enclosure for cnc drivers etc.

[David Keil 1Participant @davidkeil1]

I'm looking for suggestions for a box/enlosure for my stepper drivers, breakout board and associated wiring.

Would be interested to see what people have done.

[David Keil 1Participant @davidkeil1]

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

I've only found something for the arduino so far

A breakout board enclosure for the vl6180 was around 40 quid

May become a 3d printing subject, and make a 3d printer well worth buying

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Although mine were all nicely packed into the back of the machine by the maker a basic metal electrical enclosure like these should do. make sure all holes are protected with glands etc.

[EmgeeParticipant @emgee]

Plenty available on eBay, you need to choose a size to suit all of the component parts fitted, allow space between components for air circulation as you will no doubt need to fit an extract fan to ensure temp keeps within tolerances.
If you do fit a fan you will also need to cut or shape louvre outlets, this will reduce the IP rating but if in a dry workshop should be OK.
You will have a choice of metal, glass-fibre or plastic construction, the advantage of metal is it acts as a screen to spurious signals.

Lay your parts out on the bench to get an idea of the baseplate size required, you may have to order that separately as not all enclosures come complete with a backplate as there are a few choices.

Emgee

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

I've made 3 for my lathe, mill and power feed. All use the same basic approach: baseplate with two sides attached and possible one or two ends.

The lathe electronics sits on a well protected shelf under a bench so doesn't have endplates or top. Bottom and sides are 3mm ali, rails of 12mm angle along the long edges of the base to attach side plates. All held rtogether with pop rivets.

Mill is similar but as it is screwed onto the end plate of the mill enclosure the elctronics is fully enclosed. Same construction method though, with a folded 2 mm aluminium lid held on with screws.

Power feed box is glued up from 8mm scrap Valchromat sheet (Gorilla Glue Clear). Plenty of room for Arduino with CNC shield carrying driver, PSU, Bluetooth module, and choc block to connect stepper.

Auminium end plate with IEC mains inlet (fused with switch). Lid is 1 mm ali sheet with a single fold at the other end.

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