Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!pasteur!helios.ee.lbl.gov!nosc!crash!simpact!jeh
From: jeh@simpact.com
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Project Enclosures
Message-ID: <840.25ad19af@simpact.com>
Date: 12 Jan 90 07:41:35 GMT
References: <126@gazette.bcm.tmc.edu>
Organization: Simpact Associates, San Diego CA
Lines: 41

In article <126@gazette.bcm.tmc.edu>, andreask@watson.bcm.tmc.edu 
(Andreas Kasenides) writes:
> Can somobody more experienced indicate the source of materials or may be 
> a source of enclosures... [for electronic projects]

I'm not all that experienced... but 
I'm quite fond of making boxes out of eight-inch thick acrylic plastic
(common trade names are Plexiglas and Acrylite).  You can either use a
double-U-section or five-sided-box-with-lid design.  The stuff looks good,
does not require painting, is a snap to cut, drill, etc., comes in many 
colors, and also comes in clear and transparent red and the like, so 
you don't have to provide fancy windows for displays.  

If you insist on hiding "the works", you can start with a clear front panel, 
mask off the places where LEDs, etc., are to shine through, and spray-paint 
it -- from the inside surface.  You want nomenclature too?  Lay out your 
front panel on paper, with solid black where the LEDs and displays will be.
Take it to a litho shop and have them make a film negative of it, right-
reading from the film side.  The nomenclature and display "holes" will be
clear against a black background.  Mask off the display holes and spray
paint the back side (the emulsion side) with white paint, then remove the
mask; you now have white nom. on black.  Glue this to the back of the clear
front panel of the plastic box.  Holes for switches, etc., get drilled 
through the plex and the film together.  Of course you can mark the positions
of these on your original, and the film will act as a drilling and cutting
guide.  

Look in your Yellow Pages under "Plastics -- Rods, Tubes, Sheets, Etc., 
Supply Centers".  Every Plexiglas distributor I've ever seen carries the
requisite solvent adhesive (Weld-On #4) and capillary applicator, scribers,
and brochures on how to work with this stuff.  They also have cutoff bins,
and ten dollars or so spent on cutoffs will usually provide materials for
at least half a dozen small-to-medium-sized project boxes.  Finally, while
you're at the Plexiglas store, pick up a length of 1/10-inch square "rod".
Small lengths of this glued to the inside of the box make perfect p.c. guides!

For larger boxes, use 1/4" plex for greater strength.  

	--- Jamie Hanrahan, Simpact Associates, San Diego CA
Internet:  jeh@simpact.com, or if that fails, jeh@crash.cts.com
Uucp:  ...{crash,scubed,decwrl}!simpact!jeh