SIMCO Disclosures

We discuss all things to do with plastic enclsoures and thier applications in the electronics industry.

Custom Plastic Enclosures – What Customization Options Are Available?

March 4th, 2014

With the development of custom plastic enclosures and their popularization as an option, packaging electronics and other items and protecting them adequately has been taken to a whole new level. If you own a company that needs enclosures with certain specifications and dimensions to fit its products perfectly, there is a high chance that you may not find readymade ones with the exact specifications you require. However, with the customization options available, your enclosures can be produced in such a way that they satisfy all your demands.

Plastic enclosures keep the environment safe

February 22nd, 2014

The plastic enclosures are produced for sheltering medical, mechanical and electronic equipment. The custom made molding is designed to give maximum protection of the equipment that is inside whilst at the same time it offers high-quality packaging.

(photo credit: ada fruit – http://www.flickr.com/photos/adafruit/10827795576/)

There are many companies on the market nowadays that claim to produce the best housing for your products. However, in order to find out the best one out of them you will need to make sure that the producer is following all regulations and directives of the European Union and produces plastic enclosures not only safe for the customers but also for the environment.

The European Union wants to make sure that the plastic that is produced is made from approved materials that are not going to harm nature. That is why there are different regulations that every respected manufacturer of custom plastic enclosures needs to follow. One of them is the use of the ABS plastic.

ABS plastic is very resistant thermoplastic and it reaches its glass transition at 105 degrees. The different compounds like nitrile, styrene and butadiene make the plastic stronger than polystyrene, shiny and give it a rubbery surface that can provide extreme resistance even at very low temperatures. These good qualities of the ABS make it the preferred material used for custom plastic enclosures because even in the event of leakage of batteries or any other dangerous acids that are in the products that are being housed, the plastic is not going to leak thus keeping the people and environment save. As we know, there is nothing worse than a torch with old batteries that have leaked all over your clothes.

ABS is also resistant to different acids and alkalis, mineral and vegetable oils. Although the main use of the ABS plastic is in the mechanical sphere, it is also used with electronics because of its good electrical properties which are very constant and resist a range of different frequencies. The properties of the ABS can hardly be affected by atmospheric humidity or high temperature (here we mean the acceptable range of the temperatures). The ABS plastic is widely used for custom plastic enclosures because it is safe and durable. It will melt in case it is exposed to extreme temperatures like wood fire. However, the good thing about it is that it is biodegradable and will cause no harm to nature. This plastic can be placed in the recycle bins although in some places that might not be possible so you have to check with your local council.

If you have a company that is producing electronics and you want to custom make the housing for them then you need to find a company that works with ABS and can prove it. This will guarantee you a safe and stylish product that will cause no harm to the environment or people and can be recycled in most places. Move along with the eco trends of today and become the preferred supplier for your customers because you use quality custom plastic enclosures.

ABS plastic – what is and what is it used for?

February 17th, 2014

ABS Plastic Pellets

What is ABS Plastic?

ABS plastic is a thermoplastic whose name in its entirety is acrylonitrile butadiene styrene. Acrylonitrile is an important compound that is used to create polyacrylonitrile, a plastic that is used to make tents and sails for boats. When its fibers were spun it became one of our first acrylics. Dupont used some of the copolymers to create the fabric called Orlon.

Butadiene is a monomer that results in synthetic rubber. While butadiene alone is so soft it is almost a liquid, when it is combined with other materials, such as styrene or acrylonitrile it becomes more durable and almost elastic in consistency.

And last but not least, styrene, which is an oily liquid that had its origins as the resin that came from trees in Turkey. Although small amounts of styrene can be found in many plants and foods, like cinnamon, it was the Oriental sweetgum trees where it had its beginnings.

What is ABS plastic used for?

While each of the components of ABS plastic add their own level of importance, together they create a product that is flexible and light in weight that can be molded into many items that we use in our everyday lives and a few items that may surprise you.

At Simco ABS is used in the creation of our molded plastics. It is a material that is easy to work with while providing a final product that maintains its shape and is resilient in nature. In addition to molded plastics ABS is used in drain pipe systems and plastic clarinets. It plays a part in piano movements and bumper cars that you see at the county fair. Because of its durability it’s perfect for luggage and many common appliances that you will find in your kitchen.

Next time your child plays with their Lego set you will see one of the more fun (and popular) applications of ABS plastic. When ABS plastic is ground to less than a micrometer it is able to be used as a colorant for some of the inks used in tattoos. If you see someone that has a very vibrant tattoo, it is probably from the inclusion of ABS in its melted state.

Was ABS the culprit?

While the properties of ABS plastic make it one of the most vital substances on the market today, there is one area where it failed miserably. ABS does not fare well in sunlight. Its application in the latches and mechanisms of the seatbelts that were installed in vehicles in 1999 may have caused the most widespread and expensive recall on record in the U.S.

The injected ABS went through the process of photo-oxidative degradation which caused the plastic to become compromised. It was said that the exposure to sunlight caused the mechanisms to fail. But interestingly enough, the debate began that the engineers didn’t make the mechanisms strong enough to withstand the constant opening and closing of the latch. The final results remain inconclusive.

