Does anyone know of a good source of information on how to design boards with regards to electro - mechanical parts with enclosure design in mind. For example, how do you get the light from a surface mount LED out to a lens on the front faceplate of a product? How about a surface mount push button switch to a plastic button on an enclosure?
Thanks
Design for Manufacturability is unfortunately an incredibly black art. You’d be best to talk to someone who has designed a similar product, disassemble something similar to what you’re designing, or to work directly with whoever your manufacturer is. The techniques you can use will depend on cost, quantity etc.
As for the specific LED question, if you can’t butt your LED directly against an opaque window, the normal technique is to use a transparent plastic light guide. It’s much like an el-cheapo fibre optic line.
If you must use a surface mount switch, get one with a long plastic push bit that will stick far enough out that it protrudes from the face plate, or use a separate plastic bit so the user can push it indirectly. Or maybe get a membrane switch pad manufactured. Again, it depends on too many factors.
I have noticed that package designers are skilled intlynch99:
Does anyone know of a good source of information on how to design boards with regards to electro - mechanical parts with enclosure design in mind.
the [Solidworks toolchain.
Its a moot point in hobby circles as most of us don’t
have the luxury of designing an enclosure form scratch.
A lot of projects are installed in pre-fabbed enclosures
that only require holes or cutouts.
Another approach is to replace the supplied front
(and/or rear) panel with a new one, custom machined
from a 2D CAD drawing.
I often do mechanical layout in MS Visio, using the
vendor’s outline drawings (or digital calipers and
samples if no drawing can be found).](http://www.solidworks.com/)
My question is more about if you were going to use a prototype enclosure, with some cut outs, is there any information about how to interact with a surface mount push button by use of a mechanical part that connects to the enclosure and actuates the push button.
Use a switch with a long actuator. You might need to use a through-hole part, though.
Leon