Author Topic: Are good old rectangular metal project enclosures really that expensive now?  (Read 3517 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline westfw

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 4349
  • Country: us
I my experience, "professional" pre-made boxes have been "silly expensive" for at least 40 years.  Unless you find one of the right size on the surplus market (increasingly rare, as custom-made boxes have become more popular for commercial gear, and surplus stores have been done in by cheap overseas "new" components.)
In high school, I used to build projects into cardboard boxes, and after graduating from college I noticed that your average "home-supply store" looked like they had a better selection of interesting and not-too-expensive boxes than what you'd get from an electronics supplier.
(of course, 40y ago, "silly expensive" was a much lower absolute number than it is now.)

 

Offline CatalinaWOW

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 5571
  • Country: us
Visit your local sources for dead microwaves, toaster ovens etc.  In addition to odd lot of switches and the like, the enclosures are largish sheets of mild steel or stainless steel.  Plenty for small to medium boxes.  You can also branch out to washered, dryers, fridges etc to get materials for large boxes.
 

Online vk6zgo

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 7858
  • Country: au
Seems cheap to me:

Small
Bigger
Even bigger
Big Box
Boxier

Also, usually Aliexpress has no import taxes with orders under 100$ to Canada.
Everything I listed has a 1$-9$ shipping.

They are all a tad smaller than I would normally build things in.
 

Offline MathWizard

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 1772
  • Country: ca
This reminds me I have to buy a can of cookies or something, to make a shielded test box.
 

Offline armandine2

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 750
  • Country: gb
Thinking outside the box - maybe the IKEA knarrevik table?  :-X
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught - Hunter S Thompson
 
The following users thanked this post: newbrain

Online vk6zgo

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 7858
  • Country: au
Thinking outside the box - maybe the IKEA knarrevik table?  :-X

Clever idea!
 


Share me

Digg  Facebook  SlashDot  Delicious  Technorati  Twitter  Google  Yahoo
Smf