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Enclosure - Aluminum (120x95x35mm)
These beefy aluminum enclosures may look rough, but they're built tough. This 2mm-thick, die-cast enclosure is rated IP54 against dust and splashing water. Because it's aluminum, it's easy to cut and drill so that you can add LCD screens, buttons and cable connections. If you want to "pretty up" your project, hit this with some fine-grit sand paper and buff it or just spray paint it!
These enclosures were originally sold for the production of "stomp box" style effects pedals. Try combining this with our stomp switches (in the related items below) and some of your own secret sauce circuitry to build a sweet custom pedal.
The lid mates nicely to the top of the enclosure and is secured with 9mm long M4 screws (included).
Weight: ~230 grams
- 120x95x35mm
Enclosure - Aluminum (120x95x35mm) Product Help and Resources
Core Skill: DIY
Whether it's for assembling a kit, hacking an enclosure, or creating your own parts; the DIY skill is all about knowing how to use tools and the techniques associated with them.
Skill Level: Competent - You might need to break out the power tools. Nothing beyond a power drill or rotary tool should be required, but you might have a hard time with just a screwdriver and hammer. Cutting holes into plastic or metal might be required.
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Customer Reviews
5 out of 5
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Awesome Price
What is not to like? This box takes a beating but can be cut and drilled with ease. There are so many ABS boxes out there that are much more expensive and of course weaker. Unless you are worried about RF propagation or have some aversion to metal then this is a great enclosure at a killer price. I have not seen a better deal anywhere including DigiKey, Mouser, Adafruit or Amazon.
Nice Enclosure. Sitting on my desk right now.
This is a nice looking brushed aluminum enclosure. It feels solid, doesn't flex and is easily machined. I drilled six holes in it with a hole saw and jammed some cheap arcade buttons in there. Now I use it to send keyboard shortcuts to autocad. Pretty nice little box, I'm glad to be able to add it to my arsenal of nice little boxes to jam buttons into.
I'm building a flight controller for my rocket/tiny missile, and the enclosure is too small for me to fit my launch button. Got any ideas of what I should do?
These are NOT M3 screws.
Thanks for the heads up. You are correct. The screws are 9mm-long M4
Has anybody used this as a capacitive touch sensor electrode?
How do you keep the enclosure from causing shorts in your project (because, well, the box is metal)?
You're right; what you don't want to do is just throw your project in there and have it rattle around. People use many methods to keep your exposed circuitry away from the case, including stand-offs, foam tape, polyimide tape, electrical tape, etc.
Also you could use the rubber bumpers SparkFun sells and put those where the mounting holes go or where ever you wish.
Also some spray bed liiner for trucks or some heavy layers of paint like even spray paint should do it and then get a good heavy layer of clear coat.
is the aluminum conductive effectively making this whole thing a Faraday cage?
M3 screws are too small for this--what are the correct screws?
Does anybody know if I could use this as a giant heatsink, but also an enclosure for a project?
Pretty much any metal object could be used as a heatsink, I remember seeing someone use a beer bottle cap as a stand in for a heatsink.
but remember--heat sinks have a much larger surface area than just a flat piece of metal. So if you are going to do that, I would add some ventilation (if possible) and create a larger surface area by adding more metal to the metal. Some people do this by welding on other pieces of metal perpendicular to the one sheet. Or you could just bolt down one of the heat sinks SparkFun sells....that all ways works....but most importantly, INCREASE THE SURFACE AREA FOR MAXIMUM HEAT DISSIPATION!!! Hope this helps!
Agreed, however a flat plate of aluminum is pretty good as a heat conductor. It may be adequate to dissipate a few watts as-is. Only copper is better for thermal conduction. Of course this presumes some sort of ventilation, open air or better yet, a small fan or convection tube.
Keep in mind that it works both ways, leave this sucker in the sun and watch your temps skyrocket. Or put it in a wood box, and give the heat nowhere to go, same deal.
When designing your thermal management keep in mind that temperature is not heat, and be mindful of your larger context of physical environment.
4.72" x 3.74" x 1.38"
Are these watertight?
RTV! Seriously good stuff, little along the mating edge and around the screw holes. and you could be really water tight, untill your box needs i/o stuff drilled into it.
RTV?
It stands for Room Temperature Vulcanizing. You can usually find tubes of RTV Silicone glue at just about any hardware or auto store. Some are even made solely for the purpose of gasket material.
Thanks!
I submerged it in water for a good 10 minutes and when it came out the inside was completely dry!
IP54 means it can handle the occasional splash of water but no promises. http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/ip-ingress-protection-d_452.html
You could probably add a DIY gasket kit from an auto parts store and the protection should be greatly increased.
what is its weight?
Approximately, from the dimensions & the density of aluminum, it should be a bit under 200 grams, or under 7 ounces.
Surface area = 2(120mm x 95mm + 120mm x 35mm + 95mm x 35mm) = 37,850 sq mm. Times 2mm thick = 75.7cc. Finally, times 2.7g/cc = 204g. -- But that counts all the 2mm x 2mm "edges" twice...accounting for that, the estimate is about 5% high.
If someone weighs one, I'm curious to know the real answer.
I grabbed one at random -> 233g without screws
Good job... I never would have thought of that!