While waiting for the next parts to arrive, I started to research electrical enclosures. Can anyone recommend a good source for reasonable price for metal box. If not I will make my own enclosure, because I own a small sheet metal folder.
Below is a fun concept sketch.


Can any one offer suggestions or ideas. Did I miss anything?

What is the "ideal" size?

 

Thank you for the tip on using the word Nema this narrowed down the ebay search very well but as yet I have not found anything which I like. Thank you for the tip on adding a way to mount filter, also the idea of using a spare piece channel as a heat sink.
I refined the design more and decided the box should give correct tribute to open builds team, so built the proper logo.

After looking at numerous standard enclosures, I'm going to go ahead and have the parts laser cut.

Thank you Gray, I would be happy to make another if your interested. I think many of us choose the open build solution because we like the look and engineering, so the electronic's box should have the same attention to detail.

 

Gray I missed the obligatory LED's only because I don't know how to wire them, YET!

Have a think about the size you would like. My 3D model is built and is fully parametric, so very easy to modify and adjust to specific size.

I was thinking about building it as 6 sheets which bolt or pop rivet together then it's less expensive to ship. Also thinking about a hinged lid Vs bolt down. I never thought about adding a separate sheet like a mother board, but it's a good idea for people like your self who are using separate drivers.

 

Very nice, great idea, thank you for posting Chris! This avoids the sheet metal bending which is hard to do for most people and this unit would be very, very strong.

I was surprised how much a nema rated enclosure is, what shocked me even more was the price for shipping was often over $80.

Hytech2K pointed me to another great heat sink idea, so I re-modeled to suit open build V-slot and to make the support feet cheaper to 3D printing.




I modeled the separate plate so it easy to drop in all the electronics as a single component, this was excellent idea.

 

Gray I like the idea of the pop in USB socket, I will see if I can find pop in DB9.

 

Thank you JustinTime well spotted, you saved me an oh **** moment...
I was focused on creative design VS verse being practical. I added a few 4mm tabs to hold things in place.

 

My electronic's arrived this morning, very exciting... Quality of the parts kit is excellent from cncroutersparts.com
This is not a cheap solution, but it is a good solution for builders not keen on wiring and buying from separate suppliers. I priced similar setups in Canada, and ordering direct from Gecko and could not save much money, plus having ready made cables was great.

Very fast shipping when the order was placed. Ordered 9pm, shipped next day 9:30 and they undervalued package so customs surcharge was small.

 

Last night I was planning a trip to our local electronic's drop off point, to get rid of a 15+ years old stereo amplifier that cannot be repaired. Given the unit had no value I wondered if it had any heat sinks inside I could reuse.

Wow, I found two large heat sinks and one small one... So these will be re-purposed in the electronics enclosure to keep things cool. I'm also thinking about re-purposing some of the chassis and just making new front & rear plates.

 

A little more progress, I made stainless steel front plate for the enclosure.

I'm always short of outlets, so decided to run full 20 amp circuit into the enclosure and then give access to some additional sockets for PC, monitor & router. Also decided to add additional DB9 sockets and hole for USB for future expansion or changes of heart!

 

I noticed that a few builders added inner Y plates to re-inforce the wheel's. I liked the concept because I feel the 5mm bolts are a bit light weight for the job. Below is my versions made from stainless because it's very strong and rigid when only 1mm thick.


I also made some new mild steel prototype corner plates to help hold the Y axis beams rigid.


The four bolts in theY axis & the 5 in the X really ties the corners together nice! Cheap & simple laser cut in 3mm mild steel...
The two holes are for a bump stop and homing switches.

 

This morning I installed the inner Y plates. This really helps stiffen the structure so all the wheels and bearings work together.

 

The inner stainless steel plates helped stiffen things up, but I could still see flex in the two cross beams. So I decided to disassemble again to drill and screw them together. I used normal 5mm cap head bolts, threaded into both beams.




I also made an aluminium base plate with tapped holes for hold downs. This also stiffened the base tieing the front and rear together

Cross drilling and bolting the beams together is really worth the effort.


Next weekend add the drive belts and hopefully get it to move.

 

Thank you hytech2k, it feels far more rigid now.

This is very addictive, this one is not even finished and wish I had built it larger version. I'm really happy with the way it looks! It's been lots of fun, loads of thinking, planning and I already know what changes I would like to make... But first get it cutting parts!

I'm really pleased I did not buy a finished machine or kit. The process has provided many hours of entertainment and personal satisfaction.

My wife says it's time it went into the workshop, but it's -18deg C so workshop takes a long time to warm up. Lounge floor was far more cozy for the strip down and rebuild process.

 

It's alive and jogging on three axis with soft limit sets.
What is still a mystery is the numbers shown in mach3 software don't represent real world units in metric or imperial. So I need to watch or read more about setting scale or calibration correctly :-}

It is great to have movement, but not keen on the GT3 belt drive.