Enclosure for Control Panel

[rafoster1987]

What would you all recommend for an enclosure for someone wanting to build a panel himself? Auberins has this one for Kal's system on sale.

http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=34&products_id=500

Is that a decent price?

 

[Pantherjon]

It is...If you want to go that big..This is the enclosure I got for 1/2 that price..Or you could go here, but, then you would have to cut out the holes..

 

[iijakii]

The square PID holes are pretty annoying. I'd recommend getting those precut if you don't have a nice rotary tool.

 

[NervousDad]

That's a great deal. It will save you a lot of work.

 

[cod3ck]

I've been eyeing that Kal enclosure for some time... Only catch is you either have to fill the holes from the beginning, or buy a whole lot of throw away blanks...

 

[itsnotrequired]

not that bad of a deal, considering it comes with a heat sink and painted with what i assume is a better process than a spray paint can. downside is the receptacle holes are not pre-tapped for mounting the receps, you would need to tap those yourself or drill them and use tiny nuts/washers.

ebrewsupply has a $50 option to purchase their complete panel kits with holes precut and receptacle/heatsink mountings tapped. that is with a complete kit though but try giving them a call, maybe they will sell you a pre-cut one without the cut. downside is that it does not come with the heatsink and you would have to point it yourself.

 

[augiedoggy]

You could also buy a 12x12x8 electrical enclosure from Lowe's or the home depot for $33. It's plastic so it makes mounting all the plastic components like the pids and switches easy.. Yes I spay pained mine black but it's mounted on my wall and doesn't see physical abuse so the spray paint hold up fine..

 

[SpentBrains]

I too used a plastic enclosure from the American electrical contractor supply house County Electric. I have a milling machine so milling out the PID and square power meter holes was a snap. I wish it had a hinged door rather than the 8 cover screws, but I'm hopeful I don't have to get in there much now that it's done.

 

[mendozer]

Do the plastic enclosures have any issue with the heat coming off heatsinks?
I plan on using a huge heatsink from heatsinksUSA anyway, but I just want to be cautious.

 

[Rockn_M]

What would you all recommend for an enclosure for someone wanting to build a panel himself? Auberins has this one for Kal's system on sale.

http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=34&products_id=500

Is that a decent price?

Not sure if this was around when I was building mine. I wish it was because it would have saved a lot of time and frustration.

 

[SpentBrains]

Do the plastic enclosures have any issue with the heat coming off heatsinks?
I plan on using a huge heatsink from heatsinksUSA anyway, but I just want to be cautious.

Good question. I actually have two enclosures on my system. High load items and the heatsink bearing the SSRs, seals one wall of the lower panel. That panel is welded as part of the sculpture itself. My heat sink is also a huge amount of metal, made from a 6" X 12" - 1/4" thick plate of aluminum, that I welded five 1/4" thick 3" x 12" plate fins onto. I had the material in the scrap pile and as long as I had the welder out, wanted to weld...

If I were building all of the components into a plastic panel, I'd try to insulate however I mounted the heat sink to the plastic box. As an assurance, those industrial plastics the boxes are made from can reach very high temps without any deformation. More mass and a good thermally conductive contact and transfer paste are your friends.