10 WAYS WE HELP YOU TO SPECIFY ALUMINUM ELECTRONIC ENCLOSURES

1. EXPERTISE AND EXPERIENCE – THE VITAL DIFFERENTIATORS

There’s a difference between purchasing metal enclosures from a reseller and buying direct from the manufacturer. Each channel is important, but you can’t beat speaking with the people who actually design and manufacture the enclosures. At METCASE, we can help you to specify customized electronic enclosures that meet your exact requirements.

You can leverage our expertise and experience to create the best enclosures for housing, protecting and showcasing your electronics. Having been around for decades, we’ve provided solutions for many different types of project or application. This experience enables us to pro-actively suggest solutions that you may not yet have considered.

So get in touch – we love technical challenges: they help us to hone our experience still further.

2. UNDERSTANDING YOUR APPLICATION

The first, critical point of any project is to understand the purpose of the device – what is the application? We’ll be asking you a lot of questions about your device’s intended use, its working locations, and the ideal size of the enclosure.

And because we’ve manufactured a huge number of enclosures for a wide range of highly specialist applications, we understand the design nuances that can affect how well a housing will perform in each working environment or given set of circumstances.

Every set of electronic components needs an enclosure of some form – but our aim is to create a housing with superior ergonomics and aesthetics that underline and enhance the high value of your electronics.

View our full range of aluminum enclosures >>

3. HELPING YOU TO DETERMINE ENCLOSURE SIZE AND SPACE

Counterintuitive as it may sound, it’s important to specify the enclosure before you determine the final layout of your components. Adopting an ‘enclosure first’ strategy will help you to fit your electronics into a smaller housing – reducing your manufacturing costs.

But if you’re not dealing with enclosures on a daily basis, that can sometimes be more difficult than it sounds. Our specialists can help you to establish the best size of enclosure for your PCBs, controls and interfaces.

Ideally, your chosen enclosure needs to be as futureproof as possible. So we’ll help you to ensure that there’s sufficient space for your current equipment, and any additional components that may be added later. And besides, a standard housing with a wide choice of sizes offers uniformity of appearance should you wish to launch any larger (or smaller) devices in years to come.

4. SELECTING THE RIGHT METAL FOR YOUR ELECTRONIC ENCLOSURES

We tend to specify aluminum for all our 19” rack-mount, desktop and wall-mount enclosures because of its durability, corrosion resistance and light weight. We use two grades of aluminum – 1050 and 5251 – usually depending on the bend radius required when folding the metal.

However, we can use mild steel if more strength is required and weight is not an issue. Other materials can include Zintec and galvanized steel. Ask us about the benefits of each metal – we’d be happy to advise you.

For more information about materials, view our Complete Guide To Customized and Bespoke Metal Electronic Enclosures >>

5. ENHANCING ACCESSIBILITY TO SPEED UP MAINTENANCE

How important is ease of access to the enclosure? This is always important – especially if you need to carry out regular inspections and maintenance. Features such as removable panels and quick-release fasteners can simplify maintenance and repairs.

Ease of access is always a key consideration when we design new models. But that’s not all: sometimes a quick change of fastener type may be all it takes to make access significantly easier. On occasions, we’ve used quick-turn thumb-twist screws to help customers who needed swift access to the circuitry inside.

6. EVALUATING YOUR ENCLOSURE VENTILATION REQUIREMENTS

Depending on the heat generated by the electronic components, you may need to incorporate features such as fans, vents or heat sinks. We can easily add ventilation holes or create space for heat sinks on request. We can also add mounting apparatus for fans, usually by adding threaded studs.

7. PROVIDING THE COMPLETE CUSTOMIZATION SERVICE

With a whole host of customization capabilities, we can carry out all the enclosure modification work in-house. So you’re dealing with a single-source supplier that’s fully accountable for the whole process from start to finish. That means better quality, faster delivery and less administration. It saves you time and money – and it’s better for the environment because enclosures don’t need to be shipped between sub-contractors. All the work is done here at METCASE.

We can discuss any customization options you need, such as cutouts for connectors, switches and displays. We can also create internal brackets, and add fixings and inserts such as studs, standoffs, self-clinch nuts and cable tie mounts.

We can powder coat and wet paint in special colors, digitally print legends, logos and photo-quality graphics. We can also manufacture the enclosures in custom sizes to meet your design and functionality requirements.

In short, we provide the complete solution.

View our customization services >>

8. HELPING YOU TO GET THE BEST ENCLOSURES FOR YOUR BUDGET

Would it surprise you to learn that our most advanced, most customizable 19” rack case – COMBIMET – is also our most cost-effective? You can have our bestselling rack case at a lower price point than any of our other 19” enclosures.

There’s a very simple reason for this – smart design. COMBIMET rack cases have a flat front, rather than bezels. This reduces manufacturing costs, and we pass those savings on to you. By applying this innovative design, we can help you to specify excellent enclosures that also offer outstanding value. Put simply, we want to help you to get the very best enclosure for your budget.

View 19" rack enclosures >>

9. USING INNOVATIVE DESIGN TO SHORTEN LEAD TIMES

All METCASE standard enclosures are designed to make customisation quicker and more cost-effective. That’s because every housing needs modifications of some sort to accommodate all the various controls and interfaces. That usually means specifying a custom front panel.

This focus on making customisation easier helps us to shorten lead times. Good communication is crucial – we’re always keen to ensure that your timeline aligns with our production and delivery schedules.

New custom enclosure orders typically have a lead time of six weeks. After that, repeat orders take four weeks. More complicated projects – such as fully bespoke rather than customised housings – can take 8+ weeks,  depending on the level of design complexity.

10. PROVIDING THE RIGHT TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION

We supply precise, accurate technical drawings for approval purposes – to help you make an informed decision about your new enclosures. This ensures clarity so we both know exactly what to expect.

GET EXPERT TECHNICAL ADVICE

Need more information? Contact the METCASE team for expert advice on specifying the best standard, customized or fully bespoke 19” or desktop enclosures for your electronics.