Method to make holes in enclosures using Fusion 360 and CNC Router

I thought I’d take a few minutes and share the technique/process I use to make holes in small enclosures that then contain the Particle hardware. Hopefully others will gain some inspiration from it. I know when I started down this path it was a bit daunting but now that I’m here I’m glad I spent the additional time to learn and have the process down to make any hole in any enclosure quickly.

Rather than typing in words, I thought I’d use a short video to explain the process:

Here’s a quick picture if you don’t want to take the time to view the video:
image

All in all, what I love most about the CNC router is the ability to rapidly prototype, move things around and overall customize the hole pattern in an enclosure for a particular use case. It’s like all the advantages of using a 3D printed enclosures yet keeps it industrial and professional looking. I also can crank out a lot of enclosures in just an hour or two. I currently am setup for 2 different size enclosures + a solar panel cutout. Anytime I need an enclosure of a particular hole pattern, I just load the GCode and hit run all in the back room of my basement/workshop. A minute or two later and the enclosures is done. All in all… I think I have ~$2K in the setup between the CNC router, dust collector, raspberry PI, stand, bits, etc.

Here’s the 3D printers that are printing out the backplate/PCB/Battery holder thingy:

If you want any guidance or if you have any questions… I’m always happy to chat or share more details. It’s been really fun to learn and for me, was well worth the time investment.

Here’s where I get the enclosures from: Polycase
Fusion 360 for the modeling and GCode generation (free version): Fusion 360
Workbee CNC Router: Bulkman 3D
xPro V5 Controller: CNC xPRO V5 - Spark Concepts
CNC JS Interface: CNC JS

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This is so cool, thanks for sharing @jgskarda!

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