Make your own plastic box?

McCracken

McCracken

Logan Can't See This
Joined
Jul 9, 2005
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With your mom at a nice seafood dinner
I took on a small project a little while back where I rebuilt a Warn 8074 winch. I got everything painted and sealed up. The winch did not come with any of the electrical components needed to operate it. So I built a tray and attach the solenoids to it. Ran some wires and large cables and now she works perfectly. My problem is that the wiring is now exposed. Since I had to fabricate the tray and wiring I'm now in a pickle to finish this thing off. I don't believe a replacement Warn plastic cover piece will work with my custom tray so I'm stuck figuring out what to do.

One idea that keeps popping up is to build my own plastic box with the dimensions that fit my tray. The problem is I have no idea if this is even possible. It's not like I own a 3D printer or injection molding machine. Would any of you have an idea on how to accomplish this? I don't want to glue pieces together to make this work. Maybe fiberglass resin and a mold?

Here's what I'm talking about:

http://www.quadratec.com/products/92199_00.htm

awww.quadratec.com_Assets_Images_10170_10170_lg.jpg
 
How about some sheet HDPE and the harbor freight plastic welder? Or ABS and acetone. You can use the shavings to make a filler glue that would leave you with material to blend on the corners.
 
the Warn cover is an injection molded ABS probably about 1/8" thick material. Are you handy enough with Wood to make a block that could be vac formed?

If you can make a block of wood and sand the edges and corners out, and supply a piece of plastic, I can Vac form it for you. I may even have a scrap of PVC that I could form it with. But ABS is definitely more durable.
 
catfishblues said:
How about some sheet HDPE and the harbor freight plastic welder? Or ABS and acetone. You can use the shavings to make a filler glue that would leave you with material to blend on the corners.
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I thought about ABS but not sure about the quality of job.

jeepinmatt said:
Anodized aluminum is non-conductive if you wanted to go that route.
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I cannot weld aluminum and I don't own a press.
 
Tupperware or Rubbermaid containers, cheap, come in a variety of sizes, and easy to modify to your use ( cheap means buy a couple so you can prototype on the fly)
 
Blkvoodoo said:
Tupperware or Rubbermaid containers, cheap, come in a variety of sizes, and easy to modify to your use ( cheap means buy a couple so you can prototype on the fly)
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Won't those tend to get brittle and crack after some weather exposure?
 
RatLabGuy said:
Won't those tend to get brittle and crack after some weather exposure?
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no more so than the Warn box or any other plastic, even if it does, you know what size to get, any Walmart,Target, Roses should have something to replace it, cheap
 
How about kydex. I think you can heat it with a heat gun and bend it. Its the stuff holsters are made of if your not familiar with it.
 
Abs bends pretty easily with a heat gun or butane torch. Might could fab up a box of sort with some bends and silicone the open edges to make it water tight
 
Anodize coating fuses into the metal with very little buildup. The problem is, if you drill through it for mounting thenthe inside noncoated surface would be exposed. and would conduct through the screw and into the center of the material. Not sure I would trust it any way.
 
I'm always one to DIY, but I think this one might cost you more to fabricate something than to find something to fit it into.

My first idea was to go to Lowes and find something like this:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_238217-53911-2CKU_4294653960__?productId=3142209&Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&pl=1&currentURL=?Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&facetInfo=

It looks to be roughly the size of the Warn box. Would be worth a trip to Lowes or Home Depot to look at their electrical department and see what ideas they can give you. Bring the solenoid pack with you and fit it inside the box.

How big is the solenoid pack? There's a bunch of waterproof project boxes like this one:

http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/cse-18139/junction-box-175-x-175-x-125mm/1.html

Depending on what dimensions you need to make it fit, drill a couple holes for wires and voila!
 
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Kydex is a good option and will be easy to use. If you can use a milling machine or know someone with a cnc router or mill, glue togehter a stack of pvc lumber and mill it out to that same shape.
 
I have a buddy with a 3D printer. If you know the dimensions (or better yet, can provide a CAD model) I can ask him to price it.
 
broncosbybart said:
If that is true, I just learned something today. Is that just because of the surface, like paint on metal? Kinda doubt that anodizing changes the properties of alum altogether.
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It is true. Its because of the surface, but the surface is still part of the base metal. Anodizing is just a really nice way of oxidizing aluminum, and converts the outer layer into Aluminum Oxide.

HAPPY said:
Anodize coating fuses into the metal with very little buildup. The problem is, if you drill through it for mounting thenthe inside noncoated surface would be exposed. and would conduct through the screw and into the center of the material. Not sure I would trust it any way.
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It's not a coating, more of a change of the chemical and molecular structure on the outer layer, and therefore is not "buildup" but actually expansion of the material. And yes, if you drill through it, put a screw in, and then connect voltage to the screw, you will have that much voltage available inside the aluminum piece, but no way for it to get out. If, in this application, you connected two screws to the grounded baseplate of an 8274 solenoid box, there would be voltage at both screws, just like there would be on the steel baseplate.
 
Pless said:
Radio Shack carries project boxes that would work for this.
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I did not know this. I'll check into it.

edit: I looked into it. There is a possibility there and it's only $7.

FrontPorchFab said:
I have a buddy with a 3D printer. If you know the dimensions (or better yet, can provide a CAD model) I can ask him to price it.
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I would be curious to know.
 
The radio snatch boxes probably won't hold up in the weather. They're usually fairly thin and brittle, and likely won't have any UV protection. Worth a shot at that price, though!
 
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