I love those Hammond boxes until I have to pay the bill. The one for my n2pk VNA was about $28.
But one of those as the primary enclosure with input boards and output boards that plug into a main board would be feasable if a tad expensive. Some modules lend themselves to plugins on a main board (output modules for example) while things that need to chain like input modules ( think pre amp followed by prescaler followed by trigger sense) don't. On Dec 21, 2010, at 1:29 AM, Chris Albertson <[email protected]> wrote: >>> Eurocard has been one suggestion as a form factor. While I personally >>> love Eurocard, the boards and connectors are expensive. >>> >>> Stackble connectors are a pain in assembly. >>> >>> Backplanes are inherently evil at high speeds. >>> >>> Plugging everything into one main board makes that a critical design >>> item and that much harder to upgrade. > > I agree with all of the above. > > I think what we want is simply a mechanical standard. Something that > will simply hold everything in place. > > What if every module was in it's own metal box? Each box has a > forward or "user facing" panel that is tall and narrow and contains > things like input jacks and status LEDs and a rear facing panel that > is for power and module to module interconnect. Many of the > modules, I assume would work as stand alone gadgets (a trigger is a > usful device all by it self) To assemble a system you place all the > boxes like books on a shelf. Maybe even some book end so they don't > fall over. But you might build a wood cabinet, put a handle on top > and metal bumpers on the corners. The wood cabinet would house the > modules and also the power supply and the rats nest of interconnect > wiresSo those who like to be neat can make nice wood cases and the > rest of us can have a working system made of a half dozen boxea and > cales all over the work bench > > Here is an example of a module box > http://www.hammondmfg.com/pdf/1455L1601.pdf > > We would not have to specify a height or length, only the width needs > to be uniform. But in our case the width becomes height when you turn > them on edge. Some modules might need two PCBs and a wider box. We > should make a list of connectors to be used for power and so on for > the rear pannel > > I had previously suggested about the same thing but only to make the > box the same size as a disk drive so we could use common existing > racks. I'd still prefer that but maybe these hammond boxes are more > popular > > > -- > ===== > Chris Albertson > Redondo Beach, California > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
