I have ideas for several projects that could use a nice case. Are any in the works or would any industrial designers like to collaborate?
I imagine one that would be designed around a USB stick type of idea. Plug it into any USB charger to power the device.
Another enclosure would fit a battery and the battery shield for fully wireless operation.
A third would have extra room for small breakout boards such as an SD card board, light meter, etc.
I had a good experience with one of these: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002BBQNM/ref=pe_175190_21431760_M3T1_ST1_dp_2 when I made one of these - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDbyYGrswtg
I found I could break the white breadboard in half and it and a core sat nicely inside.
Can’t wait until my 3d printer comes in… I’ll definitely be looking into creating some prototype enclosures. No idea where to start though - is Sketchup an adequate program for modelling 3d parts?
I was going to recommend that very case. It's available from Radio Shack, as well! It also fits the ILSoft Color OLED Display perfectly.
I just posted this up on thingiverse. It is a 3D printable enclosure I designed for the Spare Core Relay Shield. It includes light pipes for all the LED’s.
Thanks for your enclosure recommendation Dave. I have a question about putting the electron inside an enclosure. Do you think it would need a fan to cool it off. Any insights will help.
Thanks
Hello everyone,
I just released a new enclosure system that is stackable and modular, called ProtoStax. You can start off with one, and add more as your project expands, stacking them side-by-side or one on top of the other, or both.
It is modular - you can use the enclosure with just the base platform and feet as you start prototyping (for full access to everything), and then add the side walls and/or top as needed for an open access enclosure (without side walls but only the top), or fully enclosed for most protection.
It can fit anything up to 4 inches x 2.4 inches inside, with vertical clearance of 1.2" . You can fit a half-sized breadboard inside one and mount your particle and use it - alternately, you can also very easily drill mounting holes into the acrylic base and mount your particle on it directly.
Check out https://www.protostax.com for more details, and in particular, ProtoStax for Breadboard/Custom at https://www.protostax.com/products/protostax-for-breadboard
Hope that helps!
Cheers,
Sridhar
@ emc2
FWIW: I use Fusion 360 for my 3D prints. You can get a student/Hobbyist license that is free to use.
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/fusion-360/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-to-activate-start-up-or-educational-licensing-for-Fusion-360.html
Yikes…didn’t see that the thread was 2 years old 
Nice product idea. What would be really useful would be one that will take the particle Ethernet wing and perhaps one that has a 2x16 LCD cutout on the top face ?
Thanks shanevanj! 
Yes, that would be totally possible. Ethernet wing, or FeatherWing tripler, and LCD cutout, with ethernet cutout on the side. These are modular enclosures, so each of the 6 sides can be customized individually.
If there is enough interest, a custom solution for a particular version (like the Ethernet Wing and LCD cutout) can be done.
And since the enclosures are stackable too, you can mix and match with other enclosures to make a bigger whole.
Best,
Sridhar
PS - For right now, you can quite easily drill mount holes for the Ethernet Wing on the base plate, and mount holes for the 2x16 LCD on the top plate of the ProtoStax for Breadboard/Custom enclosure, using blue tape (to protect the surface) and a drill.
[Since it is a transparent enclosure, you don’t need a rectangular cutout for the LCD, and it is easier to just drill holes vs. doing a rectangular cutout) - you can mount the LCD using some spacers and screws and nuts]
Can you give me the Z height of the ethernet port? Or if there is documentation regarding it, a pointer would be great!
Thanks,
Sridhar
I get 13,54 high and 15,96 wide - is that what you wanted?
Yup! Thanks!
-Sridhar
dont forget to provision for stand offs to mount the particle wing…
Hmm… can you clarify that?
Aren’t the particle wings (like argon etc) plugged into the headers on the ethernet featherwing?
Or are you referring to the standoffs for the ethernet featherwing itself?
Thanks,
Sridhar
Standoffs to mount the ethernet feathering to the base of the enclosure - I am probably stating the obvious but I battled to get standoffs to fit the M2,5 holes of the particle - so maybe that should be included as a kit or similar ?
Ah, thanks for the clarification!
ProtoStax enclosures use acrylic spacers to raise the board off the base, and by default use M2.5 screws/holes. The advantage is that you can, if you like, use acrylic cement to fix the acrylic spacers to the board for a more permanent setup. The holes on base plate are threaded so you don’t need a separate nut - you can line the board and spacers up to the holes and just screw in the screws provided.
The enclosure kit for a particular enclosure has the acrylic PCB spacers and screws provided.
I’ll post a first cut here soon!
Thanks,
Sridhar
Hi Shanevanj and others!
I am excited to unveil the prototype beta version of ProtoStax for Particle Ethernet Featherwing! 
The first shows the Ethernet Featherwing (and associated boards like Argon etc) plugged in to ProtoStax in the Platform Configuration for full open access while prototyping.
The second image shows the side walls and top added for a full enclosure.
The 3rd and 4th images show the top replaced with another top that has the cutouts for a 16x2 LCD display that is mounted on the top.
I didn’t have access to the Ethernet Featherwing, but I didn’t let that stop me - I just laser cut models of the Ethernet Featherwing and associated boards! For the final production version, if there is enough interest, I will make sure all the cutouts fit perfectly.
Let me know what you think!
Best,
Sridhar
Here is a GIF showing the various stages of construction/evolution of the enclosure. I couldn’t upload the GIF because it was too big, so I put it on google drive. Please let me know if you have any questions about assembly and how it works.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1raFdAvQd-ZU1ly3isrjGAX1_6oOOjrPp
