Project Enclosures

Piece of PVC pipe and end caps. If needed you may be able to split a piece or two longways.

A tin can, with some sort of front panel on the opened end of the can. Though if the panel is the empty end of the can, you don't get much panel space.

I still have a something surplus, a transmitter in the spectrum between

Michael

beans, paint, or coffee can. a section of plastic pipe with plywood ends ?

Surplus Shed sells some nice plated steel cans from 70-mm reels for super cheap. I use them a lot for shielding RF protos.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

For project boxes look for some consumer item that comes in a nice metal can. JL likes Danish Butter cookies, I've used a paint can. (on line prices for a bare metal can seem ridiculously high...)

George H.

How good looking does it need to be? 4" PVC drain pipe, with caps, wouldn't cost much. But it'll look like PVC drain pipe.

Use ABS... looks more "professional" ;-) ...Jim Thompson

Well, yes. I could actually see markets where a product package made with a PVC sewer pipe with labels slapped on wouldn't be the least obstacle to sales. It would certainly send a message that the customer is spending their money on performance, not looks.

Thanks everyone. It seems that Ralph's and Tim's PVC idea is a good one, th ough Jim's idea concerning the use of ABS may be better since I want it to look clean. No end caps will be used. But I'll need to make end covers out of some flat stock. I assume I can use glue for this.

(I'll also need to cut slots in the cylinders to allow PC boards to stick o ut).

Any ideas on the available wall thickness of PVC and ABS cylinders and best place to get this?

Thanks.

Darren Harris Staten Island, New York.

best place depends on how much you want.

, though Jim's idea concerning the use of ABS may be better since I want it to look clean. No end caps will be used. But I'll need to make end covers out of some flat stock. I assume I can use glue for this.

ck out).

best place to get this?

Well, I'm starting off with several of these projects, so not a lot at firs t.

Thanks.

Darren Harris Staten Island,New York.

A cheap 3D printer can print (plastic) enclosures with reasonable quality. If you don't own one, perhaps you can find one nearby and test it... For prototypes this works good enough.

Pere

Searcher7 wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:

Are you still looking? We get some catalogues from a couple of places that sell to pharma and other industries (my pertner is a biopharma consultant), so I can see whether we still have any hanging around. But there are all sorts of potential cylindrical and nearly-cylindrical containers. Even more if you can use a cube-shape.

First and foremost, though, How many do you need? Second, is appearance important?

Do they absolutely need to be cylindrical, or is the shape unimportant as long as it fits into that 4"X4" space?

Do they need to be corrosion-resistant, and/or water-proof, and/or crush- resistant? Can it be metal, or wood, or does it have to be plastic? If it has to be plastic, does it need to be opaque, translucent, or clear, or does it not matter? Can the size be smaller than a 4" X 4" cylinder, or do the outer dimensions need to be flush to that? Do you need jar-style screw-caps or "snap"-type caps, or some other means of securing the caps?

There are all sorts of plastic and glass containers from all sorts of sources, but especially for food, water, and chemical storage.

Depending upon the answers to the above questions, you could look at "disposeable" Ziploc(R) etc. type food containers; office or hardware storage things; or art containers.....

- Kris

I had assumed that 3D printers would be cost prohibitive. Now it's someone that I'll have to take a closer look at. Thanks.

It'll serve as an enclosure for electronics. It will have to be durable and opaque, so you wouldn't be able to crush it with your hands or see the contents. It'll also have to be dimensionally stable and not rust, so wood and metal are out.

I'll need to drill/machine strategic slots/holes in it and the idea was to machine some flat stock into end covers/caps.

the cylindrical shape is important because of the way the internal electronics will need to fit around a center. And a dozen slots will accommodate PC(fingerboards) that will connect the electronics inside to the outside.

Thanks.

Darren Harris Staten Island, New York.

Searcher7 wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:

Hi Darren,

I don't think that 3D printing will be an inexpensive solution, even if it can produce something strong enough.

There are cylindrical jars used for all sorts of packaging, but I don't think glass will be the right material, either, since it's clear - I saw colored glass, but the contents wold still be visible; and if it did break, ugh.....

I had looked at various other sorts of things, such as paint-brush cylinders, but those would require a lot of "re-working".

The various plastic cylindrical jars I've been seeing are the same things that are used to package stuff like facial creams or Shea Butter or the like - the hard plastic ones are clear, but could be made translucent (some light going through but contents not visible) by sanding. Plastic lids are usually available. The plastic would be reasonably easy to drill, and shape by hand with a wood-carving type X-Acto knife, which has a heavier blade than the "regular" kind - the #2 blade is the "regular" shape, though I personally prefer a #104 3/4" concave blade or the #25 large curved (convex) blade, because the tip of the #2 is very fragile and breaks annoyingly easily; also, if you do slip with one, that slender tip functions just like a scapel. Hard plastic is conducive to slipping, believe me on that! =:o , so the concave blade would IMO be best for shaping a hole or slot drilled into hard plastic. This setup would be my recmmendation, FWLIW:

The sticking-point regarding the clear straight-sided wide-mouth jars is the size. I didn't see anything that is exactly 4" - I saw 3.75", and

Tim Wescott had suggested PVC pipe, and I'm really thinking that might be the best solution. It's fairly easy to drill, once you figure out how to make it not roll around, Heh! =;) and easier to shape than are the hard clear plastic (?PET?) jars, which tend to "craze" when stressed. I thing the markings can be removed with acetone or even rubbing alcohol. You can give them a light sanding, and paint if you need a "fancier" look. The PVC pipe is fairly easy to cut to whatever length you need.

Just be careful regarding "couplings" - it would seem that a "coupling" would be great, but they're designed for the pipe to fit *inside* them, meaning, the outer diameter is larger than what you specified.

Looking at the Home Depot website, they have "sewer pipe" (as low as $9.73 for 10') and "schedule 40 pipe" (plain end for $17.19, and up to just over $20, for 10'). If I recall correctly, "schedule 40" means that it has a certain level of burst resistence, though I've forgotton what the numbers are. Sewer pipe OTOH has more resistance to chemicals - but appear to have at least one flared or "bell" end, which would be larger than 4" in diameter, and would have to be sawed off.

So, for $9.73 + tax , you get at least 25 4" X 4" cylinders (more, actually, but remember to allow for saw thickness and for removing any bell end...)

===>> NOTE! Be careful about the End Caps. You probably want what is called a "Test Cap", which is designed to fit INSIDE the pipe. Regular End Caps usually fit OVER the end of the pipe and, like the couplings, would be more then 4" in diameter.

I hope that helps! I can continue to look for jars if that's what you've decided upon, but I personally think that Tim Wescott's PVC suggestion is the best combination of affordability, obtainability, strength, opacity, and adaptability....

Good luck!

- Kris

Make a long 'V Block' and lay the pipe in it. The block can be bolted to the table of a drill press, the jigs used to adjust the centering in the groove to maintain the proper spacing. That can be as simple as blocks cut to the tight length, or inserting a pin into a series of holes that you have drilled into the block.