UmTRX Digest, Vol 4, Issue 45

This is merely a historical archive of years 2008-2021, before the migration to mailman3.

A maintained and still updated list archive can be found at https://lists.osmocom.org/hyperkitty/list/UmTRX@lists.osmocom.org/.

Alexander Chemeris alexander.chemeris at gmail.com
Sun Nov 11 21:33:52 UTC 2012


On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 11:30 PM, Darby <darbysgoodies at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I'm not sure whether you actually need a 3D design here? As I see it,
>> you select a proper existing case and just design front/rear panels
>> and drilling pattern for mounting. I may be wrong, though - I've never
>> done this before. I just worry that a fully custom case could be too
>> expensive in small quantities.
>
> Im sure you could use a preexisting design, and just punch some holes
> in the sides for convection cooling, then punch some holes in the back
> to accommodate power & cabling, and use some motherboard standoffs
> that would keep the board mounted in place on the enclosure floor.

Yes, I was looking for something like that - simple and inexpensive.
It would be a shame if a case cost a considerable part of the thing.

> I was thinking more along the lines of stamped/bent sheet metal, some
> lightpipes (plexyglass or polycarbonate) in the front so youve got
> visibility of the lights in the front & some countersunk holes on the
> sides to keep the 2 C shaped (or L shaped would work well too? -Which
> might be a better implementation for mounting purposes if youre going
> with lightpipes as opposed to holes in the case for lights) pieces
> bolted together & a powdercoated or painted finish?

For lab version we could use 3-LED columns, like the ones we used in UmTRXv1:
http://wiki.umtrx.googlecode.com/hg/images/umtrxv1/UmTRX-top.jpg
UmTRXv2 has places to colder them instead of SMD LEDs:
http://wiki.umtrx.googlecode.com/hg/images/umtrxv2/UmTRXv2.jpg
In this case light-pipes are not needed and we could just drill holes
at the front panel.

I have no preference between U/C, L or slide-in cases. Anything which
is easy to handle, inexpensive and looks good is fine.

> I found some design tools at protocase, that it looks as though will
> pushout 3d cad files as deliverables, but looking thru the project
> files -I cant seem to find anything that would give me specifics on
> distances between the mounting holes from each other's centerpoints &
> how wide these holes are, If someone can point me to a place where I
> can find this -Ill take a stab at case design when Ive got some free
> time...   =)

No idea, sorry. I think you'd best contact Protocase with this uestion
- I think they should be interested in supporting potential customers.

> On a side note, They also have an extruded aluminum offering
> (http://www.protocase.com/products/index.php?e=Aluminum) where the
> sides are the same between the left & the right, with a fixed height
> of 1.72" (43.688mm). For mounting they use some internal channels that
> the board will slide into (as opposed to motherboard standoffs as
> suggested above) then they use a sheetmetal bridge for the top &
> bottom to determine the width & then sheetmetal on front & back as
> well -Depending on quantity, they might be willing to sell lengths
> (like say 10 or 20ft at a time) that your people could cut to size &
> fabricate their own top/bottom/front/back panels?
>
> Just a thought...

Hum, this looks interesting. Though we need something ready, i.e.
already cut and with ready-to-use front/back panels.

I wonder how much would it cost to get cases shipped from them to
Europe. For, say, 20-50pcs.

--
Regards,
Alexander Chemeris.
CEO, Fairwaves LLC / ООО УмРадио
http://fairwaves.ru




More information about the UmTRX mailing list