PCB enclosures
Custom PCB Enclosures
A housing sized from your circuit board outward, with every connector opening, standoff and vent placed by CNC from your CAD file. Custom PCB enclosures made without molds, from one prototype to 10,000 production units.
Board first, box second
A custom PCB enclosure starts with the board outline.
A custom PCB enclosure is built to the exact footprint of a specific circuit board: its mounting holes, its connector edge, the height of its tallest component and the position of every LED and switch the user needs to reach. Toolless designs the housing in SolidWorks around your board model, then machines each panel flat from pre-colored plastic sheet so the openings land where the board says they should.
The result is a pcb enclosure that fits on the first try. There is no mold to cut, so the board can grow a connector or move a mounting hole between runs and the enclosure follows with a program edit. We have built custom plastic enclosures for electronics this way since 1998.
What goes into the design
Three decisions that make or break a board housing.
Mounting, openings and finish. Each one is a CNC or secondary operation in our process, which means each one is adjustable without new tooling.
How the board mounts
Bosses with heat-staked brass inserts for screws, machined recesses that locate standoffs, or internal slots that let the board slide in with no fasteners at all. The mounting pattern is machined into the panel, so it matches your hole file exactly.
Where the openings go
USB, Ethernet, power jacks, antenna bulkheads, terminal blocks, vent slots, light pipes for status LEDs and windows for displays. Cutouts are milled from the flat sheet before bending, so a connector opening sits on the edge of the board with no offset guesswork.
What the user sees
Port labels, logos and safety text applied by UV digital printing or engraving. EMI/RFI conductive coating on the inside for sensitive boards. Two-tone panels, painting and acrylic windows are available as secondary operations.
Three routes to a PCB box
Off-the-shelf, pre-designed or fully custom.
A stock project box forces the board to fit the box. Our pre-designed C Box and U Box keep a proven two-piece or four-piece construction and resize it around your board. A fully custom enclosure removes every constraint except the ones physics imposes.
This comparison is how we walk customers through the choice on the first call.
Pre-designed enclosuresSpecifications
What we build pcb plastic enclosures from.
Eighty percent of our production runs in general-purpose ABS. The rest is chosen for flame rating, clarity or chemical resistance.
- Materials
- General-purpose ABS (UL94 HB), flame-retardant ABS (UL94 V-0), Boltaron 4335, polycarbonate, PETG, acrylic
- Sheet thickness
- 2 mm to about 12 mm; 3 mm and 4 mm are typical for board housings
- Stock colors
- White, black, light grey, dark grey ABS; custom colors with a minimum material purchase
- Board mounting
- Brass inserts in bosses, standoff recesses, internal slots, magnets for service doors
- Input files
- STEP, IGES, SAT, SolidWorks, STL, DXF; a board photo and dimensions also work
- Deliverables
- 3D model in prt, igs, stp, stl or sldprt for fit checks before cutting
- Quantities
- 1 to 10,000 units; ideal from 100 to 10,000; blanket orders of 10 to 10,000
- Lead time
- Prototype in 3 to 21 working days; volume runs three weeks after PO
Why sheet beats a mold for boards
Boards change. The enclosure has to keep up.
A board revision that adds a second USB port is a routine event in electronics. With an injection-molded housing that revision means mold rework. In the Toolless process the panel is re-cut from the updated CNC program and the next batch ships with the new opening. Customers on our blanket order program make changes like this between releases without touching the price of the parts.
Strength is not the trade-off it appears to be. Panels are joined with a modified tongue-and-groove joint and solvent-bonded, and the finished box passes the drop tests our customers run on molded parts. Where a board is heavy or the unit is handheld, we go up a sheet thickness or add corner doublers.
- Read how Toolless compares with injection molding and 3D printing
- See the functional features we machine into panels
- Browse finished electronics enclosures in the portfolio
Related
Other pages for board housings.
Electronic enclosures
The full range of housings for boards, displays and power supplies.
Learn moreRaspberry Pi cases
Custom cases for Pi 1 through 5, Zero, BeagleBone, Arduino and other single-board computers.
Learn moreABS enclosures
General-purpose and flame-retardant ABS grades for board housings.
Learn moreBlog: custom enclosures for your electronics
How a board housing project runs from first file to shipped units.
Read articleWhat do you need from me to quote a PCB enclosure?
A STEP, IGES, SAT, SolidWorks, STL or DXF file of the board is the fastest route. If the board is still in layout, send the outline dimensions, connector positions, tallest component height and the quantity you expect. We reply with a quote and, once the order is placed, a 3D model of the enclosure to check the fit before anything is cut.
How is the circuit board held inside the enclosure?
Three ways, chosen for your assembly method: bosses with heat-staked brass inserts for machine screws, machined recesses that locate standoffs, or internal slots that hold the board edge without fasteners. Magnets are an option for a service door that needs to open without tools.
Can the enclosure be EMI shielded?
Yes. An EMI/RFI conductive coating is applied to the inside of the panels as a secondary operation after bonding. Tell us during design so the coating area and any grounding contact are planned in.
What quantity makes sense for a custom PCB enclosure?
The process is ideal between 100 and 10,000 units. One or two units are possible with a setup charge, which is how most prototypes begin. Repeat volumes are handled through blanket orders of 10 to 10,000 units with a three-week lead time after each release.
From the portfolio
PCB and electronics enclosures we have built.
Why engineers choose Toolless
Trusted for enclosures since 1998.
Startups, OEMs and medical device makers across the USA, Canada and Australia come back for the next run. Read more testimonials.
- Years without molds
- 25+
- Certified quality system
- ISO 9001
- Units per order
- 1–10,000
- Sq ft in Everett, WA
- 13,000
“We initially considered injection molding, but with our volume the cost of tooling would never be recovered. It took only a week to settle on a design and get a prototype, and we were in production a week later.”
“I spent 9 years as a quality engineer at Rockwell and tend to be a perfectionist. Your professionalism and diligence in helping evolve our cover is greatly appreciated.”
“After a number of orders, Toolless have become our preferred supplier. Even though we are located in Australia, all deliveries have been fast and hassle free.”
Start your enclosure
Send the board. We’ll send the box.
Quotes come from an engineer, not a form robot. Attach CAD, photos or a sketch and we reply within one business day.