There are so many plastic products that have to endure sunlight and exposure to the elements on a daily basis. For that reason UV absorbers and light stabilizers are added to ABS products to make sure that they provide the durability we have come to know and rely on from this fine line of plastics.

Plastic – the history you might want to know

January 28th, 2014

Plastic, where would we be without it? It has become so much a part of our everyday lives that it’s similar to how we react when our electricity goes out – we keep hitting the switch waiting for the lights to come on. If you think you could live a day without plastic, take a good look around and think about how many things that are made of plastic are a part of our everyday life.

We get up in the morning, make our coffee from a coffeemaker that is shaped out of plastic, brush our teeth with a plastic toothbrush and take a swig of orange juice from a plastic container – and we haven’t even left the house yet.

One piece belt clip – developed at SIMCO

October 14th, 2013

The new One Piece Belt Clip that was developed recently by SIMCO is winning accolades from customers and design engineers worldwide.

The cleverly designed One Piece Belt Clip is the ultimate in simplicity. Unlike other belt clips that usually require drilling or punching holes in the enclosure and assembly of several small components the new SIMCO Belt Clip requires minimum installation. No drilling, no rivets or extra screws are needed, and no complicated assembly instructions. The one-piece belt clip has molded-in screw posts for positioning neatly within the existing case screw bosses. Assembly is completed utilizing the same Plastite® fasteners that are used to secure the case.

The design of the new product is such that it provides the lowest possible profile and maximum curve for spring retention. The clips are molded of high-impact ABS and have a lightly textured finish and rounded edges. The end result is a Belt Clip that is durable and aesthetically pleasing.

The part number for the new Belt Clip is BCl. In addition to the ENDEAVOR enclosures that are mentioned on page one the BCl Belt Clips will fit these four SATURN enclosures: 100X23, 100X25, 160X23, and 160X25.

PC BOARD MOUNTING BOSSES

October 13th, 2013

A frequent problem that design engineers face when trying to fit a product into an off-the-shelf enclosure is the placement of PC board bosses. They never seem to be in the right place to secure the circuit board, or else they are in the way of other components.

Knowing this to be an ongoing concern, SIMCO has developed several solutions for these problems.

The PMB125 is a universal mounting boss that is designed to bond securely within an enclosure with MEK or other bonding agent. These bosses can be located wherever needed for board placement. The board is held in place with easy to use push on fasteners or removable spring clips.

Some SIMCO enclosures can be molded with or without PC board mounting bosses. The DISCOVERY Series is a good example. These handheld cases have provisions for board placement between the screw bosses, leaving open space within the units for more circuitry. However, if additional mounting boss provisions are required the cases can be ordered with molded in PC board bosses.

For those SIMCO enclosures that do not have the option to be molded without PC board bosses, such as the CHALLENGER Series, SIMCO can remove any bosses that are in the way.

Whatever your assembly requirements might be, why not let SIMCO assist you? Sometimes all it requires is a simple tooling modification. Contact SIMCO’s Engineering Department for more information.

PC BOARD SCREWS

Once the PC board mounting boss and board placements are determined, a means to secure board to boss is required. Again, SIMCO offers a ready solution; a special thread forming Plastite® screw designed especially for thermoplastics.

The Plastite® PC board screws feature a steep helix angle that seats the screw in half as many revolutions, to reduce assembly time. The narrow threads and steep angle penetrate deeper into the plastic reducing stripping or pulling out The TriRoundular design minimizes radial stress and the boss failures that stress can cause.

The Plastite® screws are used to assemble all SIMCO enclosures. They eliminate the need for metal inserts and are cost effective. The Phillips head zinc screws have a baked clear chromate finish to prevent rusting.

Order number for the PC board screws is S14. The #4x .250 screws are packaged in bags of 100. To order contact SIMCO’s sales department.

Send today for a copy of the SIMCO Product Selection Guide describing the many SIMCO enclosures and accessories that are available from stock. Samples are available on request.

Did you know that about plastic?

October 13th, 2013

Did you know this about plastics?

The production of paper bags requires more energy and oil (in addition to trees) than the production of plastic bags and also produces greater pollutants.
Plastic grocery sacks require 1/4th the storage space of paper, both at the grocery and in the land fill.
Plastics packaging has helped reduce food spoilage in the industrialized world to around 2%. Developing countries have a spoilage rate of between 30 to 50% .
The manufacture of all plastics only uses about 2% of the crude oil and natural gas consumed annually in the U.S .
Plastics in the average motorist’s car cuts fuel consumption by nearly 5% and contributes to improved safety performance .
Plastics neither rot nor rust, and applications continue to increase. Witness the increased use of plastic lumber .
Best of all, plastics can be recycled.

What these companies have in common?

October 7th, 2013

AT&T
General Electric
Florida State University
lvac Corporation
Martin Marietta
Nielsen Media Research
Scientific Atlanta
Texas Instruments
Wang Laboratories

All companies have all specified SIMCO enclosures for prototyping and/or production. More and more companies are doing the same. Find out for yourself why. Send for your full-line catalog today, and next time
“dress it with a SIMCO housing.”

