload the model to dirtypcbs, to see the cost of their SLA process.

[cdev]

Will have to look into that!

I have to confess that its been years since Ive done any serious 3D stuff.. the software I've used in the past (on Power Macs in the 90s) is probably ancient history by now.

But I really should check it out.

How strong can 3D printed parts be? Could they ever be as strong as say, a nylon or teflon (molded?) part?

Alternatively, how expensive is it to 3D print something and then use that as a model to have a metal part made?

The strength entirely depends on the material and the process. Sintered nylon is pretty good; I presume sintered titanium is better

If you want to see a price, upload a model to Shapeways and the prices will magically appear. Expect the metal to be noticeably expensive, since it is based on material volume and primarily geared to small intricate objects such as jewellery. (Hint: notice you can print in gold and silver!)

Also upload the model to dirtypcbs, to see the cost of their SLA process.

[ChrisLX200]

Quote from: cdev on Today at 12:38:00 AM

>Quote from: ChrisLX200 on Yesterday at 09:31:51 PM

I mentioned elsewhere I like to make my (small) boxes from 10g rectangular alloy tube. This stuff can be had in sizes up to around 4" x 2" section

(http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Forward-Metals-Online-Ltd/Aluminium-Rectangular-Tube-/_i.html?rt=nc&_fsub=686825012&_sid=217440252&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1513&_pgn=3) and normally bought in 1 or 2 metre lengths it's fairly economical. The disadvantages are that your project needs to slide in from the end (not an unusual situation and commercial extruded enclosures are often similar), but you do need to make your own retention fixings and also end-plates if you need them - and yes, you do need some toos to work with them. Advantages are that the resulting enclosures are cheap, extremely strong, and very customisable.

If I had some way to cut it that would be ideal, but I cant think of any way I have now besides a dremel and it seems like I would be pushing its capabilities quite a bit to attempt that.  Since I don't quite need the durability of a solid aluminum case now with the freq counter I think that if I can successfully use fluorescent or clear plastic (basically if I can score or cut it with a saw blade neatly and then glue it) I will try that first.
Wonder how I can do the buttons?

It would be good to do what you did, make small buttons with a ridge around the back to hold them in the hole.
Quote from: ChrisLX200 on Yesterday at 09:31:51 PM

I have a 3D printer too which I use for complex shapes but the resultant feel & finish on the parts can never be mistaken for something other than a 3D printed part... It took a while to become familiar with SketchUp such that I could design what I needed but with that done it's fairly quick to design a custom part.

Yes, back in the day I am pretty sure that I had some chairs made of this aluminum tubing material, it was extremely strong and would have made a great choice for devices like the frequency counter.

... that you used for your freq counters.

 (which looks very nice!)

How do you cut the square windows in the sides? I have a dremel but I get the feeling that's not enough..

@ChrisLX200 I very much like that tiny. freq. counter. we both now have.

Even with its funny choice of input connection. Really looking forward to putting it in a nice case.
It is extremely bright at the 8 setting! Like you I had to turn the brightness down to 3.
Like others experience, it also seems quite accurate out of the box so to speak.. What a great deal!

I saw somebody on YouTube who had put theirs inside of a PVC pipe, with four little feet for it and PVC caps for the ends.  Looked good for outdoor use, and perhaps with some kind of plastic cover, impervious to almost anything like that.

Wonder what the green LED would look like illuminating say, a box made of green, pinkish/magenta or orange acrylic? (since its edges glow when illuminated)

I have a miter saw, which is useful for making nice cuts in smaller materials. I wonder if I could use it to saw the plastic sheeting successfully without breaking it. Not at an angle, just flat/90 degrees?

Actually, acrylic sounds like perhaps it would be just the thing, if I can saw it with my miter saw without it shattering.  Need to do some Googling on that.

One good option is reusing some case that houses some other no longer useful device..

Another option is plastic.. I wonder if I could simply score it with a knife and break it along a straight edge?


 And of course wood also can be used. Wood is a very versatile material and can be made quite nice looking.

And for anything involving audio and speakers it has quite good acoustic properties.



