Centroid Community CNC Support Forum

Hey, all you guys think this enclosure is big enough? its 3.5 tall.

I may add a couple of relays, and im using an off-the-shelf Sherline driver box which I will probably not mount inside this enclosure.
Im not necisarly done moving the boards around yet.

You are asking the same question in a different way on an earlier thread viewtopic.php?f=60&t=6062&p=52619#p52619 which Marty clearly answered - Follow Marty's advice

Hard to tell what the colored blocks represent, but I'm guessing that is the Acorn, relay board, and Acorn power supply. Where are your motor drivers? Motor power supply? EStop contractor? Terminal blocks? Fuses? Fan? Look at some of the panel pictures others have posted to get an idea what components and space you need.

That layout is likely not going to work, you are not considering all the other parts of a control cabinet.
As I previously mentioned, layout all the large components (keep in mind plastic wireways, circuit breakers, fuses, terminal blocks etc.)
What kind of build are you working on? What axis motor drives are you going to use? What Spindle Drive are you going to use?
Add 20% to the cabinet size after that. You'll be glad you did....

Marty

Go down to Home Depot and buy a piece of MDF, 24" X 48". Buy some DIN rail, some terminal blocks, and some wiring duct. Lay out the components without wiring anything together. Experiment until you find a layout that is logical and compact. THEN, use that piece of MDF as a test bench. Wire up the components. See how the layout really works.

All of my basic Acorn designs fit on a 24" X 24" MDF board. Designs using a VDF, an external PLC and the 16X16 I/O expansion board need something larger.

Harty has a lot of videos on YouTube that show various layouts. Gary Campbell and Franco also have excellent videos that show well organized cabinets. Tim Wilborne has a six-part series that explains how to build a basic electronics cabinet. He is not in the CNC business, but his hints and tips are a good starting point.

If I were building a new controller that used customary parts (Acorn, ClearPath servos, VFD, 16X16 I/O board, etc.), I would probably use two cabinets. The VFD generates a lot of electrical noise. Using two cabinets makes it easier to control electrical noise. Two cabinets might seem excessive because of cost, but if you're using your machine in production, having a reliable system will save you thousands of dollars. Back when I had my Shopbot PRT-Alpha, when MDF was less than $20 per sheet, I could easily cut six sheets of MDF per hour. In just 1/2 day, that amounted to $500 in materials. With today's cost for tooling and materials, starting with a robust cabinet with carefully laid-out electronics will keep you in business.

I have access to a laser cutter here at work and on a limited budget so, I can make this any size I need but limited to 23.5 wide. This was just a starting point and again the driver box is not part of this assembly. I don't need a VFD as far as I know. This build is for a Sherline Chucker lathe, that I will add an encoder to for spindle control. ? As far as I understand, just learning.

I'm basically doing the same setup as Franko.

I thought it would be obvious but the green board is Acorn, blue is the beagle bone from Acorn kit, red is Acorn PSU, and yellow is a terminal block. I have not added all the other stuff as I am not sure exactly what I need yet.


I will take a closer look at what others are doing, and get a better understanding of what needs to go in the box but seems like for my needs with the Sherline it does not need to be quite 24x24?

Thanks for the input guys

BillB wrote: ↑Fri Jul 23, 2021 7:18 pm I have access to a laser cutter here at work and on a limited budget so, I can make this any size I need but limited to 23.5 wide. This was just a starting point and again the driver box is not part of this assembly. I don't need a VFD as far as I know. This build is for a Sherline Chucker lathe, that I will add an encoder to for spindle control. ? As far as I understand, just learning.

I'm basically doing the same setup as Franko.

I thought it would be obvious but the green board is Acorn, blue is the beagle bone from Acorn kit, red is Acorn PSU, and yellow is a terminal block. I have not added all the other stuff as I am not sure exactly what I need yet.


I will take a closer look at what others are doing, and get a better understanding of what needs to go in the box but seems like for my needs with the Sherline it does not need to be quite 24x24?

Thanks for the input guys

The size is dependent on the layout of your parts and what parts you use. A little bigger is better.
Marty