Enclosure
Once you have ordered your board, battery and PM sensor, you will need to make your own enclosure.
There are several ways of doing that. You can download print the enclosure by yourself, use online 3d printing services or order an already assembled and ready-to-use enclosure.
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Download 3D models that are ready for 3D printing here and here;
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If you have your own 3D printer, print out the enclosure. Make sure you use these settings:
- Rafts: Yes
- Supports: Yes
- Resolution: 0.1 mm
- Infill: 10-20 %
- Print speed: 50-60 mm/s
You can check out the tutorial on printing with Cura.
- If you do not own a 3D printer, you can contact your nearest 3D printing service or use one of the online services (3D Hubs, Shapeways and i.materialise are just some of the online services you can use);
Printed parts (translucent plastic on the left, white PLA on the right)
After you have your plastic parts printed, next thing you need to do is laser cut the transparent plexiglass part. This part is crucial for sunlight to enter and give you readings on UV radiation and levels of light.
- Download the drawing file here;
- Contact your local laser cutting provider and send them the drawing. If they already have sheets of plexiglass ready for cutting, make sure that the thickness of the sheet is < 2 mm. If not, go to your local hardware store and buy the plexiglass sheet;
- After the part has been cut, we will need to glue it to our top plastic part. Do this by using the glue gun (hot glue) or caulk gun (silicone). This way, water will not be able to enter the electronics.
After the printing is done, depending on the orientation of the print, you will need to sand parts of the object. Start with coarse sandpaper (around P50), and slowly progress towards medium and fine grits.
Once you are satisfied with the smoothness of the part, use spray paint to finish it off. You can start with matte paint as a first layer. After it has dried, use the glossy paint for a shiny finish.
After gluing the plexiglass part, you will need to tightly fastening it using screws and nuts. Four M2.5x8mm hex screws with matching nuts are needed, as well as an Allen key and a pair of pliers.
- First, insert the screws into the holes in plexiglass and plastic part;
- On the other side, use the nuts and lightly fasten them onto the bottom part of screws;
- Use the pliers to hold the nuts tightly while you use Allen key on the other side to fasten the screws;
- Make sure not to over do it, since the plastic part might bend too much.
Assembly of the device with defined zones for the parts
If you want to skip the manual work of creating your enclosure, you can order already made ones. Contact us here.
- When printing bottom and top part of the enclosure, make sure that you do it on the same type of 3D printer using the same 3D slicer. This way you will avoid any possible differences between the two parts that may cause improper fitting;
- If possible, use ABS plastic for its strength and flexibility in order to avoid breaking of the smaller detailed parts;