In the past I have cut holes using a bench drill and small drillbit (3/32 or 1/16"), following around just inside a marked line then filing the burrs off. It's not quite as onerous as it sounds but with 10g alloy then yes, it would be a bit of a pain for long square apertures. OK for panel switch cutouts though. I cheated on this job and used my mill with a small carbide cutter and then finished the rounded corners to square with a file. I would really like to get one of those cheap CNC routers for jobs like this!

Perspex can certainly be useful (and can be had in all colours) but you really need a CNC laser cutter to get the best out of the material - accurate and offers a lovely finish with no further work required. Mechanical cutting is messy in comparison, and (as you suggest) it can expose stresses which later results in cracking. Flame polishing is an option for finishing though. Had to laugh at those Chinese flame polishers that use electrolysis to generate Hydrogen and Oxygen gasses which are then mixed within the machine to produce a residue-free flame just for this job. They have no flash-back arrestor (or much of any other safety measures come to that). A bomb waiting to go off basically

[tggzzz]

Will have to look into that!

I have to confess that its been years since Ive done any serious 3D stuff.. the software I've used in the past (on Power Macs in the 90s) is probably ancient history by now.

But I really should check it out.

How strong can 3D printed parts be? Could they ever be as strong as say, a nylon or teflon (molded?) part?

Alternatively, how expensive is it to 3D print something and then use that as a model to have a metal part made?

The strength entirely depends on the material and the process. Sintered nylon is pretty good; I presume sintered titanium is better

If you want to see a price, upload a model to Shapeways and the prices will magically appear. Expect the metal to be noticeably expensive, since it is based on material volume and primarily geared to small intricate objects such as jewellery. (Hint: notice you can print in gold and silver!)

Also upload the model to dirtypcbs, to see the cost of their SLA process.

I've only done it recently.

My weapon of choice is OpenSCAD and variants. It is a declarative programming language (i.e. conventional parametrisation of dimensions) based around taking regular shapes (spheres, cones, cuboids etc), then scaling rotating and transforming them, then adding them and subtracting them from each other. I find it intuitive for the designs I've done.

There are many user-contributed libraries around; I've successfully used fonts and screw threads, e.g.
https://entertaininghacks.wordpress.com/2016/09/11/renovating-a-tektronix-p6013a-12kv-100khz-scope-probe/
https://entertaininghacks.wordpress.com/2015/04/23/scope-probe-accessory-improves-signal-fidelity/

[cdev]

I have been looking around for an affordable x-y table that will let me do this basic kind of thing and even bought one recently, but when it arrived it turned out to be functionally not up to the task and had some really stupid flaws so I sent it back.

I don't need automation, just some way of executing straight line cuts in materials like plastic and ideally, also "aluminium". (love the way you Brits and Aussies pronounce the word!)

When I do things like that by hand, for example, with a "nibbling tool" that I have, they have rarely turned out as well as I had hoped. They look okay from a distance, but not so good up close. I just hate to spend good money on a metal case and then screw it up by messing up the cutting or filing of some hole.

But whenever I am called upon to do anything more complicated than a USB connection or switch hole it seems it rarely ends up looking professional. Long straight lines are especially problematic for me with my nibbling tool.

In the past I have cut holes using a bench drill and small drillbit (3/32 or 1/16"), following around just inside a marked line then filing the burrs off. It's not quite as onerous as it sounds but with 10g alloy then yes, it would be a bit of a pain for long square apertures. OK for panel switch cutouts though. I cheated on this job and used my mill with a small carbide cutter and then finished the rounded corners to square with a file. I would really like to get one of those cheap CNC routers for jobs like this!

Perspex can certainly be useful (and can be had in all colours) but you really need a CNC laser cutter to get the best out of the material - accurate and offers a lovely finish with no further work required. Mechanical cutting is messy in comparison, and (as you suggest) it can expose stresses which later results in cracking. Flame polishing is an option for finishing though. Had to laugh at those Chinese flame polishers that use electrolysis to generate Hydrogen and Oxygen gasses which are then mixed within the machine to produce a residue-free flame just for this job. They have no flash-back arrestor (or much of any other safety measures come to that). A bomb waiting to go off basically