[GPS_Standard] enclosure suggestions for VE2ZAZ GPSDO project

[Dave Platt]

On 01/30/2014 01:54 PM, John Shadle wrote:
> Hi all,
> I'm finally thinking about getting on this project. I've had the PC board,
> GPS, TXCO, parts, etc. for *years*. If they were perishable food, they'd be
> rotten by now. ;-)

I know the problem :-)

> In any case, one thing which I'm lacking is a proper enclosure for this
> project. I'm looking for something easy to drill and nice-looking, but not
> something that will break the bank. Can anyone offer Mouser or Digikey
> parts numbers for their builds?

For what it's worth, I did what I usually do for projects like this.  I
went down to my local electronic-surplus store (Weird Stuff, in
Sunnyvale CA) and looked through their piles and racks of old, outdated
electronic gear for something with a suitable enclosure.  When I found a
box which was large enough, and had front and back panels suitable for
the project's needs, I bought it, ripped out and recycled all of the
contents, and mounted the GPSDO components.

I think I paid $5 for an old "wireless network" controller... a nice
box, decent-gauge aluminum, with few-enough things mounted on the back
panel that I could re-use most of the holes (as-is or with additional
drilling or nibbling).

I've done this sort of thing for several other projects in the past,
with equally decent results.  It's much less expensive than buying a
brand-new prototyping enclosure.

One sort of equipment box you might want to look for, is a serial-port
or VGA-monitor switchbox.  These usually have a fairly "clean" front
panel (commonly, one rotary switch and nothing else) that wouldn't need
much if any modification (the hole for the switch could be re-used for
an on/off switch or pilot LED).  The holes/cutouts in the back panel can
be left as-is, re-used, or covered up with a facing panel (plastic or
metal, or a piece of double-sided PCB stock).