Making your own enclosure

I found this rather cheesy video on Youtube a few days ago when I was researching the best way to build your own enclosure. If you have the correct tools it should be a breeze. If not, take some acrylic sheet down to your local woodworking shop and get the items cut there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT6Ow_cBTps

Acrylic is cheap and easy to work with, it is also surprisingly strong and can be ordered to pre cut sizes by most retailers too. I'm thinking of buying something along the lines of this.. (UK A4 size sheets)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BLACK-5MM-ACRY...3%3A1|294%3A50

The buttons and faders on top can then be easily drilled and fixed to the top section.

Has anyone tried something along these lines and did they hit any problems....?

Cheers.

my DIY project (Search forums for DIY arcade box controller) was made from acrylic sheets. no probs with it at all! i would recommend getting it laser cut rather than home drilled as it has a tendancy to crack under drilling, but since i assembled mine its like a rock :)

thanks for sharing- we should look into this for sure!

My pleasure. It's the least I can do after so many people on here have been gracious with their time and wisdom.

I have used a lot of acrylic - great stuff, and makes things easy once you find a shop which will laser cut it for cheap

yea, be careful though. I made over 1000 cigarette holders with this stuff in a factory I worked in. Chloroform is the best or I think the cement stuff is methylene chloride. Either way it is a carcinogen (wear goggles, mask and gloves). It's easy to do as capillary action does most of the work.

After all that research and a few hours on the net, I found this aluminium box (KR57M) for £13. It's a little bigger than a 3 channel mixer, cheaper and less fuss than building your own box (....if you have the tools to work worth metal rather than plastic).

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=1728

The box is extremely light and sturdy with it too. I've bought one and have set out a plan of action for my first build.

:eek:

I have use lexan for other projects. might be the same stuff but at the hardware store (home depo) the lexan was thinner sheets.

If you have thin sheets of lexan or acrylic ( 1/8 in) you can make straight cuts on it with a razor then flex and snap to make cuts. The thin parts can be hard to cut because if you use a power tool it will get the stuff hot and melt it then you have to sand the edges. I have only worked with lexan and I think lexan is similar if not just a brand.








I wanted to drop a link for pre build enclosures also

http://www.mouser.com/ click enclosure on the left and there is 1000's of them :)

Still looking for a metal enclosure for my BCR tbh. ;)