Summary： Enclosing a project in a case designed for hobbyists rather than for professional designers.
Enclosing your project in a suitable case is an important consideration. The following insights are provided from a hobbyist's perspective and do not pertain to products intended for commercial distribution.
Although 3D printing offers significant advantages, access to printers and proficiency in design are not universal. For instance, when I acquired an electronic dice kit from Amazon—featuring seven LEDs that display dice patterns upon shaking—I located an appropriate case design online and engaged a local company to provide 3D printing services. Companies such as PCBWay also offer 3D printing solutions. Utilizing existing 3D case designs can expedite project development; searching terms like "project case," "project box," or simply "case" and "box" on platforms such as Thingiverse yields a variety of modifiable options.
Project cases have been sourced from vendors such as Amazon, Polycase, and Vetco Electronics. The shipment from Vetco Electronics is currently pending.
For my Note Sequencer—a board designed to complement the Reaction Game project but also functional independently—I selected a wooden enclosure from Hobby Lobby, finished it with stain, and mounted the PCB using 3-millimeter standoffs obtained in a hardware kit from Amazon. Alternative mounting methods include using screws, nuts, spacers, or double-stick foam.
When preparing holes for PCB mounting, it is advisable to use the board itself as a template before assembling components. PCBWay’s minimum order is typically five boards; surplus boards can be repurposed as drilling guides for features such as LED openings. Alternatively, printing the silkscreen layer to create a paper template is recommended if accessible.
