
Easy laser-cut electronics cases for maker boards (2017) - walterbell
http://climbers.net/sbc/easy-laser-cut-electronics-cases/
======
leoc
Another good option for enclosing a small-board system would be an aluminium
enclosure of the type used for guitar effects pedals. (Of course, a digital
guitar pedal _is_ an SBC in an aluminium box...) They're seriously robust (you
can, of course, happily stand on one), they can quite easily be drilled to
hold I/O and power ports and control interfaces wherever you want to put them,
they can be painted or printed on in a variety of ways, they're available in a
wide range of shapes and sizes and you can get them very cheap. See for
example
[https://www.mammothelectronics.com/collections/enclosures](https://www.mammothelectronics.com/collections/enclosures)
(just as an illustration: I don't know enough about this particular supplier
to endorse them).

~~~
elektronaut
Great enclosures. The all-metal design is an important property for guitar
pedals, it acts as a noise shield. For the same reason, they're probably not
the greatest choice for radio circuits.

~~~
walterbell
Would they be good faraday cages for mobile phones?

~~~
jwagenet
Sure. If you want Faraday cage for your phone, buy some conductive fabric and
sew up a pouch.

~~~
ars
I put a cell phone in an all metal lunchbox, and closed the lid, and it still
rang when I called it.

Faraday cages seem to be a bit more complicated than they appear.

~~~
kaybe
Did you have good conductive contact between the lid and the body? This is
important and needs to be over a larger area, not just points (otherwise you
might have an antenna).

You can get special conductive tape (very beautiful btw, made from eg copper
and conductive glue) and cover all the slits. This works better if you have
conductive contact to the box, but still helps if not (in this case get the
cheaper tape with non-conductive glue).

But as people involved in this space say, EMI is voodoo and I suspect praying
to the EMI god, putting little metal amulets on all the cables and making
strange markings with this conductive tape are all necessary to limit
emissions below the limits. Homebrew electronics are the worst, and passing
EMI tests with them can be a special kind of hell. </rant>

------
equalunique
Sweet! These are quite simple & easy to use cases.

For slightly more complex cases, I submit:

[http://www.makercase.com/](http://www.makercase.com/) (gives me certificate
errors on HTTPS, but still quite useful)

[https://www.makeabox.io/](https://www.makeabox.io/)

~~~
tomcooks
the second link doesn't work, fixed:
[https://makeabox.io/](https://makeabox.io/)

~~~
equalunique
Thank you, sir.

------
eltoozero
If you don't have local vendors, you can use the cheap laser cutting offered
by the dirtyPCB guys:

[http://dev.dirtypcbs.com/store/lasercut](http://dev.dirtypcbs.com/store/lasercut)

(Hey it looks like the custom cable builder[0] is back online, woo hoo!)

[0]:
[http://dev.dirtypcbs.com/store/cables](http://dev.dirtypcbs.com/store/cables)

------
oasisbob
I'm a big fan of the similar, but more philosophical, Sick of Beige cases that
the Dangerous Prototypes folks came up with:

[http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Sick_of_Beige_compatible...](http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Sick_of_Beige_compatible_cases)

They follow a standard size series, with standard mounting hole offsets,
corner radii, etc. The idea being that if you're designing a PCB, you may as
well go with one of these sizes because the laser cut cases are commercially
available, or someone following the design can make their own easily too.

They work great with minimal modification for the Pi, Adafruit protoboards,
etc.

~~~
stuntkite
I love dangerous prototypes sick of beige. I think they discontinued it, but
they used to have an amazing SMD protoboard. I haven't seen anything quite
like it since. Especially for the price.

------
chromaton
I found this fastener free laser cut case maker last week:
[http://imagio.dk/boxmaker/](http://imagio.dk/boxmaker/)

------
stevekemp
That's pretty cool - it's easy to note notice how cheap a lot of this kind of
stuff has become.

Earlier in the year I wanted to have a case made for one of of my electronics
projects, and managed to find a free design from thingiverse.com, then pay a
local person a small amount of money to get it 3D-printed.

Over time I've gotten more tempted to have a 3D-printer of my own, but I don't
think I could quite justify the expense.

~~~
hwillis
3d printing is incredibly powerful for hobbyist electronics- you can make
professional quality stuff[1], only limited by your creativity and design
sense. Home FDM printers are so good that you can 3d print working threads
even on cheap machines! If you spring for a more expensive lithography or
sintering machine, the parts are effectively indistinguishable from commercial
parts (aside from obvious technical differences like the lack of witness
marks).

The prices are just ridiculously low now as well. $160 + tax and shipping gets
you a printer[2]. Obviously you pay for that in terms of continual fiddling
and reduced quality (and the $220 MP select mini is probably a better choice),
but even that's better than how it used to be. $600 will get you nearly
hassle-free prints and $750 will get you one of the best printers on the
market[3] (well, almost on the market). Arguably the new Prusa is _the_ best
option out there- right now it has features that no other printers do,
certainly not with the same build size. Really impressive bit of kit[4].

IMO 3d printing is legitimately at the point where if you're making things at
home, a 3d printer should be on your list of tools to buy even before a mill.
Obviously it depends on what you want to make but it now takes way longer to
learn and use modeling software than to set up and tweak your printer.

[1]:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3O0jKvxUIM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3O0jKvxUIM)

[2]:
[https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=21666](https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=21666)

[3]: [https://shop.prusa3d.com/en/3d-printers/180-original-
prusa-i...](https://shop.prusa3d.com/en/3d-printers/180-original-
prusa-i3-mk3-kit.html)

[4]:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwNIzQLtHnU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwNIzQLtHnU)

~~~
jstanley
Agreed with all of this.

