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.
~~ _/) ~~~~ _/) ~~~~ _/) ~~~~ _/) ~~ On Jun 6, 2015, at 9:52 AM, Anthony DeStefano <[email protected]> wrote: 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. -- Anthony DeStefano [email protected] > 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 > To: [email protected] > 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) > > Material used would be (http://www.eplastics.com/Paper_Phenolic_Sheet): > 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. > > Everything would be shipped flat. The receiver would get some epoxy > (http://www.loctiteproducts.com/p/epxy_plstc_s/overview/Loctite-Epoxy-Plastic-Bonder.htm), > epoxy the posts to the sides, epoxy the sides to the base, epoxy in the > front/rear plates, and then epoxy in the card guides. (Possibly a section > of the front and or rear plates could be cut out to allow for front panels or > changes to ports on the back). > > 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. > > There was an article on Hackaday about making enclosures from FR4 PCB board - > http://hackaday.com/2015/06/03/how-to-build-beautiful-enclosures-from-fr4-aka-pcbs/ > While I think doing it with etched-copper clad board and a soldering iron > as shown in the Hackaday pieces is not really an option for an enclosure > large enough for S-100 systems (and a waste of copper board) - plain G-10 FR4 > is readily available. > > 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 > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "N8VEM-S100" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "N8VEM-S100" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "N8VEM-S100" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "N8VEM-S100" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
