The development of the SCA3144-3D customized electronics enclosure for an Image Processing vision system has shown that a well-studied design gets certain positive feedback from customers and 3D printing is a valuable support in this sense.
“For over 10 years, one of our customers has asked us to design and then manufacture a customized enclosure dedicated to a vision system for Digital Image Processing”, says Mr. Alessandro Vignaga, CEO and Sales Manager of MCS.
“It was a vision system based on a high-resolution camera used for multiple types of image acquisition and object detection.
The system had to have a robust structure with an Ethernet connection and LED object lighting. The customer had offered us the image of a product of one of his competitors, with the aim of creating something similar.
In this case, however, partly because of the very good relationship that binds us to the customer, partly due to the fact that the project was very interesting, in part because we wanted to use the new 3D printing technology, we have developed an original design proposal and deliberately far from the idea of starting from an aesthetic and constructive point of view. And this proposal turned out to be the trump card”.
A customized electronics enclosure differentiates you and makes you appreciated
“Our client found himself faced with something he had never imagined, appreciating the fact of not having in his hands an object that everyone could make, but an original and exclusive solution, and after a first sampling, he finalized the order”.
“The technical division liked the proposal, but above all the commercial part, to such an extent that our client is considering restyling the old products, according to the aesthetic style inaugurated with this solution.
From the feedback received, we understood that both the new line given to the product design and the innovative aspect of 3D printing were appreciated, i.e., the possibility of changing the type of product: from the classic aluminium half-shell, to 3D printed plastic”.
“Our customer obviously gave the first samples to his interested customers. One of them wanted a customization of the enclosure part and tried to do it himself, with very bad results. We therefore agreed to produce about twenty pieces for him.
This shows that you can’t improvise. It is not enough to own a 3D printer, you need to have the appropriate experience, expertise and design skills to achieve high levels of quality”.
Features of the SCA3144-3D customized electronics enclosure
“The manufacturing of the enclosure had an excellent result also for the perfect understanding that we have with our client.
A well-established partnership has allowed us to work as if we were a single company, with continuous and fruitful interaction”.
The result, as you can see from the photos, is a customized electronics enclosure made up of a 70x70xh90 millimeter shell, 3D printed in PA12, a thermoplastic material ideal for prototyping. It allows you to obtain models with high precision details while respecting dimensional tolerances.
The PA 12 has excellent mechanical properties, precision and chemical resistance to oils, greases and hydrocarbons. One of the main advantages deriving from the use of PA 12 is that of being able to make parts in a single body instead of half-shells to be assembled, exceeding the limits of the injection mould.
The shell was then painted with a matt finish and fine embossing. The base and the back of the enclosure are in aluminum machined from solid with CNC milling, finished with shot peening and transparent proactive coating.
In the lower part there is a milled PVC element with a polyester membrane to obtain the transparency of the LED lighting.
Text by MCS Marketing Department