Link - Plastic Enclosures

idbruce

Hello Everyone

It has been a while since I have shared a link, but I have come across a website that I think would be useful to many people in this forum, so I am posting the link.

This website pertains to plastic enclosures for electronic components and displays. They offer many services, such as machining, painting, printing, assembly, etc... I would highly recommend visiting this website and investigating it very thoroughly.

They also offer samples!

https://okwenclosures.com/en

DigitalBob

Okw has some nice cases they sent me a nice 1/8 din meter case as a free sample. But with any injection mold case mfr I find the prices a little high.

davidsaunders

Would have to be a very large run to be worth it. For any smaller run 3D printed cases do the job very nicely, and cost a lot less.

PropGuy2

I use OKW enclosures exclusively for all my products. Yes, they are pricey BUT if you have a high tech product line, you need to sell it. I simple box probably won't do, it certainly adds to the quality and professionalism of whatever you sell.

For machining I use a desktop CNC milling machine, and for instruction labels and company logos that I have designed, I use the services of Speedy-Sign.

localroger

I have been using simple boxes laser cut from acrylic by Ponoko for a few years now. No they don't look as "professional" as an injection molded or 3D printed box, but with careful presentation and the right acrylic they look good. (I've threatened to put up a sign charging a quarter per touch for grabbing the ones made of flouroacrylic, which selectively traps light that enters the sides and channels it out the edges, making it seem to be lit up from inside not matter what the actual lighting scheme is.)

Duane Degn

I think Polycase makes some nice looking enclosures.

Sparkfun used to sell a "Nordic FOB" which used one of Polycase's fob enclosures.



I really liked these little remotes. I used one to control a strand of LEDs.

Here's a link to one of many past threads on the topic of enclosures. Make sure to read Phil's advice about selecting the enclosure before laying out the PCB.

Dave at EEVBlogs has a video about using a PCB as a front panel on an extruded enclosure. He recently posted a video about searching for enclosures.

Here's a Hackaday article about using PCBs as an enclosure which I think is worth a read.

Of course there are also all sorts of everyday items which can be used as an enclosure.

Erco suggested using some inexpensive aluminum wallets as an enclosure. These are kind of small but it's possible to squeeze a Propeller and some support gizmos into one.



The little project boxes mentioned by erco in this thread are roomier than the aluminum wallets.

Of course there's the old standby of using an Altoids tin but IMO, Sucrets boxes are easier to use than Altoids tins.



PVC pipe end caps are another unconventional enclosure option.

Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)

Whatever you do when designing a product that needs an enclosure, pick a standard case first, and design your PCBs -- or whatever -- around it. I cannot emphasize this enough. You simply cannot do it the other way around, because you will not be able to afford a custom enclosure. PCB fab is cheap; custom injection molding and extrusions are not.

-Phil

MikeDYur

@Duane, You should put those bottom two pictures in Phil's Friday What Is It.

a: camera housing with lens

b: emergency warning light/kill switch.

MikeDYur

The OKW catalog is a wealth of information on what designs are available. Good for spawning idea's.


https://www.okwenclosures.com/en/doc_inch/OKW_Catalog.pdf

MikeDYur

I knew I had seen that before, I wonder how Peter's idea is working out.

http://forums.parallax.com/discussion/comment/1390881/#Comment_1390881