Extruded Aluminum Enclosure:
An enclosure is for logistical reasons not part of my parts sourcing service (see tab “Get One”). Since I am asked very frequently for the type of enclosure that I personally used I will share here with you all my details.
The original enclosure used for the photos of the nanoKeyer development prototype shown here on this website was manufactured by German company namend Fischer Elektronik and ordered via the German online electronic parts shop Reichelt…
The enclosure is actually based on a three part kit that can be freely combined to result in various enclosure heights and formates.
The relevant order numbers are as follows:
Reichelt Part No. KOH-0100 (this is the 10x10cm lid)
Reichelt Part No. KOH-4100 (this is the 10x10cm main body with 31mm inner height in which the PCB slides into the notches)
Reichelt Part No. DPL 1-2 (front / Rear face plates incl. screws)
And the used aluminum knob is this one:
Reichelt Part No. KNOPF 17-6 AL (Aluminum Knob for 6mm potentiometer shaft )
If you enter the above mentioned part no’s into the search field on the Reichelt Electronics website you will end up directly on the corresponding product page and can place it into the shopping cart of their online store from there.
They also offer PayPal as a convenient payment service. But I have been told that their overseas shipping charges are not the lowest…be warned, hi hi…
Many nanoKeyer builders from around the world already bought the enclosure from them.
It seems they do not ship to the US, but only the rest of the world.
Builders located in the US have reported in the K3NG Radio Artisan Yahoo group , that this Hammond Manufacturing
aluminum enclosure seems to be a good alternative, despite being 2cm longer. It would only require a slight extension of the potentiometer shaft (or use of a different one) and extended LED lead wires.
3D Printed Rear / Face plates:
Thanks to Kaan, DL8GE, for providing these STL files on thingiverse for having the rear and face plates made on a 3D printer. These plates will fit the above extruded aluminum box. You can find the files using this link:
3D Printed Face / Rear Plates on Thingiverse
Milled Rear / Face plates:
For the front / rear plates of the prototype I used a professional electronics enclosure prototyping service manufacturer that is normally targetting professional customers but also make single enclosures or face / rear plates for the hobbyist market.
The company offering this service is the following:
http://www.schaeffer-ag.de/en/products/front_panels/
I used their totally free Frontpanel Designer CAD tool to design my prototype rear and face plates as featured on this nanoKeyer website. I make my personal CAD files available for download under the following link:
ATTENTION:
The CAD files are provided without any guarantees for correct sizes.
Before using these files and ordering milled plates please make a 1:1 test printout to verify all sizes are fitting OK.
This is specially true for the correct height of the USB Port hole, since this might vary slightly depending on the way you soldered the Arduino Nano sockets in. But it is very easy just to adjust the position or hole size slightly in their CAD software within seconds.
This CAD printouts can also be used as simple drilling templates for home made enclosures, since the software will usually print them in 1:1 formate. Another hint is that it could be printed onto a self adhesive transparent laser printer foil and then used to create a relatively good looking low cost face and rear plate.
A drilling template for the top lid (holes for the memory buttons) can be made by using the PCB gerber files on this website and print them in 1:1 formate using a freeware Gerber viewer tools, since the PCB has a solder pin exactly at the centre of each push button, this makes for a nice drilling template.
Good luck and enjoy your hardware work…
73 de DJ0MY
nanoKeyer 