A couple of months ago I met up with Mike from Hairball in Portland OR. He was kind enough drive down from Seattle and to present me with one of the prototypes of the cases he will soon offer on his site. Edit: read Mike's own announcement and scroll down for additional information including future plans for other cases.
The quality of the cases is wonderful and they are a such a pleasure to work with I just had to start a new thread. Hopefully we can add to the thread with hints and tips that can help out those who use these cases.
Click for larger image
OK, first tip: When we spoke, Mike was concerned about the standoffs for the zero set potentiometer on the prototypes which are 1/4" (same as the switch standoffs). I thought I would try to use a long #4-40 screw with a plain spacer to attach the pot mounting plate further back from the front panel.
As it turned out, I found that the Clarostat 53C22K (available from Digikey) works fine with the 1/4" standoffs:
Just throw out the locking nut and replace it with a plain nut. Set the rear nut and lock washer to the right depth so the front of the shaft is just shy of the front panel, then put another nut and lock washer on to lock it in place:
Like the pushbutton switch mounting plates, everything lines up perfectly without any fooling around:
I understand the final production cases will get a 1/2" standoff for the zero set pot which will probably mean that there will be a number of different pots that will work well in that application. Great work Mike!
Edit: I've created some new wiring pages specifically for the Hairball case and my boards: http://mnats.net/1176_reva-d_hairball_wiring_power.html
The quality of the cases is wonderful and they are a such a pleasure to work with I just had to start a new thread. Hopefully we can add to the thread with hints and tips that can help out those who use these cases.
Click for larger image
OK, first tip: When we spoke, Mike was concerned about the standoffs for the zero set potentiometer on the prototypes which are 1/4" (same as the switch standoffs). I thought I would try to use a long #4-40 screw with a plain spacer to attach the pot mounting plate further back from the front panel.
As it turned out, I found that the Clarostat 53C22K (available from Digikey) works fine with the 1/4" standoffs:
Just throw out the locking nut and replace it with a plain nut. Set the rear nut and lock washer to the right depth so the front of the shaft is just shy of the front panel, then put another nut and lock washer on to lock it in place:
Like the pushbutton switch mounting plates, everything lines up perfectly without any fooling around:
I understand the final production cases will get a 1/2" standoff for the zero set pot which will probably mean that there will be a number of different pots that will work well in that application. Great work Mike!
Edit: I've created some new wiring pages specifically for the Hairball case and my boards: http://mnats.net/1176_reva-d_hairball_wiring_power.html