Re: gEDA-user: any place that fabs custom project boxes?
FYI: the ribbonsoft stopped community releases which resulted in QCAD fork called librecad, which is ported to QT4 http://librecad.org. -- metan Cyril Hrubis ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: any place that fabs custom project boxes?
Any websites that do this? Also, any software to design the box? I know this company will build custom enclosures. [1]http://www.tentec.com/?s=enclosures But you could probably find a metal or sheet metal place closer to you. It all depends on what you need. Typically you will have to draw what you want is some 2D or 3D software, but it really just depends on what the fab shop wants or needs for their process. It can be cheaper if you can do the cad work than for them to charge you labor to convert a drawing or sketch into whatever they need. Matthew -- My homepage. [2]http://sites.google.com/site/matthewsager/home References 1. http://www.tentec.com/?s=enclosures 2. http://sites.google.com/site/matthewsager/home ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: any place that fabs custom project boxes?
If you're looking for production quantities, pretty much every enclosure maker, whether plastic or metal, advertises their willingness to customize. There may be a hefty tooling fee, and they may or may not be interested in small orders. Find a company that makes something similar to what you want and ask. If you can find a standard case that is close to what you want, look for a local machine shop that can modify it to your specs. This is good for moderate quantities, but might be too much for qty. 1 unless you have a friend with a milling machine in his basement. We did this a lot in a previous job I had, where we had typical production quantities between 10 and 200 units. Similarly, some pretty nice cases can be made from drilled and folded sheet steel or aluminum. Those could be fabbed for you by any convenient machine shop. One-time costs will be fairly low, and per-unit prices can be pretty reasonable if you keep the design simple to manufacture. These could be any scale of production from 5 to tens of thousands. If it's one-off or very low quantities, and you have the budget, you could go to one of the many 3-D printing places online, such as Shapeways ([1]www.shapeways.com). You might end up paying $100+ for a case this way, depending on its size, but it will be 100% custom and any shape you can imagine. Similarly, you could assemble a case from laser-cut parts from an outfit like Ponoko ([2]www.ponoko.com). As for software, the mechanical engineers at my workplace design cases in Solidworks. It looks very expensive. :-) Some of the hobbyist-oriented 3-D printing houses accept Google Sketchup, which (I think?) has a no-cost version. A sheet metal case could be designed in any 2-D or 3-D CAD package or even a drawing program if you're careful. Finally, Ponoko accepts Inkscape files, among others. Inkscape is Free (GPL, IIRC) and has both Linux/Unix and Windows versions. Stephen References 1. http://www.shapeways.com/ 2. http://www.ponoko.com/ ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: any place that fabs custom project boxes?
Inkscape is also available for the Apple Mac. However the version I use doesn't seem to work as well as the Linux version for some reason. Graheme As for software, the mechanical engineers at my workplace design cases in Solidworks. It looks very expensive. :-) Some of the hobbyist-oriented 3-D printing houses accept Google Sketchup, which (I think?) has a no-cost version. A sheet metal case could be designed in any 2-D or 3-D CAD package or even a drawing program if you're careful. Finally, Ponoko accepts Inkscape files, among others. Inkscape is Free (GPL, IIRC) and has both Linux/Unix and Windows versions. Stephen -- Listen to Paladin by Vicia Faba http://viciafaba.bandcamp.com ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: any place that fabs custom project boxes?
Inkscape is also available for the Apple Mac. However the version I use doesn't seem to work as well as the Linux version for some reason. Graheme As for software, the mechanical engineers at my workplace design cases in Solidworks. It looks very expensive. :-) Some of the hobbyist-oriented 3-D printing houses accept Google Sketchup, which (I think?) has a no-cost version. A sheet metal case could be designed in any 2-D or 3-D CAD package or even a drawing program if you're careful. Finally, Ponoko accepts Inkscape files, among others. Inkscape is Free (GPL, IIRC) and has both Linux/Unix and Windows versions. Stephen -- Listen to Paladin by Vicia Faba http://viciafaba.bandcamp.com ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: any place that fabs custom project boxes?
