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One downside I've found with hobbies like this: milling enclosures for the electronics is expensive in terms of either money (to have it done externally) or in
by sleavey 9y ago
One downside I've found with hobbies like this: milling enclosures for the electronics is expensive in terms of either money (to have it done externally) or in terms of favours from your machinist colleagues. For anything beyond holes drilled with a drill press, I have to ask a friendly technician where I work. If enclosures/panels could be milled as cheaply as PCBs can be printed, that would be awesome.
- sokoloff 9y agoYou can use PCB as a front panel. It has arbitrary routing, colored soldermask (as background), silkscreen (as labeling). Some enclosures are extruded aluminum with screw on end caps. If your device is suited to the endcap being made of PCB, you just have another PCB (printed end panel?) to layout. Here's one example video that shows the technique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj0Bv4UEFSs&feature=youtu.be&t=119 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj0Bv4UEFSs&feature=youtu.be...
- swimfar 9y agoHere's another nice tutorial. It looks like it's a nice way to make sturdy custom enclosures. https://hackaday.com/2015/06/03/how-to-build-beautiful-enclosures-from-fr4-aka-pcbs/ https://hackaday.com/2015/06/03/how-to-build-beautiful-enclo...
- kurtisc 9y agoJunction boxes are a cheap alternative.
- moron4hire 9y agoLaser cut acrylic is a lot cheaper and a lot easier. You can even make fairly complex designs in two dimensions if you're willing to layer "rings" of the acrylic. Though I also recently did a project built inside of a section of PVC pipe. https://youtu.be/O6hGviGHaFY https://youtu.be/O6hGviGHaFY
- rebuilder 9y ago3d printers are much cheaper nowadays. Not worth it for a one-off, but the price point (a few hundred USD) seems fairly reasonable for hobbyists IMO.
- sleavey 9y agoCNC machines are also cheaper these days, but ones that can mill metal are more expensive ($2k+ as far as I've found). Too much for the casual hobbyist, I think.
- IanCal 9y agoAn alternative is things like 3D but on-demand printing at places like shapeways. You can get steel or aluminium done. Perhaps there's something similar for CNC?
- TeMPOraL 9y agoCheck out if there's a Hackerspace in your city. There's a good chance they have a mill you could use - along of plenty of other people interested in these kinds of hobbies.
- retSava 9y agoseeedstudio offers cheap 3d-printing, acrylic laser cutting too. Haven't tried them though, so can't judge on the quality, but they do have a good reputation, and it is cheap, so that might be worth a shot.
- panzagl 9y agoFind the box first, adapt the PCB to fit it.
- sleavey 9y agoThat's what I generally do - but putting buttons and displays on the box is what requires drilling/milling.