SIMCO Offers Pad Printing for All Plastic Enclosures

June 11th, 2013

SIMCO offers a pad printing process that will transfer two-dimensional images to any SIMCO plastic enclosure. Pad Printing allows SIMCO’s customers to display names, addresses, phone numbers, operating instructions, warnings, etc. on their products. The advantage of pad printing is that it allows printing on irregular surfaces that other forms of printing can’t manage.

SIMCO requires good clean artwork on a 1:1 scale in PDF, vector or jpeg format. The artwork is photographed and an etched plate is developed. The plate itself does not come into contact with the enclosures. The plate is placed in the ink well and the image is transferred to the plastic by means of a transfer pad. The transfer pad is constructed of silicone rubber that allows the pickup and release process to occur. Because the transfer pad is soft and flexible, it can conform to the surface of the object that is being printed.

SIMCO offers single color printing for simple jobs and multi-color pad printing when a more decorative solution is required.

“Expanding the options we offer our enclosure customers is part of our over-all growth strategy, according to SIMCO Vice-President and Production Manager Mike Early.

SIMCO has been a leading manufacturer of high quality standard and custom injection molded enclosures since 1982.

Its products include utility boxes, pocket-sized boxes, handheld cases and desktop housings. All SIMCO’s molded products are made of UL® approved materials.

IP Ratings and Plastic Enclosures

October 1st, 2012

IP stands for Ingress Protection, and IP ratings specify the degree of protection of enclosures against ingress of objects, dirt or water. The same protection against objects getting into an enclosure also implies a degree of protection against potential hazards within that enclosure; at the lower levels, the ratings indicate whether fingers or tools can enter.

What kind of an IP rating should you look for? That depends on the environment your enclosure will be used in. An enclosure with low IP rating might work fine in an office, but in a dusty factory the electronics could quickly fail. More rugged enclosures are usually more expensive, though, so it makes sense to get enclosures that fit the environment. If a device is not going to be submerged in water, 100% waterproofing is an unnecessary expense.

IP Ratings are written with the letters “IP” followed by two numbers, e.g. IP65, where the numbers define the degree of protection. The first number refers to the amount of protection against solids, and the second number refers to the amount of protection against water.

The first digit in the rating is the protection against contact and foreign bodies. The second digit in the rating is the water protection factor. Sometimes a third number is added, which refers to protection against impact.

SIMCO’s enclosures have an IP rating of IP65. This means that they have complete protection against dust and protection against low-pressure water jets.

For your reference, the full ratings are below:

Solid particle protection

The first digit indicates the level of protection that the enclosure provides against access to hazardous parts (e.g., electrical conductors, moving parts) and the ingress of solid foreign objects.

Level	Object size protected against	Effective against
0	—	No protection against contact and ingress of objects
1	>50 mm	Any large surface of the body, such as the back of a hand, but no protection against deliberate contact with a body part
2	>12.5 mm	Fingers or similar objects
3	>2.5 mm	Tools, thick wires, etc.
4	>1 mm	Most wires, screws, etc.
5	Dust protected	Ingress of dust is not entirely prevented, but it must not enter in sufficient quantity to interfere with the satisfactory operation of the equipment; complete protection against contact
6	Dust tight	No ingress of dust; complete protection against contact

Liquid ingress protection

Protection of the equipment inside the enclosure against harmful ingress of water.

Level	Protected against	Testing for	Details
0	Not protected	—	—
1	Dripping water	Dripping water (vertically falling drops) shall have no harmful effect.	Test duration: 10 minutesWater equivalent to 1mm rainfall per minute
2	Dripping water when tilted up to 15°	Vertically dripping water shall have no harmful effect when the enclosure is tilted at an angle up to 15° from its normal position.	Test duration: 10 minutesWater equivalent to 3mm rainfall per minute
3	Spraying water	Water falling as a spray at any angle up to 60° from the vertical shall have no harmful effect.	Test duration: 5 minutesWater volume: 0.7 litres per minutePressure: 80–100 kPa
4	Splashing water	Water splashing against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effect.	Test duration: 5 minutesWater volume: 10 litres per minutePressure: 80–100 kPa
5	Water jets	Water projected by a nozzle (6.3mm) against enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effects.	Test duration: at least 3 minutesWater volume: 12.5 litres per minutePressure: 30 kPa at distance of 3m
6	Powerful water jets	Water projected in powerful jets (12.5mm nozzle) against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effects.	Test duration: at least 3 minutesWater volume: 100 litres per minutePressure: 100 kPa at distance of 3m
7	Immersion up to 1 m	Ingress of water in harmful quantity shall not be possible when the enclosure is immersed in water under defined conditions of pressure and time (up to 1 m of submersion).	Test duration: 30 minutesImmersion at depth of 1m
8	Immersion beyond 1 m	The equipment is suitable for continuous immersion in water under conditions which shall be specified by the manufacturer. Normally, this will mean that the equipment is hermetically sealed. However, with certain types of equipment, it can mean that water can enter but only in such a manner that it produces no harmful effects.	Test duration: continuous immersion in waterDepth specified by manufacturer