Custom electronic enclosure
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[edit] Custom electronic enclosure
Custom - adj. - Made to order; Specializing in the making or selling of made-to-order (design from scratch) goods.
Enclosure - n. - The act of enclosing; The state of being enclosed; Something that encloses.
Introduction
Custom electronic enclosure can be defined as ‘made-to-order enclosure which encloses electronic equipment’. The electronic equipment here can be anything from a printed circuit board (PCB) or other hardware components such as hard drive and/or CD/DVD drive among others.
Building a custom electronic enclosure requires technical skills and ideas as the final product is made from scratch. Solid computer aided design (CAD) knowledge is important for designing enclosure as it is for designing a PCB. There are lots of companies, who specialize in manufacturing custom electronic enclosure. Some of them can also be found in http://www.oemtechnology.com/electronicenclosures/index10.html.
As you seek (search) for a custom electronic enclosure, you should always be aware of the term ‘custom’ and ‘customized’. Customized product, also sometimes termed as standardized product, is not built from scratch but rather the existed product is altered to fit the design specifications. Where as custom product would mean from scratch.
Where to go?
Suppose you want a custom electronic enclosure that fits your electronic components, incorporate labeling and colors. What would be your first reaction, where would you go? There are many ways to solve this, but the below three options are the most common.
Option 1 - DIY: Yes, buy all the materials and build it.
Well if you have lots of time and required equipments as well technical skills, option 1 suit well. However, depending upon the experiences it may or not look professional thus directly influencing the sales and identity if you are in a profit organization.
Option 2 - Find a manufacturer who stocks standard enclosures and request them to build it as you want.
Take use of the customized product. This option is fast and cheap, but sometimes it may lead to compromise the design.
Option 3 - Design the enclosure in a CAD tool, send the file to the manufacturer and request them to build it.
From scratch. Yes, this is more fun and costly, but you will get exactly what you want.
Things to remember
Before you contact the manufacturer to build your enclosure you should be aware of all the manufacturing and material details. Material type, material thickness and technical constraint are always on top of the list.
'Material type': Aluminum, plain steel, stainless steel, plastic, wood, etc.
'Material thickness': Material thickness also referred as ‘gauge also gage’ directly influence the weight of the enclosure. The lower the gage the thicker the material. Take a look at the chart [2] or visit http://www.engineersedge.com/gauge.htm.
'Technical constraint': Can you design a cutout on the bend? How many screws or fasteners do you need to hold the enclosure pieces together? Are you considering colors for the enclosure? Engineering edge [3] has more information.
References
[1] Protocase Incorporated – http://www.protocase.com
[2] http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/scales/sheetmetal.html
[3] Engineering Edge - http://www.engineersedge.com/manufacturing_design.shtml
