PCB housing

Hi all,

I'm a student and I've built a number of PCB boards, and I'd now like
to house them within some kind of box. My boards do some signal
processing, and BNC connectors are included so that I can input and
output signals to and from my circuits - I'll obviosly have to drill
holes in the box in order to do this. I also have a PSU which I want
to include within the box - it connects to mains. The main PCB is 8 *
6 inches, the power supply is about 3 * 3 * 3 inches.

Anyway, I'm not sure where to start with this and I'm hoping some one
can give me an idea of whats involved . I'm in Scotland and I buy
using Farnell -

http://uk.farnell.com

but I'm not ever sure as to what sections I should be looking under.
I'd like the box to look somewhat perfesionsal - for presentation
purposes.

I hope you can get me started.

Cheers,

Aine.

 

You want to be looking under Enclosures. Which, for some strange
reason, Farnell keeps in the Electrical & Electronics section

http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSea...Type=&comSearch=true&manufacturerDisplay=true

Good looking enclosures tend to be a little more expensive.

If you have to machine the front panel by hand, then you might want to
look out for aluminium or plastic rather than steel.

Front panel legends look good done in a cad package, then photoshopped
and printed up on a colour inkjet printer, then coated with self
adhesive clear laminate, Ideally the stuff with the matt finish.

Put a couple of layers of laminate on the back of the legend (for
strength) and you can even put push button switches behind it and make
your own switch membrane.

One thing which tends to look a little unprofessional is nuts holding
pot and switches and LED clips. try and put controls on a PCB just
behind the front panel. you can secure this PCB to the front panel
using countersunk screws, the heads of which will be hidden by your
fancy custom made legend. Make sure you secure the screws to the front
panel with a nut so you don't have to remove the legend to unbolt the
controll panel PCB.

Kevin R