Part 2-c: Building a Prototype Case

Today's topic is something that doesn't get discussed much in my degree, probably because we're not packaging engineers. Whatever the case, I strongly feel that presentation greatly affects how interested people are or become in a project. For this reason, I spent the past week building small, clean, looking circuits and several painstaking hours drilling, carving, and gluing to construct a case for my project. The final product is a case that will, most importantly, protect all the components of my project and secondly, position the screen and buttons in a user-friendly manner. Hopefully, in the end, I also have created something eye-catching and intriguing.


I started with a prototyping case from OKW, a plastics company based in Germany. OKW had the widest selection of cases and very easy to work with representatives. I've forwarded a few friends in need of a case, and if you are in need of a good prototyping case, I strongly recommend them!




While I now had a good starting point, there was much work to do. A few key issues that needed addressing were:

• There are no mounting points for the development board I am using.
• There are no holes for I/O (buttons, power plug, touchscreen, etc)
• The only offered cover for the gaping hole is metal (I want people to be able to see inside)
• It doesn't "pop!" e.g. It needs to be a little more... bad-ass-ness :)

General Modifications:
Lets start with mounting points and I/O ports. Now, I can't very well throw everything in and let it rattle around, this is Senior Project after all. I solved this simply by marking points where the board raisers touched the plastic and drilled holes. Next I made some measurements and drilled holes for the start button, piezo buzzer, piezo sensor, power, power switch, and LED mode switch.

Where to put the Touchscreen?:
The reason for picking this case was the large, slanted, hole in front. This offers a perfect spot for a touchscreen. Unfortunately, the only cover offered through OKW was made of metal, and I want people to see what is inside. The solution is plexiglass, and the answer comes from Basin Glass and Aluminum. I took my case and touchscreen in on a Friday morning and described what I was looking for. Immediately, the gal at the front desk was taking notes and confirming what was said. She said "No problem, we can have it ready Monday". To my surprise, they called me in just a few hours and explained that the gentlemen assigned to my project had finished early and I could pick it up anytime. Now that is service!

Adding "Pop":
With my case cut up and modified there was just one problem left, it was BEIGE! I quickly remedied this with 3 cans of spray paint (not that I needed three whole cans, more that I wanted 3 different colors). I started by painting the inside a flat white, this way onlookers will be able to clearly distinguish detail in the hardware. I then tapped off the the top and bottom so that the outer color would not get on the white. Once I had sufficiently covered each half in gobs of blue tape, I was able to paint the top in a dark blue with metal flake, and the bottom with a textured gray/silver color. with a fancy drying technique (seen to the right), my case was put together by the end of the weekend.


Recap:
OKW has awesome cases, Basin Glass has great customer service, and my case looks bad-ass!
Extra Pictures:
I took many pictures while building my case, but did not want to post them all, as it would slow down page load. Here are a couple links to more pictures:
Building the case & hardware
Painting