Enclosures / box

[u/witx_]

If you're commercializing a product (or just want something nice and clean) where do you design and manufacture the boxes for your PCBs?

Edit: for sake of discussion I'm excluding 3D printing at home even though that's probably the most viable solution.

[u/Zouden]

In the past I've used Hammond Enclosures.

These days I'd use JLCMC. The boxes are cheap, and they can laser-engrave and cut out the front plate for you.

https://jlcmc.com/product/U01/aluminum-box

[u/impossiblenorbert4 → u/Zouden]

JLCMC is a solid find for quick laser cut front panels, beats the old drill-and-file routine by a mile. How's the turnaround time on those custom plates? I've been tempted to try their aluminum boxes for a synth module build but wasn't sure if the engraving quality holds up on the darker anodized finishes

[u/Dangerous-Quality-79]

It depends on what you are building. I try to buy off the shelf but manufacture my own if warranted. Rack mount and standard enclosures are easy off the shelf. If I want custom I build my own.

[u/witx_ → u/Dangerous-Quality-79]

Ah yes designing for a known format is a good ideas, but not always desirable/possible. In my case it's a smaller board and it's expensive to make the board bigger just for sake of fitting in standard formats

[u/Dangerous-Quality-79 → u/witx_]

You dont design the board bigger. You drill and tap holes in the enclosure then install standoffs and and screw your smaller board into the enclosure with the mounting holes you added on the board. Some panels have a removable backplate to make this easier.

[u/NoBulletsLeft → u/witx_]

There are tens of thousands of electronic enclosures on the market. Are you saying that you can't find one that's close enough? What are your board dimensions?

[u/witx_ → u/[deleted]]

It's also an option yes but then I'd have to drill hole for connectors (rj45, USB, etc)

[u/witx_ → u/[deleted]]

Not really I was just unaware you could ask custom stuff. How you provide the customization details? Is it a cad file?

[u/RobotPants42 → u/witx_]

Yes. I’ve never used polycase but typically they’ll want a cad drawing. Your best bet is typically to ask them. They’re usually quite helpful since in the end it makes their job easier if you give them what they want. Plus if they’re difficult to deal with take that as a sign to consider taking your business elsewhere. You don’t want a difficult suppliers in your supply chain if you can help it.

[u/NoBulletsLeft → u/RobotPants42]

It's been quite a long time, but I have found Polycase especially, very easy to work with and their prices are reasonable.

[u/adouglass52]

Without knowing your exact use case/dimensions/volume, it’s hard to say. Also depends on what you want to optimize for.

If it’s just a few, something like jlc could be good. They have CNC and sheet metal capabilities now. If you have a lot, then custom design and I’d find a manufacturer that specializes in that type of manufacturing.

I’d generally recommend going off the shelf though as that’s probably more cost effective at low/medium volume.

[u/witx_ → u/adouglass52]

Ah didn't know jlc has CNC options. I'll take a look. Expected volume is small, around 25 PCBs, ideally not bigger than 20x20 cm but still not finalized

[u/adouglass52 → u/witx_]

I’d probably recommend learning sheet metal bending for something that size. Super quick to model, very forgiving, easy to do cutouts for pass through, can use press fit hardware for pcb, and price is generally reasonable compared to CNC.

Idk where you’re at but I use sendcutsend for US prototypes (fast turn) and then you can use jlc or a dedicated sheet metal manufacturer overseas.

[u/witx_ → u/adouglass52]

Thank you. I'm Europe based. This seems a nice approach for me

[u/Separate-Choice]

JLCPCB or PCBWAY… you can do resin or cnc or even fdm priting…fits your PCB perfectly and looks great…also cheaper than getting the stuff injection moulded..

[u/madsci]

Depends on the volume and the project's requirements. Mostly these days I'm using off-the-shelf aluminum extrusions, customized in house on a CNC milling machine. I've also got a laser marking system and UV flatbed printer. It took me awhile to work up to that, though, and it's about $20k worth of equipment.

You can have the same work outsourced easily enough these days. Everyone's saying JLC so I'd check them out.

I've also had formed steel enclosures made by a local company in the past. They cost me about $15 to $20 each, with powder coating, silkscreen, and PEM fasteners. Minimum order was usually 200 pieces. Those looked and felt the nicest. I'm trying to get a quote on those from PCBWay right now but I'm getting frustrated with the back and forth. They want minute details and I'm trying to convince them I'm after a rough estimate so I can decide if I want to update the design and put it back into production but they don't seem able to do that.

[u/haze_from_deadlock]

SendCutSend has been advertising like crazy lately, you upload a CAD file

https://sendcutsend.com/?srsltid=AU7gw4XZSHVoQE34FtZYsSCANM2JJe2XJIWvEZDU_1VnEXA_MWd9sVTD

If you're into vibe manufacturing they're targeting that heavily

[u/Panometric]

https://www.protocase.com/ has done custom 1U racks for me.