@SpyChoosing plastic or wood
You could build your own boxes, but you can find a large variety of contain-
ers that you can simply buy cheaply and put right to work, including plastic
and wooden boxes in various shapes. We typically put remote control circuits
in plastic boxes to make the control light and compact for handling. And we
typically use wooden boxes to house other circuits because we can make
them look a little more stylish than the plastic boxes.
Drilling and cutting holes
We use a drill to make holes up to^1 ⁄ 2 " diameter in boxes. There’s nothing com-
plicated about using an electric drill, but if you’re new to this tool, have
someone at your local home improvement center walk you through it.
Here’s an easy way to decide what size drill bit to use. Try slipping drill bits
through the nut used to secure the screws or electrical component you’re
drilling the hole for. Choose a drill bit that’s too big to fit through the hole in
the nut and smaller than the outside of the nut.
Drill bits sometimes bindin the material you’re drilling. When a drill bit
binds, the box gets kind of edgy and begins to spin with the drill. That’s why
it’s important that you clamp the box you’re drilling to your worktable or
secure it in a vise. We’ve found that drill bits bind more often in plastic boxes
than in wooden ones.
Mounting your project in a box ..........................................................
After you build your circuit and drill or cut holes in your box to accommo-
date anything you want to feed through from inside to outside, actually
mounting things in the box has a few ins and outs, too.
Working with switches, potentiometers,
and other panel-mount components
Many switches, potentiometers, and other components have a threaded
shaft, a nut, and possibly washers that are meant to be mounted through a
hole in a panel. Here’s the drill (pun intended):
- Drill a hole in your box where you want to mount the component.
- Clean up any debris around the hole from the drilling.
- Slide the threaded shaft through the hole and tighten a nut on the
threads.
If the hole turns out to be a little too big, slip a washer under the nut.
Chapter 4: Running Down the Skills You Need 79