4 ms·

I would recommend you find your enclosure before you even start the PCB and design the PCB with all the correct sizes, screw holes and cutouts. This might be u

by boznz 9y ago

I would recommend you find your enclosure before you even start the PCB and design the PCB with all the correct sizes, screw holes and cutouts. This might be useful http://rodyne.com/?p=415 http://rodyne.com/?p=415 (re-using existing cases for your design)

Animats 9y ago
There's something to be said for that. You can get aluminum or plastic extruded cases to which you add your own custom end plates to fit your switches and connectors. End plates can be made on a laser cutter, or outsourced to companies such as Front Panel Express. Too many hobbyist boards end up with connectors on all four edges, making it very difficult to package the board.
rrmm 9y ago
I'd second this: the case tends to be a bigger constraint than the board (which you can modify at the design stage). Even when you are fabricating the case, the manufacturing constraints are usually more difficult. Although sometimes you may want to get the pcb working before worrying about the particulars of the case if there are a lot of unknowns in the design.
joshvm 9y ago
For runs of maybe 5-10+ boards, SLS 3D printing is pretty competitive because you can design everything to fit exactly. The setup cost tends to be high (minimum order of £40/$50), but individually a small printed enclosure will cost the same or less than a box from Hammond or the like. Certainly compared to the cost of customising a name-brand enclosure (short run), it's a no brainer, and you can add awkward structural elements that simply aren't possible even with CNC machining. Once you get a bit bigger (physical volume), the cost becomes prohibitive and you can look at etruded aluminium. If you're clever you can design a PCB to act as end panels. 3D printing is also a nice stepping stone before getting a machined enclosure made - saves a lot of cash if you find you've missed something. And yes - too easy to forget things like standoff holes, or where a connector is going to be mounted. I suspect because it's annoying having to double your board area so you can fit an M3 clearance hole/keepout. Cheaper to not bother. If you go with 3D printing you can do things like add slots and slide your board in.
- jdietrich 9y ago
  Dangerous Prototypes offer SLA printing for $0.95/gram. They also do very cheap laser-cut acrylic panels. http://dangerousprototypes.com/store/print3d http://dangerousprototypes.com/store/print3d
  - joshvm 9y ago
    That's not bad for SLA (we have a Form1+ at work and I would happily pay someone else to deal with the mess it makes), but it works out to be very expensive for even moderately sized parts. You can get 10-20c/cm3 of SLS nowadays and the tolerance is great.
- jononor 9y ago
  One of the biggest benefit of using 3d-printing initially is adopting an CAD-first workflow, with 3d-model of PCB (incl connectors etc) is put into the assembly model. This allows to ensure that mounting solution and button/connectors placement is thought about from the start and handle the inevitable changes to either enclosure and PCB.

by boznz 9y ago

Animats 9y ago

There's something to be said for that. You can get aluminum or plastic extruded cases to which you add your own custom end plates to fit your switches and connectors. End plates can be made on a laser cutter, or outsourced to companies such as Front Panel Express. Too many hobbyist boards end up with connectors on all four edges, making it very difficult to package the board.

rrmm 9y ago

I'd second this: the case tends to be a bigger constraint than the board (which you can modify at the design stage). Even when you are fabricating the case, the manufacturing constraints are usually more difficult. Although sometimes you may want to get the pcb working before worrying about the particulars of the case if there are a lot of unknowns in the design.

joshvm 9y ago

For runs of maybe 5-10+ boards, SLS 3D printing is pretty competitive because you can design everything to fit exactly. The setup cost tends to be high (minimum order of £40/$50), but individually a small printed enclosure will cost the same or less than a box from Hammond or the like. Certainly compared to the cost of customising a name-brand enclosure (short run), it's a no brainer, and you can add awkward structural elements that simply aren't possible even with CNC machining. Once you get a bit bigger (physical volume), the cost becomes prohibitive and you can look at etruded aluminium. If you're clever you can design a PCB to act as end panels. 3D printing is also a nice stepping stone before getting a machined enclosure made - saves a lot of cash if you find you've missed something. And yes - too easy to forget things like standoff holes, or where a connector is going to be mounted. I suspect because it's annoying having to double your board area so you can fit an M3 clearance hole/keepout. Cheaper to not bother. If you go with 3D printing you can do things like add slots and slide your board in.

jdietrich 9y ago
Dangerous Prototypes offer SLA printing for $0.95/gram. They also do very cheap laser-cut acrylic panels. http://dangerousprototypes.com/store/print3d http://dangerousprototypes.com/store/print3d
- joshvm 9y ago
  That's not bad for SLA (we have a Form1+ at work and I would happily pay someone else to deal with the mess it makes), but it works out to be very expensive for even moderately sized parts. You can get 10-20c/cm3 of SLS nowadays and the tolerance is great.
jononor 9y ago
One of the biggest benefit of using 3d-printing initially is adopting an CAD-first workflow, with 3d-model of PCB (incl connectors etc) is put into the assembly model. This allows to ensure that mounting solution and button/connectors placement is thought about from the start and handle the inevitable changes to either enclosure and PCB.