Plastic is a good choice for smaller products because of their ability to be easily modified.
Progressive enclosure manufactures are offering full customization services to meet the needs for modifications beyond simple holes being drilled.
The cost to custom modify a standard enclosure mold is generally far less than the cost of purchasing an entire new mold.
Engineers should look for a manufacturer who offers a wide selection of enclosures that are suitable for the proposed environment and that offers customization methods.
There is generally a one time charge for an engineer to review the design and program the computer numerical control machinery.
Designers should provide manufacturers with a computer-aided design file indicating any modifications that have been made to the enclosure.
Every enclosure design is different and every application is unique.
In order to determine the level of protection needed, you must know how the enclosure is going to be used. Determine what product is going to be inside and whether it needs to be free of dust, oil, and water tight.
When determining what size of enclosure is needed, you must consider more than just the physical space for your components. Considerations such as watt loss and ambient environment must also be taken into account.
Determine the height and width of the enclosure needed by laying out the footprint space needed for your control components on a standard sub-panel size. Be sure to consider the mounting holes for the sub-panel when you are determining the required footprint space.
The size of the electric enclosure determines whether you need a single door, two doors, wall mount or floor mount.
There are a variety of accessories for enclosures such as locks, latches, lighting kits, additional braces, feet, manual pockets, cooling fans, and sub-panels.
Even though injection molding costs have shown a decline in the past few years, a custom plastic enclosure can be costly in monetary cost and in the time to market the enclosure.