A RoHS-Compliant 125-B Enclosure

[smallbearelec]

The 125-B enclosure that has been one of my mainstays is not RoHS-compliant; the alloy that it's made from contains a small amount of Lead. One of my commercial customers (who sells a lot to Europe) has made it clear that he does not want to change his tooling, so I have bitten the bullet and am getting a mold made for my own version.

The good news for DIY is that the new box will have exactly the same outside dimensions as the present 125-B, and it will Not have the hard-to-file-off PC board channels; much of the feedback I've gotten has been unfavorable to those, and, since this will be my mold, I can get the thing done without. It will also have U.S. 6-32 screws in the corners rather than those smaller metric things.

I have enough stock of the non-compliant box to take me through the rest of the year. If all goes well, I will be shipping the RoHS-compliant version after New Year's. While I have had to raise commercial pricing in the last year because of wholesale prices increases, I expect to be able to sell the new box at the present pricing.

Note: All of the Sovtek and Toadworks enclosures Are Lead-free and RoHS-compliant.

SD

[Mark Hammer]

Excellent!

How's about this for a compromise?  Arrange to have the slots only at the ends.  That way those who wish to stick a board in lengthwise, à la Z-Vex, can still have slots available to them, but the two side walls will be smooth and jack-friendly?  Alternatively, have the slots work their way partly around the 4 corners, but be absent in the middle 50-75% of each side.  That way, slots can be used in whatever orientation you want along the edges of the the chassis (width-wise or length-wise), but there will still be a large area along each side which is slot-free and jack-friendly.

Just free-associating here.  Would people here find a half-and-half box useful to them?

[geertjacobs]

My suggestion would be to keep the screws metric because it would allow you to re-use screws from the hammond boxes in the Smallbear boxes.
It happens that I forget where i put the screws of one box and then it's nice that I can just use the screws from a box that I'm not using at that moment.
I can understand that it may be difficult to get some spare metric screws in the US, but maybe Small Bear can offer a package with spare metric screws to solve that issue? ("will fit for Smallbear and Hammond 125B boxes")

BTW. If a lot of boxes end up in Europe, those customers may also appreciate not having the problem to look for non-metric screws...
(as a European I'm having the exact same issue with non-metric screws for a Fender amp...)

Just a suggestion.

[Mark Hammer]

I *love* that bog-of-screws idea.  I am certain they are all eventually going to be found in the dark corners of the house when it is time to sell it, but for now I'd rather have some new ones than move the furniture!

[analogmike]

Hammond boxes ARE 6-32 screws, most quality pedals use 6-32.

We drill out all those 125B boxes, and tap them for 6-32. The stock screws are useless on a quality product.

Thanks Steve!!!

[The Tone God]

Battery door/compartment on bottom lid or offer another lid with this option ? Indents on bottom lid in the corners for either stick on and screw in feet  ? Screw/stand off areas inside top of box to mount circuit boards either vertical (using right angle brackets) or horizontal ? Some "L"s around the inside top perimeter to hold wires runs against the case ?

Just a few thoughts.

Andrew