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I need opinions on improving my nice ABS enclosure.

HKPhysicist — Wed, 06 May 2026 16:54:54 GMT

Dear Engineers and Experts, [emoticon:33306c418930400bac28808410f8ac8b]

I have found a very nice enclosure to contain my air monitor and sensors.

The only drawback of it is - there is a large opening (perhaps for ethernet) which is redundant for my design.

So, could you suggest a way to cover or patch this rectangular hole (inside the blue lines) so my end-users cannot see or touch the electronics inside?

The manufacturer claims that this enclosure is made from ABS plastic.

Tooling I have - a Bosch Dremel 3000 mini drill with wheel cutters, a mini table vice. [emoticon:4191f5ee34e248a29fa0dbe8d975f74a]

RE: I need opinions on improving my nice ABS enclosure.

HKPhysicist — Thu, 07 May 2026 13:09:20 GMT

Hey,

This looks like a good choice for low volume production. Nor sure whether it is a 3D printer?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005654989723.html

RE: I need opinions on improving my nice ABS enclosure.

HKPhysicist — Thu, 07 May 2026 13:05:57 GMT

I also find a cheap option.

I have found that this rectangle is perfectly a RJ45 dimensions 16mm x 13.5mm.

So, I can actually add this cheap cheap dummy through-hole RJ45 socket to my PCB:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005570284582.html

5 items for about US$2.

Easy to work with and good looking.

Thanks for all the valuable opinions. 🙏😊

RE: I need opinions on improving my nice ABS enclosure.

beacon_dave — Wed, 06 May 2026 21:24:51 GMT

Shabaz means to use a separate PCB as a cover for the hole, not to use the main PCB to cover the hole.

Another option might be to apply tape over one side of the hole and then pour resin from the other side to fill the hole. Once set, remove the tape. You can colour the resin to match the colour of the case before pouring.

Another option might be to get some thick self-adhesive labels printed and stick them over the hole. You could make this label larger so as to cover the whole end so as to provide meaningful and neat labelling for the holes you are using and cover the ones you aren't.

RE: I need opinions on improving my nice ABS enclosure.

shabaz — Wed, 06 May 2026 20:49:09 GMT

Not sure what you mean, but I think PCB covers, keystone covers, 3D printed covers mentioned by all, are all viable options to meet the requirement to cover/patch the cutout.

RE: I need opinions on improving my nice ABS enclosure.

Fred27 — Wed, 06 May 2026 19:26:25 GMT

This looks to me like the perfect opportunity to buy more tools. If you want a 3D printer then now you need one. 😉

RE: I need opinions on improving my nice ABS enclosure.

geralds — Wed, 06 May 2026 19:00:17 GMT

Hi HKPhysicist ,

I often use openings like these as passageways for controls, buttons, switches, indicators, cable management, etc.

You can mount it as a suitable front panel, making it slightly larger all around so it doesn't slip through.

Along the edge of the front panel, you can attach a very narrow strip of sealing tape (soft adhesive tape from a hardware store) to make it moisture-proof.

On the inside of the housing, attach locknuts (glued on) so you can screw the front panel in place neatly.

This makes the opening quite functional.

If you don't have any specific functions planned, you can simply create a blank front panel and attach the nameplate to it.

Best Regards

Gerald

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RE: I need opinions on improving my nice ABS enclosure.

kmikemoo — Wed, 06 May 2026 18:36:07 GMT

Since it is low volumes, why not use a keystone jack cover? You can glue it in place - either with epoxy or even hot glue. It should fit the opening perfectly and it's readily available. You can get enough at a cheap price to play around with modifying them

Of course, as shabaz said, just gluing a blank on the backside of the opening would be the fastest, cheapest and probably most effective. It doesn't have to be a flush closure.

RE: I need opinions on improving my nice ABS enclosure.

HKPhysicist — Wed, 06 May 2026 17:20:43 GMT

Yes, it is for low volume production. I have designed 3 PCB layouts for other 3 enclosures with Kicad v10. Only this one has the extra rectangular hole.

I need the USB-C opening, switch button hole and the light hole.

The main PCB is horizontal to the enclosure bottom. According to your suggestion, how do I get a PCB which is also vertical? 😐

RE: I need opinions on improving my nice ABS enclosure.

shabaz — Wed, 06 May 2026 17:11:13 GMT

Low volume production? Design a PCB to cover all those unused holes in one go, and get it made at say 0.8 mm thickness and glue it on. You don't need any of those tools you mentioned.

Hobby use? Do the same with thin plastic sheet (e.g. a cheap plastic document wallet, doesn't matter if it's flexible) and hand-trim with scissors and glue it on.

RE: making a circuit board for IDE to USB converter

safia_fatima — Sun, 03 May 2026 11:17:31 GMT

The board I have is a PCB (I know vector board will be too busy when built from scratch and takes lot of effort. I checked the TI data sheet and its a work of art. I didn't intend to work on the micro controller, just put the parts together, if possible).

Attached is the image of the PCB and hard drive. On connecting to power source and pushing switch ON, LED glowed only once and HDD did not spin. I cleaned the extra solder and debris of the PCB with rubbing alcohol and I did the continuity test using multi meter for all PCB components. The LED started glowing and the HDD started to spin.

