Mounting circuits in enclosures o.0

[Greeny009]

This might be a mega noob question but..
Whats the best way to mount PCBs or Perfboard circuits inside stompboxes? ive looked around and i cant find any information anywhere and its quite hard to see clearly how its been done in most pictures of peoples' projects. Any suggestions on ways of doing it would be greatly appreciated

[budjb]

You can get standoffs if you want to mount the board.  Small bear carries them, and I'm sure others do too.  There are self-adhesive plastic ones, and metal ones.  With the metal ones, you can either drill through the enclosure and screw them into place, or use epoxy them to the enclosure if you don't want to drill.

A lot of times the boards aren't mounted at all.  I've only made one pedal so far, but I just got some foam from Hobby Lobby and put a pad on either side of the board.  It holds it in place pretty well and keeps things from shorting.

[WLS]

I too have used foam padding. Cutting it to the length of the board and a little longer than the width. Then I create a valley in the foam with slits in the sides. Glue the foam to the enclosure and then set the board in foam allowing the sides to wrap over the top holding it in place. Of course let the glue dry first.

I have also glued wood dows to the enclosure and used small wood screws to hold the board in place.

Whatever your imagination conjures up should be fine


Bill

[punkin]

For my first effect project I used some double sided 3M tape. It's a kind of heavy duty thick material and sticks like crazy. I attached it to the back side of my board and then affixed the board to the inside surface of the lid of my enclosure. I've opened it up a few times since just to see if it's still secure. I don't think it's going anywhere soon. I picked the double sided adhesive up at the local hardware store. It comes in different widths.

http://shop.willyselectronics.com/browse.cfm/4,571.html

Since then I've stepped up the "pro-appearances" as my skills will allow and have started using threaded stand-off's and use epoxy to mount them to the inside of the box. I still prefer mounting the boards to the inside of the lids.

[frequencycentral]

I really dislike 'loose boards'.

My favourite way is to have the pots on the board which solves a lot of problems if the circuit allows for it space-wise:



Recently I did a circuit where I mounted the board using very think solid core to the +ve of the DC sockets and the grounds of the in/out jacks - so dual purpose:



Using stand-offs and bolts is nice too, if you don't mind seeing bolts on your pedals:

[aron]

Your perfboard work is incredible! Your projects are great! You are on a roll!

[Greeny009]

thanks alot guys

youve all been a big help

[thereverend]

if i could solder on perf and have it look as neat, orderly and as impressive as that i'd be a happy man.

[Andi]

Recently I've been using threaded standoffs. I drill through the top of the enclosure, then countersink. The top screws are slightly below fliush, so I fill the space with epoxy. Then when you paint or put a decal over it's invisible.

You do need to be fairly precise with the drilling.

[omarvolta]

Double sided foam tape

[Dimitree]

frequecycentral, what kind of capacitors are those you use, the blue ones.. Those caps seem really small..I would like to try them instead of the bigger MKTs..

[frequencycentral]

frequecycentral, what kind of capacitors are those you use, the blue ones.. Those caps seem really small..I would like to try them instead of the bigger MKTs..

I get mine for Rapid and Maplin in the UK, though similar are available here if you're in the US: http://futurlec.com/CapCerMono.shtml

[Dimitree]

frequecycentral, what kind of capacitors are those you use, the blue ones.. Those caps seem really small..I would like to try them instead of the bigger MKTs..

I get mine for Rapid and Maplin in the UK, though similar are available here if you're in the US: http://futurlec.com/CapCerMono.shtml

really thanks
perhaps those are the same? http://banzaieffects.com/High-Voltage-c-460.html

[ayayay!]

Anymore I just hot glue the solder side of the boards to the back of the pots.  Very stable & cheap.  Looks good.  Of course the drawback of the glue ain't so great, but even that is usually easy to break away if needed. 

[frequencycentral]

frequecycentral, what kind of capacitors are those you use, the blue ones.. Those caps seem really small..I would like to try them instead of the bigger MKTs..

I get mine for Rapid and Maplin in the UK, though similar are available here if you're in the US: http://futurlec.com/CapCerMono.shtml

really thanks
perhaps those are the same? http://banzaieffects.com/High-Voltage-c-460.html

Those are real high voltage caps you linked to, therefore more expensive, and somewhat over-spec'ed for pedals, but they'll work well enough.

Here's a link to the Rapid caps: http://www.rapidonline.com/Electronic-Components/Capacitors/Ceramic/Radial-multilayer-ceramic-capacitors/62498/kw/Multilayer+Ceramic+Capacitor

[John Lyons]

Double sided foam tape

It's not really foam tape, more like a rubbery gel tape.
I use this stuff as well. It comes in a bigger roll, which is what I use.
Super sticky and you can remove it if you want.
Does not leave the crudy mess that foam tape leaves when you
have to pop off the board.

[Fretts]

Is this how you get such meticulously wired perfboards?

http://www.massmind.org/images/www/hobby_elec/picture/wire3.jpg

I really dislike 'loose boards'.

My favourite way is to have the pots on the board which solves a lot of problems if the circuit allows for it space-wise:



Recently I did a circuit where I mounted the board using very think solid core to the +ve of the DC sockets and the grounds of the in/out jacks - so dual purpose:



Using stand-offs and bolts is nice too, if you don't mind seeing bolts on your pedals:

[frequencycentral]

Is this how you get such meticulously wired perfboards?

http://www.massmind.org/images/www/hobby_elec/picture/wire3.jpg

No, just a steady hand and an obsessive compulsion to neatness.  

[Kearns892]

My last pedal involved a transformer that had more physical size than I took into account when laying things out into the enclosure. Everything fit, but I ended up putting a small piece of velcro on the transformer and using that and another piece of velcro on the enclosure to mount the board. Works fine and is easy to remove if need be.

[Electric_Death]

Hot glue gun!
Glue it to foam, wood, plastic etc. then glue that to your enclosure.

Works great for securing your wire leads too.