I bought my first 3d printer about a year ago and it quickly turned into one
of the best things I've ever bought.

If you're at all interested in making things at home, there's almost no reason
not to own a 3D printer.

I recently replaced the no-brand i3 clone that I initially bought with an
Anycubic i3 Mega, and am very happy with the new machine. It's nice and rigid,
easy to use, prints stick to the bed well while printing and pop off easily
after printing. And all for less than £300.

As you said, the hardest part about it all is learning the CAD software.

------
squarefoot
I don't have much experience with acrylic cases that snap together, but all
ones I tried so far were really easy to break, so that now I stay away from
them unless I don't find alternatives.

~~~
JKCalhoun
LOL, and the weird Insert-Tab-A-into-Slot-B look. Like brushed aluminum
faceplates or art-deco bakelite, down the road they're going to scream the era
they were created in.

------
heavenlyblue
Call me conservative, but what happened to the dust collecting right below
this crystal-clear case?

------
alex_hitchins
I think this method give a much better quality feel than 3D printed cases and
seems to be a fair amount cheaper. I'd love to be able to do stuff like this.
Thought before of gutting old printers and going to DIY CNC route. To much
cool stuff to do!

~~~
hwillis
The two-panel cases look very nice, but I hate the jigsaw-puzzle look of
lasercut cases and mechanisms. It can be fairly strong but in practice people
rarely put in the thought necessary for that. Carelessly designed lasercut
cases can be very weak indeed.

On the other hand 3d printed cases can be beautiful and much more
sophisticated[1] than lasercut. You aren't limited by the need for huge
gussets and dozens of pain in the ass square nuts. Plus you can have curved
surfaces.

[1]:
[https://hackadaycom.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/tuco_flyer.j...](https://hackadaycom.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/tuco_flyer.jpg)

~~~
alex_hitchins
Ah, intersting.

I too am not such a fan of the jigsaw look, it was the rigidity and strength
that I liked. If you say they aren't as strong in practice, perhaps 3D
printing would be better. I've only ever seen really good prints come from
expensive machines with a fair amount of post-processing going on. TBH
currently I just get cases from Hammond most of the time. It's the creation of
front panels as well that I'd like to achieve more cleanly. As it's just my
hobby, I can just about put up with the misaligned square holes!

~~~
gh02t
3D printed cases can look good with a bit of practice and the cost of a decent
3D printer is much lower than a laser cutter that can cut acrylic. Probably
the most popular one with budger makers right now is the CR-10, which is big
enough for pretty much any enclosure you could want and only costs $400. I
make snap fit enclosures all the time with minimal (usually no) post
processing.

There isn't a lot of difference between high and low end FDM printers in terms
of print quality, the difference is more with UI polish and idiot-proofness.
With a bit of practice however you can get very high quality prints out of any
recent printer as long as it isn't a total mess in terms of design.

~~~
alex_hitchins
I think before getting any kit (if I do) it would be very sensible to master
the software first. Have to look at some NYCNC tutorials and such to ensure I
don't end up with an expensive bit of desk art.

~~~
gh02t
I love that channel! And I understand completely, it's easy for tools like
that to sit collecting dust unless you have the right combination of skills
and interests. I usually tell people that a 3D printer is not at all worth it
unless you're planning on designing and fabricating your _own_ custom parts
and you have a need to do so.

I also have a basic CNC machine which I like, but of the big three maker
machines (3D printer, laser cutter, CNC) I'd say the 3D printer is probably
the one you want first because it's the most versatile. I mostly use the CNC
for fabricating one-off PCBs and while I get a lot of use out of it for that
most of the other things I could do with it I just do with a 3D printer. The
CNC is a lot messier and more complicated, especially if you wanna cut wood or
metal and if you want to do true 3D carves you need to do some proper CAM,
which is a whole different skill set from CAD.

Laser cutters have a lot of downsides, especially if you are looking into one
at home. Smaller diode laser cutters/engravers are more accessible to someone
at home, but they can have a hard time cutting acrylic, particularly clear
acrylic. You can get fairly affordable CO2 lasers now in the $5-600 with good
laser performance but apparently the electronics suck so you need to change em
and focusing the beam is a pain (it's invisible). My main problem with lasers
though is that they are potentially _very_ dangerous. One mistake can leave
you blind or on fire, which means you have to take a lot of care using them,
adding hassle. Plus you need to manage fume extraction carefully, as laser
cutting produces pretty harmful vapors that need to be filtered and vented.

What I'm getting at is: 3D printer - minimal hassle, maximum versatility, good
for home. CNC machine - medium hassle, medium-low versatility, kinda
borderline depending on your use. Laser - high hassle, medium versatility, I'd
rather go to a dedicated shop than deal with one at home.

Side note, designing a DIY CNC mill is kinda hard because their mechanical
requirements are actually quite extreme even at the low end. You'll end up
spending a lot of time and money on it, especially when you can get a cheap-
but-pretty-good mill from Aliexpress.

~~~
alex_hitchins
NY CNC is great, the guy is so enthusiastic to share his knowledge it's great.
Plus some of the machining projects he does are quite something. Also
refreshing to get exposure to the business side of running a shop, pricing
decisions etc.

You are likely correct that it's better to get a kit even if on the cheaper
end than go DIY. There is something about reusing parts that would otherwise
go to landfill I really wanted to achieve. Perhaps I can find other uses for
them, even if just mastering their operation with an arduino.

