Comments on: Tips on picking the right case

By: Muruli

Muruli — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:55:53 +0000

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By: ed

ed — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 06:24:50 +0000

thanks colin, that sounds like a good idea. i wish they made heated cutting knives. seems like the cutting might go faster if you could be melting the plastic at the same time.

By: Colin

Colin — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 20:32:56 +0000

A spring-loaded center punch is great for making sure that your drill bit stays in the center of your marked hole.

Glue the standoffs to the case _after_ you drill the holes for any board-mounted components. This gives you a little more leeway in case things don't line up. You can use a longer (or shorter) standoff, or slide the board sideways inside the case if needed.

For cutting a slot for the SD card, drill the ends first, and then use a sharp knife and a steel straightedge to cut the slot. Many passes are better than a few deep cuts.

Bevel the edges after the slot is cut and lines up to hide any imperfections, and to make it easier to insert your SD card.

By: curiously strongh

curiously strongh — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 07:15:40 +0000

.:.Altoids box.:., "Of course I also subscribe to the belief that if it's not overdone, it's not done right "

I also would say:
If it doesnt fit on an Altoids box, it's not done right

By: BigD145

BigD145 — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 01:22:53 +0000

If your case is fully enclosed, you don’t even need to glue down anything. Just put your spacers in the right places and it’ll keep itself together when the lid is tight. If you do it that way you can build in a more modular fashion and be able to make adjustments on both sides of a board without having to unscrew anything.

By: ed

ed — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 20:56:08 +0000

i wish they would have gone into detail about how they created the slot for the sd card. i’m going to be needing to do exactly this type of enclosure modification in the future for my traxmod project.

By: nahtical

nahtical — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 18:33:07 +0000

“I prefer plastiweld epoxy to superglue.” I would agree if you really needed a good hold, but for most things I can think of superglue works well enough (as in if you’re applying enough force to break the glue you probably have something else broken too), and it is a bit easier/cleaner to work with imo.
I don’t mean you sly, but in general it seems like a lot of people absolutely hate using superglue, almost a “my projects are too good for superglue” thing. Never figured that one out o_O.

By: nightwing

nightwing — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 17:25:53 +0000

Want somethign different? Want a spiffy case? Try it in wood! Did that for a recently completed project. Came out very nice! Yes the whole thing was in wood. Case, support, counterweight even the shipping container.

Add in blue masking tape to protect/hold and make it easy to mark without marking it up.

One other material easy is that foam core paper board. Cheep for the amount. Strong. And can cut it with a knife.

Last can mock up a case using heavy weight paper.

By: sly

sly — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 17:09:58 +0000

I prefer plastiweld epoxy to superglue. Of course I also subscribe to the belief that if it’s not overdone, it’s not done right (like using 12 gauge wire where 24 would suffice or having the power handling for 2 amps when only half an amp is needed).

By: Pedro Molinar

Pedro Molinar — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 11:53:30 +0000

i use a PVC sheet to build my own cases. it always get the size i want.

By: thegimpster

thegimpster — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 06:02:46 +0000

I didn’t read the article yet, but I like to lay out my hole patterns on the computer including cross hairs for the center marks, and print them out on sticky paper. Then i position it onto my box and drill them out or cut them out with a much greater accuracy.

By: BigD145

BigD145 — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 05:16:18 +0000

I recommend needle files for cleaning up holes. It takes time, but looks nice.