This utilitarian-looking device takes an unusual approach to a problem that many projects face: enclosures. [Jan Mrázek] created a device he calls the Morse Thing for a special night’s event and used what appears to be a humble two-by-four plank for the enclosure. The device is a simple puzzle using Morse code and was intended to be mounted to a railing, so [Jan] milled out the necessary spaces and holes for the LCD and buttons then applied labels directly to the wood via toner transfer – a method commonly used for making PCBs but also useful to create clean, sharp labels.
There’s one more hack waiting inside the device. The unit uses a portable power bank embedded into the enclosure as a power supply. However, the power bank kept automatically shutting itself off. The power draw of the device was only about 20 mA; it seems this was under the power bank’s “I am in use” threshold. [Jan] originally intended to disable the auto-off feature, but with a deadline looming he instead went with a quick and dirty hack: simply adding a resistor to increase power consumption to 100 mA, which was enough to make the power bank stay turned on. With more than enough charge to keep the device running continuously for the entire event, all was well.
Custom enclosures are the kind of problem that tend to resurface for repeated solving. Some of those solutions are more unusual than others, like an enclosure made from – of all things – Papier Mâché.
Now that’s a real breadboard!
It all goes inside so it wouldn’t be a bread box rather than a bread board :)
Hope no termites carries away his project.
I have a color laser that I use for toner transfer so I have been wondering about using it for decals. It should work on anything that can handle the melting temperature of toner – wood, metal etc.
Are there types of plastics that higher melting points – for example could I use Toner transfer at about 180 Deg C with perspex / acrylic ?
It would also be interesting to see if the toner can be transferred with acetone vapors.
Great project!
I like that the LCD Display has QAPASS printed into the PCB overlay lol yeah sure sure :)
In the 90s we used to make Shirts by just printing stuff on an Apple LaserWriter II and then rubbing it on with lighter-fuel. Might not work with modern toners, worked fine then. You could even wash the shirts a couple of times…
yep, I remember that it even worked on some of the pop magazines so you could have a shirt with your favorite band. I loved to just put a few newspaper articles and recall even using newspaper letters to transfer it to some alu box.
“for example could I use Toner transfer at about 180 Deg C with perspex / acrylic ? ”
I doubt it.
The nominal melting point for acrylic is around 160 Deg C so you might find the paper sticking to the surface.
re: acetone toner transfer. See the Hackaday article from earlier this year: http://hackaday.com/2016/01/07/using-acetone-to-create-print-transfers/
Seems like a great idea, I just haven’t had an opportunity to try it.
I found using hot iron to transfer toner to acrylic causes acrylic to bend and warp. Cold toner transfer method with acetone / alcohol mixture worked well for monochrome. Sensitive to ratio of acetone to alcohol, transfer paper, and clamping pressure. Using clear acrylic and putting the toner inside the enclosure keeps it protected.
https://hackaday.io/project/3559-clear-enclosure-project-box-legends
Nice case idea, particularly since I just bought a cheap X-Y table and some milling bits for my drillpress :-)
Be careful putting side loads on that drill chuck…
Might be tricky to combine the ubiquitous Lithium-ion battery powered electronics with scrap wood enclosures.
Although.. it is the season of nice wood fires and gathering around them. :)
Just boron impregnate the wood and it will only ever char, then it is safer than even metal as it will not melt even at 1000 C.
You can always dip it in clear resin and get a plastic enclosure, that is reinforced with wood, or even go as far as to vacuum impregnate the wood for greater strength.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQxtHxfqbeQ