Basic Enclosures for a Circuit

I developed three simple enclosures for a circuit that powers a red LED lightbulb. One was laser cut, one was 3D printed, and one was sewed together. This was my first project that involved using technology to create physical designs.

Supplies

1. EPLZON PCB board
2. double-end powered LED lamp
3. Jumper wires
4. CR2032 Lithium battery
5. Coin cell battery holder
6. Acrylic for laser cutting
7. cloth for sewing
8. push button

The first thing I did was solder my jumper wires, light, button, and battery to my pcb board. Now I had an LED that could turn on and off with the push of a button, and all the parts that ensured the LED's functionality were secured to the PCB board.

Before designing any drafts for my enclosures, I took measurements of each part of the circuit I thought could be of use. As I went along through the project these measurements were modified and more measurements were added.

The next thing I did was design what my laser cut enclosure would like. I used MakerCase to develop the initial renderings of the laser cut enclosure, then transferred them to Adobe Illustrator to make more specific measurements and cut details. The most difficult part was getting precise enough measurement to ensure the LED was visible and the button was accessible while being covered by the top the enclosure

Next I laser cut my first enclosure. It took 4 cuts before I actually was able to fit the circuit within the enclosure and that was completely my fault for not being precise enough with my measurements. The final cut came out how I envisioned. It's nothing complicated, just a box with a hole for the light and a hole for a small 3D printed part to press the button to turn the light on.

After I finished my laser cut enclosure I moved onto the 3D printed enclosure. Initially I thought it'd be a good idea to used a more advanced modeling software, so I tried making my initial design in Blender. However, with no prior 3D modeling experience I found Blender to be relatively complicated considering my design was so simple. I decided to opt for Tinkercad to develop my initial design instead. I wanted to make a hollow box with a lid that would allow the LED light to stick through the top, as well as a space for a 3D printed stick to be inserted in order to push the button. Tinkercad gave me all I needed to develop this design, but I still tried transferring to other softwares such as Blender and Adobe Dimension because I felt Tinkercad was for children and my ego was hurt.

Next I printed my box out. The circuit fit into the enclosure nicely on the first print, and I printed a small stick to press the button with in this step as well.

Before I sewed together my wearable portion of the project, I made a rough sketch of what I wanted to sew before I began the process.

For my third enclosure I drew out my idea. As was the case with laser cutting and 3D modeling, I had no experience with sewing either so I wanted to keep it relatively simple. Since the design had to be wearable, I thought the best place to wear the circuit would be my hand as I could easily turn the light on and off if it was placed there. I decided to make a simple wrap for my hand with a pocket attached to it to hold the button as you can see above. The main focus I had was making sure the button was accessible to my thumb so I could push the button without taking the wrap off. The functionality of the wrap turned out how I envisioned it, but the design was not visually appealing and is something I want to improve upon in future projects.