There is a USB Type A female connector on the PCB. The cable has USB type A male connectors on both sides, one end for the PCB USB connector and the other for laptop USB connector. The HDD does not come up in the list of disk drives on the laptop. Any other tests I can possibly do to identify the problem?

making a circuit board for IDE to USB converter

safia_fatima — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 19:47:51 GMT

I am trying to make an external hard drive casing for an IDE HDD. The hard drive should connect to the laptop using a USB cable. The power comes from a molex connector in the IDE drive which is interfaced with a serial port for the power supply adapter. I need the schematic for this and step by step process on how to build it on a perf board, for example. I have an existing converter but it seems to have a short circuit and I cannot trace the problem. The market has a number of converters, but I would prefer to build one to learn how the circuit works. Please kindly guide me on the best way to connect the hard disk.

RE: making a circuit board for IDE to USB converter

vmate — Sat, 02 May 2026 15:15:02 GMT

Well, if you tried, you probably could do it, but routing 20 signals for a parallel bus at 66MHz on a perfboard is the type of thing you do because you want to challenge yourself, not because you need it to work.

My point was just that this is not the sort of project you want to get started with, to get into electronics. I wouldn't attempt this myself, because it's pure pain and suffering, with zero upsides.

RE: making a circuit board for IDE to USB converter

safia_fatima — Sat, 02 May 2026 15:14:49 GMT

Thank you for your reply.

RE: making a circuit board for IDE to USB converter

phoenixcomm — Fri, 01 May 2026 22:55:57 GMT

I thought I was the harsh one.. you have now been elected to the team..

but 20+ signals aren't that bad you could use a Vector board with a 22/44 connector on it. I have played with a lot more wire than that.. I like you buy dont build it suggestion. power is trivial a small PC power supply.. or one 12v wall rat and peel of the 5 with a 3 lead Regulator. Tah Dah.

enjoy ~~ Cris H.

RE: making a circuit board for IDE to USB converter

safia_fatima — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 17:36:16 GMT

Thank you for the link.

RE: making a circuit board for IDE to USB converter

geralds — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 21:06:32 GMT

try this: USB-IDE converter at amazon

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=usb+ide+converter&__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&crid=OOHXRMUCXGZK&sprefix=usb+ide+converter%2Caps%2C221&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

RE: making a circuit board for IDE to USB converter

safia_fatima — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 20:52:33 GMT

I will check the documentation. Thank you very much for your reply.

I understand, the technology is obsolete. It is a 3.5 inch hard drive with IDE interface and 4 pin power connector that originally connected to the old motherboard of a PC. I need to now interface the IDE to USB so that I can connect it to a laptop and recover the data. I was trying to figure out if it is possible to trace the short circuit with the existing board of the external hard drive casing I have.

RE: making a circuit board for IDE to USB converter

vmate — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 20:03:40 GMT

You won't be able to make this on a perfboard, there's simply no way to properly route 20+ signals. The bare minimum you'd need is a 2 layer PCB, but 4 would almost certainly be preferred. This is not a good project to learn at all, you will spend a lot of money and never get it working, or end up frustrated.

Some ICs which have good documentation are the TI TUSB6250 and CY7C68300B. However, they are both obsolete, so obtaining them will be a challenge. Still, you should look at the datasheets, to see what you're up against.

Also, I don't quite understand your power supply setup and serial ports part. You'll need an external 12V power supply to power the drive, and ideally create 5V from that as well, instead of trying to draw 1-2A from USB.

RE: TDK lambda DC-DC converter I6A4W010A033V-001-R

phoenixcomm — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 03:50:15 GMT

JWx Me think you let the Magic Smoke out of the Chips!!!

TDK lambda DC-DC converter I6A4W010A033V-001-R

shabaz_atai — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 10:21:18 GMT

Hi all,

We have bought I6A4W010A033V-001-R to power a Intel optiplex CPU that require a 20V and 6A power.

We have succeded to tune the outupt voltage to 20V from a 24V input using a potentiometer over the trim pin Vout -ve pin.

Later we tried to power the CPU from this converter which we haven't succeeded. The device itself is not booting up. The power led over the start button is glowing in amber which should be white if it has proper power input.

Unfartunately we have only moduel for testing purpose.

What could go wrong? Do we need any extra cicuitry to make this work? Does the amp rating of the potentiometer used between the trim pin and ground also also matters for the amp capacity of the module?

We have tried with different capcitors in both output and input. The power adapter of the CPU has the sense line also aprat from the DC +ve and -ve. We even tried connecting that to the sense pin of the DC-DC converter. Nothing helped us.

RE: TDK lambda DC-DC converter I6A4W010A033V-001-R

JWx — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 13:04:47 GMT

here https://github.com/KivApple/dell-charger-emulator somebody is building Dell PSU ID emulator using Attiny85 MCU

RE: TDK lambda DC-DC converter I6A4W010A033V-001-R

JWx — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 13:00:31 GMT

if this is a notebook-style adapter, then Dell is using some sort of signaling on third contact, which - if damaged - is causing "PSU not identified" errors, causing notebooks to run in power-saving mode (and not charging the battery for example).

Here is some information - https://superuser.com/questions/1324643/how-to-bypass-dell-charger-detection#1757185

Maybe ID chip could be substituted/retrieved from Dell PSU and connected to the third contact of the connector?

RE: TDK lambda DC-DC converter I6A4W010A033V-001-R

shabaz_atai — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 12:44:56 GMT

My bad the model is Optiplex 3050 micro. It is given with the 19.5V and 3.34A AC-DC adapter. We are not directly dealing with the power supply going to the motherboard. After these experiments its working as fine with its own adpater and the buck coverter setup I mentinoed earlier.

So, Please provide the more information or guidelines to make use of the TDK-Lambda converter. That would be really helpful.

RE: TDK lambda DC-DC converter I6A4W010A033V-001-R

JWx — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 11:48:01 GMT

and it seems that Optiplex 3050 needs 12V not 20V so it may be damaged already if it was connected to 20V PSU