diy pcb standoffs

[sfr]

I tend to like the screw-on PCB standoffs, even if i means one more hole to drill.   They tend to be costly at the stores,  (which sucks because they're always the one thing I forget to order when I send out an order to mouser or small bear) so for a while I was using small nylon spacers and threading a bolt through them and putting a nut on the end.  (if you don't want something conductive, sometimes you can find nylon bolts and nuts)  Well, I was in the hardware store with my dad picking up some stuff, and I remembered I needed some more for my next project, so I ran off to get some before we checked out, and as we were looking for them, he showed me what he used - he gets a stuff plastic tubing (there where three or for different kinds, maybe it was polyurethane, or something - some type of plastic, and the stiffest kind of the three, it's sort of opaque white as opposed to the clear) and he gets it in a thin size, and then cuts it to size and does the same thing, with a bolt through it and a nut on the end - not only cheaper than the pcb standoffs with two screws, but even cheaper than the nylon spacers - the stuff was like 15-20 cents a foot, and that makes a lot of standoffs.  I know just letting it hang or using sticky tape or whatever is probably cheaper, maybe even the stick on standoffs are cheaper, but if you prefer the screw on ones, I like this the best.  (I can't believe i'm thinking this hard about saving 50 cents.)

[Jered]

Get ready,......I'm going to save you another 50 cents.  :^)
    Leave yourself an extra inch  of board on one side of your circuit. Drill a 1/2 inch hole and mount it on your switch. No stand-offs! Your circuit board will be mounted between the switch and the enclosure. A nylon washer to prevent the board from shorting on the enclosure is needed.
    Jered

[sfr]

I need to figure out the price of copper clad by the square inch - cause an extra inch - that's another dist +!

[drew]

Believe it or not, for some things, ebay is great. I got 500 4-40 standoffs for $3.00... of course the dude charged me $8.95 "shipping and handling"... but what the hell, it included 500 standoffs, 500 4-40 nuts, and 500 washers... can't find anything that small at hardware stores around here!


drew
toothpastefordinner.com

[casey]

yeah, i have always used rubber tubing for standoffs.  the only time
i used "real" standoffs was for a son of screamer (orman) i built....
other than that, i have always used clear rubber tubing.  when you
really tighten the screw down on it, it kind of compresses and acts
like a lock on the nut on the other side.  i've never had to use
lock nuts or washers, it usually stays by itself.

[hodad]

I didn't have any standoffs but wanted to finish a pedal, so here's what I did:
I went to the hardware store & got 4 4-40 by 1/2 in. machine screws, & 8 4-40 nuts.  I took 4 of the nuts, spun 'em onto the screws till they were all even and at a height I liked, then used a drop of superglue to make sure the nuts stayed right there.  Then I superglued the screw heads to the fx box, put the board on, and secured it with the remaining four nuts.  Total cost was 60 cents--probably not much cheaper than real standoffs, but easier to find at the hardware store.

Tom

[amckinley100]

Blu-Tak baby........

Cheap (ish), reusable, and easy to work!

[mattburnside]

Blu-Tak baby........

Cheap (ish), reusable, and easy to work!

This product appears to be distinctly British. Anybody know of a North American relative?

[sfr]

really?  I've seen it, by the same name i believe, here in the states.  

Poster-tack stuff.  The silly-putty stuff you use to tack posters onto the wall.  unless he's talking about something entirely different.

[amckinley100]

Blu-Tak - yeah, the silly putty stuff that us students rely on for sticking posters on walls, network/telephone cables to doorframes, and handles back onto the doors of the landlord's refrigerator just before we move out of the rented accommodation!

Cheers

[petemoore]

ya know when you unbolt VCR and look at what the screws thread into?
 takes some fair pressure but they can be cut with wire cutters and used as threaded plastic towers like standoffs.
 Just grab it with poiers and drill through the bottom part too that way you can stick a screw in both ends and tighten the board and the box to it, plus you get plenty of free matching VCR screws.you can grind the bottom flat where it got cut from the VCR's plastic frame
 Using zipties I drill four matching holes in the ckt board and a piece of counter top, [just the right sixe holes to 'grab zipties] then feed four straight sections of ziptie through the holes [like columns] bringing the boards close together. Then fasten the countertop piece to the box...screws or whatever sticky stuff...etc
 I just insulate the ckt board with plastic transistor bags fitted and bonded by bic heat then clamp the insulatiated ckt board using the pots phelonic [what the lugs are mounted on]. Now that's quikc dirty cheep AND effective !!!

[Samuel]

My new budget method for standoffs is to use plastic tie-points intended for cable ties. They're about 3/4" wide and about a 1/4" tall. I put down four of those and then thread cable ties through them and through the drill points in the board. If you need to make a repair of course you have to sacrifice the cable ties, but they're cheap...