SIMCO Disclosures

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

Machining and Printing Services for Custom Enclosures

June 27th, 2012

Standard Injection Molding Company takes their enclosures to the next level; they do custom machining and printing to precision specifications, all in-house. Other customization options are also available.

SIMCO combines machining services with design expertise. Customers can send in a sample circuit board, and SIMCO will fit the enclosure to the functions needed. If the customer already has a design, they can send in a drawing in most formats, including dwg, dxf, iges, pdf, jpg, bmp and vector.

SIMCO uses a Fryer VB-40 Vertical Machining Center to achieve tolerances as tight as 0.005″. Their plastic enclosures and panels are easily machined or drilled to create openings for switches, connectors, displays, etc. The typical lead-time is just four weeks.

SIMCO can also pad print logos and labels on their enclosures. They have a wide variety of ink colors available. For custom printing, artwork should be sent in pdf, jpg, bmp or Photoshop format. The artwork should be in a 1:1 format. The drawing should indicate position of the art on the case. The better the quality of the file the better end product the customer will receive.

Some SIMCO plastic enclosures can be custom molded using our patented “insert” technique to mold openings and assembly requirements where needed. A special low cost mold can be constructed to your specifications for inexpensive custom end panels.

SIMCO’s custom enclosures have been used for a variety of applications, including weather radios, oscilloscopes, USB devices and telephone switches. Almost any electronic device can be housed in a SIMCO enclosure.

The UL standards and SIMCO enclosures

March 30th, 2012

When you order enclosures from simcobox.com, you are given a choice of UL or non-UL materials.  What does that mean?  In fact, all SIMCO enclosures are made of materials that meet flammability standards released by Underwriters Laboratories of the USA, but the ones that are labeled UL and have a prefix of UL before the part number are tested to a stricter standard.

UL 94 is the Standard for Safety of Flammability of Plastic Materials for Parts in Devices and Appliances.  In the test, a sample is held in either a vertical or horizontal position depending on which specification must be met.  A flame is applied for a specific amount of time, and the time that it takes for the flame to extinguish itself is measured.

SIMCO’s UL rated materials are tested to the 94V0 specification for flame resistance.  This means that after a flame is applied, burning stops within 10 seconds on a vertical specimen.  The specification also requires that no flaming drips be produced that ignite a cotton indicator placed below the test sample.  In the test, the flame is applied twice.

Standard enclosure materials are tested to 94HB. HB stands for Horizontal Burn.  To meet this standard, a sample less than 3mm thick must burn at a rate less than 76 mm per minute.

SIMCO uses POLYLAC® PA-765
CHI MEI CORPORATION – Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS plastic) for UL rated boxes. A data sheet can be downloaded at http://simcobox.com/Spec-Sheets.html

Using UL94V0 rated material ensures greater resistance to flame when exposed to high temperatures and sparks that can be produced in some electrical and electronics applications.

For more information, contact Mike Early at 1-863-452-9090 or visit the SIMCO website at http://www.simcobox.com

SIMCO Disclosures

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