I guess I can tell myself that I am a self-proclaimed foodie. I kept trying and tasting new food when there are new restaurant menus or new food establishment around the neighborhood. However, I am also trying new recipes inside my kitchen. I just recently learned that very quickly that being careful by eye-balling the ingredients when I am preparing a new dish for the very first time is not really a very good and pleasing idea. If I want to taste it just on the first try, I need to follow very specific instructions like the cook book and follow the preparation method before I come up with my own idea.
How can you apply this to your electronics enclosure?
In preparation for modification of some of the plastic enclosure, this also follows a similar idea. When a customer approaches a manufacturing company for a cost quotation there should be guidelines that the customers should follow to have a properly quoted information available to them:
- The engineering drawing that comes with the customer inquiry should have the approximate sizing of the cutouts desired. It also should have the indication on which side of the enclosure should be machined. For the acceptable files, refer to the table below.
- The sketch should have the approximate sizing of the cutouts and the proper indication on which side the cutouts should be machined. The PDF files that comes with the product literature is a good basis for the sketch.
- The detailed written product description should include the approximation of the size and shaping of the cutouts. In addition to the information saying which side of the enclosure should be machined.
- The PCB sample that has attached connectors to it should fit right through the cutouts and any hardware required to properly mount the PCB.
In this table, we will show you the typical CAD program files that are being used today:
| FILE TYPE | FILE EXTENSION |
| AutoCAD Interchange File | .DXF |
| Rhino Files | .3DM |
| Parasolid | . X_T, .X_B, .XMT_TXT, .XMT_BIN |
| Inventor Part | .IPT |
| AutoCAD Drawing | .DWG |
| Inventory Assembly | .IAM |
| Solid Edge Part | .PAR |
| SolidWorks | .SLDPRT, .SLDASM, .SLDDRW |
| Solid Edge Assembly | .ASM |
| Template | .PRTDOT, .ASMDOT, .DRWDOT |
| Lib Feat Part | .LFP, .SLDLFP |
| IDF | .EMN, .BRD, .BDF, .IDB |
| ProE Assembly | .ASM, .ASM., .XAS |
| ProE Part | .PRT, .PRT., XPR |
| Drawing | .DRW, .SLDDRW |
If you are now planning on having your electronics enclosure printed, there are some formats for the graphics that you needed to follow. If you have questions regarding the printing services, you can contact your preferred enclosure manufacturer.