Just wondering if anyone knows a good supplier of enclosures in Australia?
Specifically, im going to be needing a 'substantial' enclosure for my pile of PCBs, with enough room on the front panel to fit the controls for about 40+ effects. (Must be metal with no holes).
Also, Im thinking of a fairly flat panel shaped enclosure, with room (on top face) for an LCD, "0-9 A-D" keypad, 2 footswitches and 2 small 7segs. (Plastic)
If anyone has any idea, or has seen somewhere that sells such enclosures, then thats awesome. :icon_biggrin:
Cheers RD205.
Might be worth getting some prices from some sheet metal shops.
That way you can get what you want and how you want it.
pyrop ;D
*EDIT - I read your post all wrong! :icon_redface:
I've found some miraculous stuff at the local scrapyard - I don't know if you've got one in your area, but it's worth checking out if you do.
Sometimes you luck out and find some extruded aluminum or something that's just right with a separate piece for a bottom plate or something. My place has lots of cut offs from sheets and extra pieces of extruded stuff and sometimes even wierd old chassis and things, all sitting in huge piles I can pick through. (They also have big cubes of the lighter weight stuff that's gotten squashed prior to being hauled off to be recycled, which, while useless, look pretty darn cool.) I get charged whatever the going rate for aluminum (or steel or whatever I'm buying) is. With the amounts I buy, they often don't even bother to weigh it, just eyeball it and say "eeeh, five bucks."
NHP in VIC has a lot of large die cast aluminium enclosures http://www.nhp.com.au/esearch.asp?I=&P=&B=Rose&action=SEARCH
Hi,
40+ effects...that's massive!!!
I would highly recommend what pyrop said. A sheet metal worker or place that does fabrications (yellow pages) will be able to make you exactly what you want for a fair bit less than what a ready made enclosure is going to cost. You can help them to give you a quote by sending them a drawing of what you want, which should include the dimensions, type of material (Aluminium etc) and the thickness. It usually pays off to study commercial gear for some design tips.
Good luck!
luap77
Quote40+ effects...that's massive!!!
Yep, heres a small taste: http://www.tothemax.web1000.com/tp://www.geocities.com/race_driver205/effects2.jpg
Indeed, I will look at some commercial gear some more. They are mostly digital though.
The hardest part will be designing it so as to cramp everything into the smallest space possible. Each effect will have its own small switching board with a wire running from it to the switching computer, so its going to look like a big can of spaghetti.
Wow! :icon_eek:
Looks really cool! So is it going to be an enclosure for a big foot operated pedal? Whats the computer for?
Hi, I'm in Brisbane.
You should be able to get the local aluminium supplier to cut 3mm sheets to size for the front panel, then use extrusion, angle and wood to make the front, back and end pieces. For a one-off it will cost a lot to get a metal shop to make something up.
You could use the MSB system...
http://www.penn-elcom.com/ click on MSB
They are distributed in AUS by www.cliff.com.au
This way you could have each PCB attached to a seperate module for easy repair/replacement, but you can also have a full 19" width panel up to 4U high. Check it out. I already have the panels and frame for my modular synth but haven't put it together yet. I have used them for other projects and they've been really useful.
If you have a switching computer why not have a serial link talk to an 8 pin micro for each effect to switch them on/off. Then you only need to parallel 2 or three wires between all of them. This will make wiriing easier, or is there a switching matrix? - this would be spaghetti, and I guess should be talked about in Micros and DSP.
Stew.
40+ effects huh? I think a 2 drawer file cabinet ought to do the trick :icon_wink:
QuoteI think a 2 drawer file cabinet ought to do the trick
Ha! Why didn't I think of that! :D
By 'computer', I don't mean it in the traditional sense. To explain:
Each effect switcher will be wired to the switching array. The switching array is controller by an 8-pin micro (ATTiny1x), which is also connected to a tiny 433MHz wireless module. The ATTiny1x receives wireless 'commands' and switches effects on/off in accord.
The wireless commands come from the small(er) footpedal, which is based on an ATMega64. ATs are technically 'computers'.
Quote from: RaceDriver205 on October 18, 2006, 06:23:05 PM
By 'computer', I don't mean it in the traditional sense. To explain:
Each effect switcher will be wired to the switching array. The switching array is controller by an 8-pin micro (ATTiny1x), which is also connected to a tiny 433MHz wireless module. The ATTiny1x receives wireless 'commands' and switches effects on/off in accord.
The wireless commands come from the small(er) footpedal, which is based on an ATMega64. ATs are technically 'computers'.
Cool! Sounds very sensible and suitably crazy :)