Arduino-Project-Planning-Packaging-Mechanical

Arduino-Project-Planning-Packaging-Mechanical

Here is an example of an approach to mechanically packaging a large number of components with an Arduino MEGA:

Wood Construction (Remember WOOD?):

There are lots of components, such as the Arduino MEGA, MAX6675 Thermocouple interfaces. Terminal strips, Real Time Clock, etc. that need to be mechanically mounted somehow. You could carefully lay out their locations on the wall of a metal chassis, drill accurate holes, insert standoffs, and put them in place with small machine screws. Too Hard! So we regress to Good Old Wood for this (which by the way is a fine insulator for 5V to 12V). Most of these "Electronic Brick" modules have Very Small holes in each corner for mounting. The challenge is to find Very Small wood screws that are 3/8" long or less. Here is an example (right) of a good size, being used for the Real Time Clock module. I think these are #4 x 3/8" screws in USA (Home Depot). And, you can Change Your Mind and move stuff around in a couple of minutes.

AND there is METAL, which is needed for when you put all this in a box and control kilowatts of power! Details HERE

A few useful "Electronic Brick" modules have NO HOLES. An example is the Ethernet Module. HowAbout: SomethingSticky. Possibilities:

• VELCRO: Double adhesive type allows removal but holds well (Right)
• Double-sided Foam Tape
• "Poster Tape" is good hold but removeable
• ?? Other new sticky/removeable holder
• OR: Use the above to adhere to a piece of Perfboard or etc., drill corner holes in THAT
  .

Change Your Mind (AKA Development Engineering): Here's another take of the board above, after deciding to add an SD Card Module, Ethernet Interface and Relay Board.

Below on the right is the electrical layout with Eraser Tools. (The screwdriver is used for editing the physical board layout).

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• Wiring Brain Dump: Further details and reorganization likely needed...
• Connections to Arduino
• Power Bussing
• servicability
• Test Points
• DIN rail terminals
• Packaging Brain Dump
• Off-The-Shelf containers / boxes for Arduino UNO, MEGA??
  • Industry standard
  • HomeDepot etc. electrical boxes?
  • Find a China supplier?