Hi guys. While still on my way building the Creepo board, I’ m wondering what would be the best aternatives to molder a DIY enclosure for my electronic parts. I’m pretty much sure that silicon and PU resins would make it, but i also found this out:
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nah all that is kinda sketch and expensive. Just buy a couple of sheets of kydex and you have an indestructible enclosure
Yeah, full casting is a little overkill (not to mention expensive) for an enclosure. Kydex or ABS are great materials, and relatively inexpensive.
I quite agree with you guys… But Kydex is hard to find in bigger dimensions here, and not that easy to work with, as is requires to be heated with some proper tools, plus to my opinion, it brings quite average looking results if u don’t have a decent bench… ABS?.. I currently don’t have a 3D printer, and don’t think any would print a 50/15 cm piece nearby… Therefore, casting seems to be a good solution, even if it is quite expensive… In addition, my enclosure won’t be a 2 parts enclosure (one for the ESC and another for the cell pack) but a single piece… so it has to be as flexible as possible… this epoxy resin seems interesting…
If you have a flexible enclosure, you’ll have to have a flexible battery pack no?
absolutely!!!.. it’s ordered already 
Where do you live? Kydex can be ordered with free shipping from amazon prime in the US.
France here… 20cm*30cm is the best i can find on local websites for Kidex… Way too small for my needs, plus one single sheet is about 10 euros, not counting shipping costs. So i don’t think that the price would make any significative difference eventually…
Same in Canada, it’s hard to find and more expensive. Not sure why it’s so cheap in the US. Maybe because it’s used to make gun holsters…
I have seen Kydex on AliExpress that were 300mm x 300mm. I got a 100mm x 300mm piece to try out for about US$5.99 (from memory).
note: free shipping to NZ!
I found some cheap aluminum boxes on amazon and just bolt them to the deck with skate hardware, I bash them on stuff all the time and they hold up well, mounted on flexy deck too, just make sure the brackets can hang on, I have broke some thin brackets through flexing over a few hundred miles, but fixed it from hardware store parts. They have many sizes of the boxes to fit our needs, https://www.amazon.com/BUD-Industries-AC-409-Aluminum-Chassis/dp/B005T57TA0/ref=pd_bxgy_328_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B005T577P2&pd_rd_r=HMJ3D1MR45B2RPNXZRAX&pd_rd_w=OqQLO&pd_rd_wg=X13jJ&refRID=HMJ3D1MR45B2RPNXZRAX&th=1
3 balance board packs in this one
6 balanceboard packs in this one
A nice and affordable solution for stiff decks indeed! Aluminium looks tough and solid, and is perfect for bulky renders
Be very careful with metal enclosures. Make sure your wires are well insulated and that the metal can’t wear through the insulation and short them. If your phase wires get shorted, your DRV cheap dies and it’s bye bye VESC.
I’m not planning to use a metal enclosure anyhow dude! Should receive a flexible cell pack around 5th of january, and i will definitely cast my enclosure in a flexible material… My only incertitude is which material… Will it be some silicon, a PU 80A shore resin or this flexible epoxy resin?.. I did not decide yet! Silicon has the advantage of being heat resistant, but could be slightly too smooth, The PU resins i found could make it even if they aren’t that stable at higher temperatures… But 80A shore?.. maybe too hard… And this resin, that seems to have many advantages (I don’t know its heat resistance properties though…)
This being said, my cell pack is A 3P pack made of VTC6 cells… shouldn’t get that warm… My main concern is about the enclosure’s height… as the wall is going to be 2.5 to 3.5 cm high (3 to 5 mm wide), i need a material that keeps its flex even used on thicker layers… This epoxy resin is said to keep its full flex up to 2cm wide uses, then the flex slowly decreases… It sounds pretty nice… Or it may be the black manucure that appeals me… I initially planned to build a one piece enclosure for esthetic reasons… Of course it’s contradictive with a flexible deck… that’s why i’m trying to find decent solutions, but i might eventually get my mind made up and build it in two pieces… unless one of these materials can make it… But to me, Two pieces enclosures with a wire between… are kind of yucky…
Fiberglass?
yes… fiberglass… it was my first choice… but i’m quite sure i’m not going to get a decent looking result… plus fiberglass isn’t that waterproof unless u coat it… eventually, considering the fiber, the resin, the coat, it would cost the same price, take more time, and be less innovative… those materials come mass dyed or u can mass dye them easily, are waterproof, can be used easily… Just mix and pour in the molder, wait 24 hrs and done… But fiberglass definitely has the light weight advantage…
Yea that thing is cool I just finished my fiberglass enclosure and its not so easy especially if its your first time doing it It could have come out like 5times better and nicer looking but I was just too lazy will post the final pics later when I paint it
That’s it! Not that easy unless u have some experience or take quite a certain amount of time to do things accurately, or to redo things, sand it, paint it… and so on… I’m kind of lazy… lol
Metal ones are good if you insulate it in the inside some way Like some kind of epoxy or something
