I use 8020 product that is the same basic product as MicroRAX for my high school robotics program. Great products, easy to use. Very easy to use to build a custom S100 box. ~~ _/) ~~~~ _/) ~~~~ _/) ~~~~ _/) ~~
Another option may be to use the MicroRAX T-slot rails ( http://www.microrax.com/) as the support pieces and fill in the rest with the sheets. A piece of 72" rail is only $18.30 and can be easily cut with a small saw.
On Sat, Jun 6, 2015, at 12:04 PM, Andrew Bingham wrote:
There are a few options for the machining, I have a friend with a mini CNC mill, I have a kit for one of the desktop CNC routers that I never finished assembling.... Or having the plastic vendor do the work. Even if the machining was another $40/kit it would come out around $100 which is a lot less than some of the custom steel or aluminum enclosures I looked at making. Plus the savings on shipping vs shipping a large metal case.
The CAD model was just my first hour of thinking about it and sketching something up.... One thought I had was extending the card guides and gluing them to the base, then only gluing the "U" of the base and sides and having the front and rear panels bolt into the upright posts the same way the lid does. Then those panels would be completely removable and customizable, could be replaced with other materials, different panels as time goes on, etc. I think I'd need to build a prototype and see how strong the material and the bonds are to know what might be needed.
On Saturday, June 6, 2015 at 7:48:30 AM UTC-7, bob wrote:
Hi Andrew,
This certainly seems like an idea worth exploring.
I'm still unclear as to who would do the required machining. Would ePlastics also be able to provide that service?
On their webpage, near the bottom right hand corner, it says: "We cut everything we sell - straight, curved, holes, slots, rings, and custom."
There are definitely some folks who would like to incorporate a front panel (and probably other options as well).
Thank you,
Robert Greenstreet
-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Bingham
Sent: Jun 6, 2015 1:05 AM
Subject: [N8VEM-S100:7190] Re: A thought on enclosures - G10 FR4
I did a quick sketch showing what I am thinking. It's incomplete (needs more interfaces, spots for fans, etc)
1 - 0.25 x 1 x 48 inch bar @ $8.66 ea (for the reinforcing "posts")
2 - 0.125 x 24 x 24 inch sheets @ $22.20 ea (for the base plate, sides, and card guides
1 - 0.063 x 24 x 24 inch sheet @ $13.10 (for a lid)
Total material cost - ~$66.
Groves and holes would be precut in the front and rear panels for interfaces, etc and the mating of the card guides. Groves would be cut in pieces of material to create card guides. The upright posts would have press-in inserts installed for fasteners for the lid.
I might build a prototype to see if those material thicknesses work. It seems like this could be a good way to make an S-100 enclosure kit without breaking the bank.
Andrew
On Thursday, June 4, 2015 at 11:15:15 PM UTC-7, Andrew Bingham wrote:
Actually, paper-based Grade XX Phenolic would be about 1/2 the cost of G-10. I get about $60 in raw material cost for a case with a design that could be epoxied together at home reasonably well.
On Thursday, June 4, 2015 at 10:36:40 PM UTC-7, Andrew Bingham wrote:
Several people have asked about different S-100 enclosure options. Custom enclosures are often time consuming to get, heavy to ship, etc.
One could purchase a single 36"x36"x0.093" piece of black G-10 FR4 ( http://www.eplastics.com/G10BLK-093X36X36) and cut it into the pieces required to make a 17x17x7" enclosure, and still have about a 5"x36" section of material left to make card guides, drive cages, etc. 5-minute epoxy from the store could be used to bond the pieces into the final configuration. With a simple PCB mill like the X-Crave, holes, ports, etc could be added (and maybe groves to guide fitting the pieces together).
An advantage here would be if someone made a kit, the G-10 pieces could be shipped flat-packed similar to the way we ship our PCBs and the epoxy purchased locally at a hardware store by the builder. Thus avoiding the shipping costs of a heavy and volumetrically large metal enclosure, which end up being a significant portion of the cost of any hobby enclosure project.
Andrew
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