Re: Procuring or designing custom sheet metal enclosures.
forrestc on 15 May, 2024 00:03 in Manufacturing & Assembly
Quote from: T3sl4co1l on 14 May, 2024 22:39What kind of suppliers have you been working with...?!Obviously the wrong ones. I've always provided some drawings. For the bad rackmount experience, it was even completely dimensioned, as opposed to the "rough sketch" I've done before. More recently, I also provided a correct 3D model of the circuit boards for electronic fitment along with any drawings. However, I have also always expected the manufacturer to work with me on what makes the most sense in their manufacturing flow and do the actual manufacturing plans. This means that my drawing is going to be largely a rectangular box indicating hole and mounting locations and some notes about features such as "ventilate this side - open up at least 25% of the surface area". I have always felt this was the best way since the manufacturer knows more about their tooling and flow than I do. Starting to think this might be the wrong way to do this.Quote from: T3sl4co1l on 14 May, 2024 22:39Nowadays, you would be best designing it in SolidWorks, Fusion360, etc., using sheet metal commands (cut, bend, drill, etc.), and sending the file directly to a fab -- there are numerous online fabs that do this, even one-stop sources like PCBWay these days. You might check for one local-ish (same or neighboring state, say) to save on shipping or ease communication if anything needs to be done in person.Yeah, I'm coming to this realization. Just trying to figure out the best way to be successful in making a good looking enclosure. Even a half-dozen prototypes have to be cheaper than what I've been doing though.Quote from: T3sl4co1l on 14 May, 2024 22:39As for the rackmount:The cost seems ludicrous, and, I don't really know how much stuff you have packed into the thing, but just for point of reference, a typical empty box runs $100 e.g. We've been using a stock enclosure modified by the manufacturer for years, and continue to do so. Costs us about $70 at the quantities we are using. 25 pem inserts in the bottom for PCB mounting, holes cut in the front panel, some silkscreening, nothing else special. We just wanted/needed to move to something which resolved a few minor nits our customers continue to bug us about, such as easier cover removal for maintenance/reconfiguration tasks and so on.We were expecting the fully custom unit to be more, but we also felt that it improved product quality so we were ok with it. We didn't expect the project to go sideways like it did, especially since we were able to provide an existing enclosure, production circuit boards, dimensions of all of the boards, holes, etc., and so on. It's pretty obvious that something is horribly wrong when you stack the prototype they provided on the existing enclosure we provided to them. As in the entire thing is like a full inch wider, including "rail to rail" spacing for mounting.