Getting Started (5): Modding Your Enclosure
One of the final parts of any device building project is modding an enclosure to house your dev board and sensor.
Actually, the enclosure is nice to have, but not 100% necessary. You could put this project inside of a soap case or a pencil box, or other common household objects. Just make sure the case is not flammable, and isn’t conductive (i.e. not metal).
At about a dollar in cost though, I think its nice to have a professional looking enclosure, so its worth buying one. Here’s an ad link to the enclosures I’ve used for my projects.
DIY Project Box Enclosure 100x60x25mm
Depending on the project, the enclosure needs a place for wires to come out of the front and back, and might require sound to enter through the front (i.e. for the Smoke Alarm Notifier).
To open a path for the microusb cable to power the dev board, I sawed a piece of the back of the enclosure out. Here’s some pictures of how I modded my enclosure.
To provide an opening for the sensor wires (i.e. for the button or fridge sensor), or to provide an opening for the sound to enter, I used pliers to tear off some of the enclosure’s lip.
There are other ways to do this, such as using a soldering iron to melt holes into the plastic. How you choose to house your electronics and modify your enclosures is up to you. The way I did it with a saw is kind of “hacky” (pun intended) but worked for me. Alright, now you can put your electronics into the enclosure. Plug your usb cable into the dev board, and make sure your jumper wires are well positioned, but don’t close the project box just yet.