Feedback on 3D Printed Enclosure

[ycroosh]

Good part of the day,
I'm working on 3D printed enclosures for the TouchDRO boards and would like to get a bit of feedback. (I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to 3D printing...)
I will be selling a kit that includes the board, 3D printed parts and M3 hardware, and will make the files available for download for people who have a 3D printer.
So far I came up with this:







I generally tent to abuse 3M double sided tape, so I didn't include any mounting tabs. Should I?
I printed this in PLA on Prusa i3 Mk.3 with the flat sides facing the bed (similar to how it would look in the bottom picture). There are no long overhangs, but there are 45 degree chamfers on the lid and the bottom. The lid has a bit of a register, but it's chamfered too, so there is a bit of play left.

I'd be curious to hear any feedback or critique.
Thank you
Yuriy

 

[C-Bag]

Fantastic. So the screws for the top would go through board and hold everything, right? To me that’s perfect. I would prefer mounting tabs as everything in the area of my mill ends up with a fine mist of oil and 3m tape fails eventually. Personally an tab down the whole side would hopefully be enough to mount to, or something that could attach to the mount for the cell phone screen? I’ve been waiting for you to get to this point to order a kit for my RF30 as I’m so over the individual screens. Your board has a place to plug a USB wall wart to power everything?

 

[C-Bag]

forced ditto

 

[ycroosh]

Tony,
Thank you for the feedback.
To answer your question - yes, these are 16mm M3 screws (need to be sensitive to the rest of the world where 6-32 is a rare animal ). The board slips in-and-forward, so the four Micro-USB connectors are supported by the enclosure. The screws fit snugly into the holes, so they keep the board aligned.
I added tabs on both sides (tried one side, but it was a bit floppy).
Since you were the only one with feedback, this particular box is yours if you decided to buy a board (just drop me a note after the order).
I'm still playing with the color scheme. I like the idea of Black bottom with green top, to keep in the theme of the application display.

Regards
Yuriy

 

[C-Bag]

SOLD! Just sent the PayPal. I don’t know if it lack of coffee or what but I can’t seem to find an email address to let you know I wanted it with the case you offered. Sorry you didn’t get more feedback. I know how it goes personally.

 

[cjtoombs]

You might include some mounting holes and countersinks on the inside, so that the back of the box could be mounted and then the board and cover placed on it. You could do that and the outside tabs. Someone who didn't want the tabs could either cut them off or remove them from the model before printing. It would give a cleaner look to the installation.

 

[ycroosh]

I posted the STL files for the enclosure at the bottom of the TouchDRO Downloads page for those interested. They work with the "new" style boards that use Micro-USB power input.
Regards
Yuriy

 

[Schtimpy]

Dear Yuri,

I recently ordered a board from you which I received yesterday. When I visited your site last night to check some details, I saw your new enclosure, and like it. I then found your request for feedback on the design. I like your enclosure design, and I have a couple of suggestions:

- I am keen to fit a tacho and a probe when I install my TouchDRO setup, so I would like openings for these connections (eg panel mount connectors). If you wee to include such features, it would be possible to have some blanking plugs that go into the openings for users who do not wish to use these options.
- I would also like to be able to see the status LEDs on the board. This could be achieved either by placement of a couple of small holes in the lid which could either be left open, or alternatively to model "tubes" in the under side of the lid that extend down to the LEDS/PCB andact as light baffles so that the light from each LED is separated from the other LEDS, and to print small press in lenses/diffusers out of transparent PLA to fill the LED holes in the lid.

I have downloaded your STL files for printing, and I am contemplating customising the design to include the above suggestions. Do you have any plan to make a STEP file (or other 3D CAD file format) available for your enclosure to make customisation easier? (compared to modifying a STL) this would allow your customers to add specific mounting tabs, , incorporate into a combined "tablet holder/PCB enclosure" etc specific for the machines/scenarios they intend you use Touch DRO for.

I cant wait for my linear scales to arrive so that I can connect it all up and try it out.

 

[ycroosh]

Thank you for the feedback.
I am going to redo the lid to add a small opening for the LED (I got some 2mm fiber optic "wire"), so I might just include an 1" or so with each kit so the user can trim it, polish the ends, etc.
For the panel-mounted connectors - I will have to play with that when I get some time.

I didn't realize STL files were bad. I'm a complete noob when it comes to 3D printing, etc. (This enclosure is literally the first thing I ever did in Fusion360), so I will need to figure out how (and what) to export.

Thank you
Yuriy