Normally, when I start a project, I use prototyping boards to mount the components and develop the software. When the project is finish, I always have the same trouble: in witch box or enclosure I put the electronics? If you don’t have this in mind at the start of the project, it could be a serious problem. In these years, I discover that is more easy to first find and enclosure and then develop the electronics that do it backwards. Also, I usually develop systems for both indoor / outdoor, so protection against rain and humidity usually it’s a must. For these reasons, I decide to find a good enclosure and develop a prototyping board to use with it. In this post you’ll see the results!

The Box

I select the Famatel 3031 box, here you can download the specs of this box: specs. It’s a very popular box with specs that meets many of the applications:

• Small size: 100x100x45 mm
• IP55 protection, that means protection against dust and water jets (for more info about IP codes, you can visit the wikipeda http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code)
• Halogen free
• Impact resistance IK08
• Dimensional stability from -25ºC to +85ºC

The measures of the box are shown in the next figure:

If you see inside the box, you will notice that there’re some holes that not appear in the specs, and in this ones is where the board will be fitted:

So I take these distances carefully to the PCB design, hoping that the board fits well in its position!

The Prototype PCB

The design of this PCB is trivial, only has holes spacing 100 mils! Also, it includes some texts and logos on both layers. Here you can find all the specs of the board, including measures, distances, hole sizes: PCB_FMT_BREADBOARD

For manufacturing these boards, I use the DirtyPCB service. I read many great comments of this place in dangerousprototypes website, so I decide to test this place. The shedule was this:

• 2014/06/27: Order received
• 2014/06/30: At board house (two days)
• 2014/07/07: Shipping (seven days)
• 2014/07/18: Boards received, so, only three weeks for all the process.

The quality and finish of the boards are very very very good, at least for me! I receive 12 boards, here’s some photos:

Now, the final test, put the board inside the box to see if fits good. And the result was successful! All the holes matched, I use M3 screws to fix it, here’s the result:

So, I’m impatient to start prototyping with this board and enclosure!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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