Machinable plastic for a electronic module with wireless?

Lo-Fi said:
Another option is to pop a post up asking someone to 3D print one for you. I'd be happy to, but we're on opposite sides of the pond! This is a perfect use case for 3D printing :)
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I totally agree. I'm 3D challenged. Don't currently have 3D modeling ability. Got turned off by the Fusion 360 situation. Didn't want to put time into learning it and being held hostage. Wouldn't mind trying open source but last time I played with it, I got nowhere. Could barely follow the examples, because the tutorial was for a version that I didn't have. Just couldn't do it because the commands and buttons were very different. It was frustrating. The learning style of the tutorial also didn't match mine. I need to go from trivial to slightly more complicated, and so on, until sophisticated. The tutorial assumed more knowledge than I had. Went from easy to quite hard too quickly. It's worth trying again. Who knows, maybe it will sink in this time! I have definitely needed the capability, so I'll try again.

There's someone with a 3D printer local to me - if I had a file, he'd probably print it for me. I know I can machine the block, even with blunders, far faster than I could ever 3D model it. I'd just make some hand drawings, then transfer to a 2D CAD program, to make sure my numbers are reasonable. Then machine it.
 
I've done a quite few custom plastic boxes for electronics on a bench-top RF-45 mill. A few were up to 12" x 16" x 8". For those I made a bolt-down jig and used the mounting holes of the box to bolt down to the jig. The polycarbonate machines very well. Like you said, you need to think ahead about accurate registration but the boxes are square so corner stops or end stops can work well. To do narrow ends I have welded up a vertical jig out of scrap steel. It worked pretty well. In all cases I had a porter-cable router bolted to the side of the Z axis to get higher RPM. I used maybe 12000 RPM and lots of air to cool/remove the chips / avoid melting.

The other thing you can do is to have Polycase CNC it for you. Not cheap but I've gotten some multiples that way. You can get instant quotes for that on their web site.

BTW. I'm not affiliated with Polycase. Just a happy customer.
 
markba633csi said:
How about just buying a little plastic box? Aliexpress has lots
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BOO, HISS​

Buy, surely, Sir, you jest? Why buy something for $3 bux when you can build it for only $200? I would use 3mm acrylic (plexi) or some 1-1/2mm Lexan. Both on hand, as are the nylon standoffs and fasteners. The plexi is clear, the lexan is gray. . .

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I'll take the ribbing. Probably brought it upon myself. Way overthinking this. That being said, I haven't found a premade box for any price yet that seems like a good starting point. If I had anything on hand that was close, I'd use it. Frankly don't want a crappy box that doesn't fit, or whose internals are so modified that the box loses its integrity. Been there and regretted it.

@Reddinr thanks for the suggestions. So far, spending $4 on a piece of acetal sounds like my best bet. No matter what I pick, I will have to machine it, might as well be what I want.
 
I would have suggested Marlin P Jones (surplus) but most of their enclosures of any size are metallic. Which would be a no-go for HF or VHF.

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Pretty sure the Wifi chip is 2.4GHz. Metal stops it cold. Too bad really, because I've got a bunch of 6061 that I could easily make a housing from. Just splurged on some acetal. $12.50 for a foot. The housing is just 3 x4 x 0.5, so I should have some left over. Hope to have the material by Tuesday at the latest.

@Bi11Hudson thanks for the tip on M P Jones. I'll check them out. In earlier days, it would be a treat to go to places like that! Last surplus place local to me closed 2 years ago.
 
Found their website. They have the $3 plastic boxes as well. Maybe I could use some for other projects.
 
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