Stephen Trier wrote: As for software, the mechanical engineers at my workplace design cases in Solidworks. It looks very expensive. :-) It is. Even here in academia, where CAD companies generally try to lure future users, the license was a subject of an investment grant. A viable alternative is varicad. (Prices in the hundreds rather than thousends) Some of the hobbyist-oriented 3-D printing houses accept Google Sketchup, which (I think?) has a no-cost version. A sheet metal case could be designed in any 2-D or 3-D CAD package or even a drawing program if you're careful. Finally, Ponoko accepts Inkscape files, among others. A general drawing application should only be a last resort. They tend to be weak when it comes to exact sizes. QCAD has not been mentioned, yet. It is 2D only bu quite capable with that. ---)kaimartin(--- -- Kai-Martin Knaak tel: +49-511-762-2895 Universität Hannover, Inst. für Quantenoptik fax: +49-511-762-2211 Welfengarten 1, 30167 Hannover http://www.iqo.uni-hannover.de GPG key:http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?search=Knaak+kmkop=get ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: any place that fabs custom project boxes?
Let me re-iteraite what i am looking for. I'm looking for mid quantity production run, maybe 50-100. Also looking for a plastic enclosure with nothing fancy, just a box with cutouts for I/O ports. As for the CAD software, I don't need anything robust, just something simple that can make what I described above. Free/open source would be great. On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 10:34 AM, Kai-Martin Knaak kn...@iqo.uni-hannover.de wrote: Stephen Trier wrote: As for software, the mechanical engineers at my workplace design cases in Solidworks. It looks very expensive. :-) It is. Even here in academia, where CAD companies generally try to lure future users, the license was a subject of an investment grant. A viable alternative is varicad. (Prices in the hundreds rather than thousends) Some of the hobbyist-oriented 3-D printing houses accept Google Sketchup, which (I think?) has a no-cost version. A sheet metal case could be designed in any 2-D or 3-D CAD package or even a drawing program if you're careful. Finally, Ponoko accepts Inkscape files, among others. A general drawing application should only be a last resort. They tend to be weak when it comes to exact sizes. QCAD has not been mentioned, yet. It is 2D only bu quite capable with that. ---)kaimartin(--- -- Kai-Martin Knaak tel: +49-511-762-2895 Universität Hannover, Inst. für Quantenoptik fax: +49-511-762-2211 Welfengarten 1, 30167 Hannover http://www.iqo.uni-hannover.de GPG key: http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?search=Knaak+kmkop=get ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: any place that fabs custom project boxes?
On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 2:24 PM, yamazakir2 yamazak...@gmail.com wrote: Let me re-iteraite what i am looking for. I'm looking for mid quantity production run, maybe 50-100. Also looking for a plastic enclosure with nothing fancy, just a box with cutouts for I/O ports. You could pick up a shlock-box from any place and go with Front Panel Express to make it look good: http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/ -- http://blog.softwaresafety.net/ http://www.designer-iii.com/ http://www.wearablesmartsensors.com/ ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: any place that fabs custom project boxes?
On 02/18/11 13:24, yamazakir2 wrote: As for the CAD software, I don't need anything robust, just something simple that can make what I described above. Free/open source would be great. HeeksCAD is very usable 3D. With it you can quickly do booleans to create ports, slots, etc. It uses a 2D layer called sketch frequently to transfer a shape into 3D. You can start with inkscape to make a 2D path for a box gasket, for instance, then transfer that to a surface and extrude it to make a rectangular cross section solid out of it, then cut it from your box and you've got an o-ring groove on the box edge. Then export to STL, STEP, IGES, whatever your CNC uses. Or use HeeksCNC to generate toolpath G code directly, not needing any other software. I have not done a project all the way to CNC yet, but will in a few months. John ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: any place that fabs custom project boxes?
On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 03:08:27PM -0600, John Griessen wrote: HeeksCAD is very usable 3D. With it you can quickly do booleans to create ports, slots, etc. It uses a 2D layer called sketch frequently to transfer a shape into 3D. If you want to warp ahead a few years worth of development and you have $200, Alibre Design works the same way. -- Ben Jackson AD7GD b...@ben.com http://www.ben.com/ ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
Re: gEDA-user: any place that fabs custom project boxes?
On 02/17/2011 08:33 PM, yamazakir2 wrote: I have never done this before, but I want to fab some customized boxes for some pcbs I'll be making in the future. I want custom dimensions and custom cutouts and custom mounting posts for the pcb. I have used the services of Vinatech Engineering Inc. to design and manufacture the custom sheet metal enclosure for my OSDCU board: http://www.vinatechinc.com/ It was expensive, but the result was truly of professional quality, suitable for a shippable commercial product. You can see pictures here: http://ifctfvax.Harhan.ORG/OpenWAN/OSDCU/ The pictures don't show any internal mounting elements, but the drawings they gave me are on the FTP site; you can look at them to judge the complexity. MS ___ geda-user mailing list geda-user@moria.seul.org http://www.seul.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/geda-user
