Canadian source for plastic boxes.

@ronalex4203

I dont know if they have your preferred size and/or style but maybe, as a start ...

https://www.bc-robotics.com/?s=project+box&post_type=product

https://canada.newark.com/c/enclosures-racks-cabinets/enclosures-boxes-cases/plastic-enclosures?st=box

https://www.mouser.ca/c/?q=project%20box

@will I knew about BC Robotics and they have something but out of stock. The other two are interesting, but so far no luck finding a match. Since I haven't built anything like this before, I have no experience to draw on re other ways to house the parts.

@ronalex4203 

Well, I get 95+% of my stuff from Amazon and the other 5% from those sources. But, I have a 3D printer, so I haven't had to buy a project box in years.

About the only other think I can suggest is to hea off to your local thrift (not Dollar) store and check to their selection of small, decorative boxes. I've used them sometimes in the past (when desperate).

@will I know there are 3D printers at our local Makers club but I tried to use a CAD program with full tutorial video and failed miserably. I have a bunch of amazon boxes but nothing big enough for this project. I have ordered one very expensive box for now, but I need to find a source for ongoing projects, I want to build about 8 ESP-CAM32 cameras so need a few boxes. 

@ronalex4203 

If you still want to try making your own boxes, download an app called OpenSCAD, it's free software that lets you write scripts that allow you to specify how to make the .STL files that are eaten by slicers to produce code for the 3D printers.

I have included a script which will produce an STL file for a box of specified inner length, width, height and wall thickness; the box includes sloping columns in the corners that are made to accept M3 screws.

It also produces a lid to  match the box's size with pre-drilled holes to match the box's holes.

To use it, open the .scad file and, near the top, change the length, width, height and thickness as desired. You can also change the screw size (but i'd recommend against using bigger values).

OpenSCAD is a very easy program to use. I'm using a Mac, so your machine may use different keys but:

- open the file

- change the size values as required

- save the changes

- press F5 to render the object(s)

- rotate the rendered values and note any errors or changes required

- make any corrections and use F5 again to view changed objects

- when happy, save again (can't be too careful)

- press F6 to generate the STL description (this will take longer than F5)

- click the STL button to save the STL file and name it as desired

- quit

That will leave an .STL file with the name you selected. You can then run that STL  file through a slicer which will produce a set of code commands that will be stored in a .GCODE file. That's the one you feed into your 3D printer (details depend on the printer make and model).

As you get more familiar with OpenSCAD, you can start customizing the box to add stuff like openings for power plugs, dials, switches, displays and so on.

 For some reason the forum won't let me paste in a SCAD file, so you'll need to download this and unzip it. Please let me know if you have any questions about the script or OpenSCAD.

@will That sounds like a great solution., I also use a Mac. When I search on openscad in the app store I get ShapeScript and Scad. Since Scad is $13.99 I wanted to check if that is the correct app before buying it. The other is free with in-app purchase.

What is a slicer?

I have never used a 3D printer. I will probably have help, do I run the slicer first or when I am at the printer?

@ronalex4203 

Don't pay anything, OpenSCAD is free, you can get it at 

http://openscad.org/downloads.html

You'll probably want to look at the documentation as well, it'll help you understand what the script is doing and enable you to expand it for more customization.

OpenSCAD produces a sort of "design file" in a particular format. It describes the object as a set of arranged vertices in space. But 3D printers require a file format (text) which contains a coded set of machine commands that will move the 3D printer parts, heat and drive plastic out the extruder and so on.

What the slicer does is transform between the two formats by mathematically decomposing the structure in the STL file, calculating what a flat cross-section would look at each height and storing the commands that the 3D printer would need to execute in order to produce that cross-section.

A 3D print is essentially a stack of cross section approximations of the original model stacked vertically.

All 3D printers are different and the slicer needs to know the make and model to safely create the code commands. You can safely design and produce your own STL files, but you should probably copy the STL file to a (Windows formatted) thumb drive and take it to the Makers club and ask somebody to step you through the slicing and 3D steps. They can help explain what each step does and how.

I figured that was what the slicer did. I think a Mac formats a thumb drive identical to windows, but I can test here as I have Virtual Windows as well.

@ronalex4203 

The problem is that Macs can read Windows disks but Windows can't read Mac (or Linux) disks, so Mac users get sloppy about that format they're using but then suffer the abuse heaped upon them when Windows users can't handle the Mac disks.

So, it's always worth having some Windows compatible thumb drives handy, won't matter to another Mac but will be mandatory for use in a Windows box. I don't know what your Makers club uses but it may save you a wasted trip if you take a (FAT) drive formatted for Windows.

@will I just checked a couple of my thumb drives and they are FAT. The STL file is small, only 54K. The render only took a couple of seconds.

Did you see the bug in the source code, the variable thickness is forced to a value of 3 on line 26. As it turns out that is the thickness that was set at line 16 with the width, length, height, and screwsize but if someone wants something other than a thickness of 3 they will not get it. At least that is my reading of the code.

@ronalex4203 

Whew, you had me worried there 🙂 I had this set up as a library call so it could be included and used almost anywhere and so it was a very rush job !

The 3 in line 26 is a "default" value, so if nothing is sent from the call in line 19, the module will use 3.

You can test that by setting thickness in 16 to 10 and run it. You'll see that it makes a box with very fat sides.

You can also take the variable thickness out of the call at line 19 so it just has length, width and height and when you run it, the box produced will have 3 mm walls just the same.

@will Ok, my memory isn't good enough to remember if I have ever seen another language that works that way, but it is one way of doing things.

@ronalex4203 

It's built in to the C++ language well.

All in all it's extremely handy for this kind of thing. I normally do boxes in either 3 or 5 mm thickness, so this allows me to ignore thickness on "standard" boxes. It's also handy if you, for instance, wanted to implement a hole for a 2.1mm x 5.5mm power jack on the back on most of your boxes. You could add the code to end of the module inside an if (addPowerJack) ... and then add ",addPowerJack=true" at the end of the parameter list.

Thus, any normal call would produce a box with a hole for the jack UNLESS you specified addPowerJack=false when calling the module.

The default value capability definitely grows on you 🙂

@will, @ronalex4203

Posted by: @will

@ronalex4203 

Don't pay anything, OpenSCAD is free, you can get it at 

[snip]

Just an FYI... I've seen OpenSCAD but never used it before.  Personally, I use Blender 3D (also free) for all my modeling, and I have in the past used FreeCAD as well, but not for quite a while (as well many others too, but not free).  Likewise, I have used Autodesk Fusion360, which is free (with limited functionality due to recent license changes) for personal use, but is probably the easiest of all of these I have mentioned.

Just some free alternatives to consider - I lover Blender myself, and it's getting better and better with every iteration.

Cheers.