Laboratory equipment enclosures
Medical Enclosures for Laboratory Equipment
Housings for analyzers, diagnostic instruments and bench devices that have to look finished on the first prototype and stay unchanged through certification. Toolless has built medical device enclosures without molds since 1994, in an ISO 9001:2015 facility in Everett, Washington.
Lab and clinical devices
Medical enclosures for laboratory equipment, without the mold.
A laboratory device changes through development. A sensor moves after usability testing, the regulatory team asks for a different vent, a larger display arrives from the supplier. With a mold, each change is a tool revision. With Toolless, each change is a program edit, and the next unit ships in days. Plastic housings for medical instruments have been our core work since 1994.
The devices we have housed include sleep diagnostic equipment, dry-eye treatment systems, respiratory devices, breathing simulators, CPAP ventilators and surgical room hardware. Our customers range from mechanical engineers at device companies to doctors and lab technicians who need a pump, a circuit board and a sensor housed well enough to test an invention.
What a lab housing needs
Cleanable, cosmetic and quiet on the emissions bench.
Medical electronic device housings carry requirements a project box never sees. These are the ways the sheet process meets them.
Joint lines placed for cleaning
Every Toolless housing has bonded seams, and we do not hide them. We control where they fall so wipe-down surfaces stay smooth and the seam becomes a deliberate cosmetic line, with a 0.5 mm chamfer that reads as a design feature.
Flame-rated sheet
Royalite flame-retardant ABS and Boltaron 4335, both UL94 V-0, are stocked in Everett. General-purpose ABS (UL94 HB) covers 80% of production, and polycarbonate TUFFAK or acrylic OPTIX serve as transparent windows. See materials.
EMI and RFI shielding
A conductive coating applied inside the housing shields measurement electronics and helps the device through emissions testing. Conductivity is checked before the housing continues down the line.
Curves in one direction
Our rolling process forms compound surfaces in one direction, so a benchtop analyzer gets the soft front edge clinicians expect without a cavity mold.
Windows and light pipes
Acrylic windows are solvent bonded into a rear recess, flush or chamfered. Light pipes bring status LEDs to the surface, and a bezel carries a polycarbonate window where a flame-rated pane is required.
Legends printed on the part
Controls, warnings and branding are UV printed directly on the sheet in full color, with white ink and raised TEXTUR3D prints available. Two-tone panels come from pre-colored sheet, so color never chips.
Through certification
The prototype you certify is the unit you ship.
A Toolless prototype is cut from the same sheet, on the same program, as the production run. A 3D model in SolidWorks goes to you for signed approval before any sheet is cut, and the design belongs to you. When the prototype comes back and a cutout has to move, the change is made in the program. Simple changes are incorporated on the fly, in some cases during a production run.
Enclosures for medical electronics tend to ship in the hundreds, then change, then ship again. We regularly produce 500 units, revise the design, build 500 more and revise again before a customer ever considers tooling. Every lot is inspected under the ISO 9001:2015 quality system, and repeatability comes from the CNC program rather than a steel tool that wears.
Our ISO 9001:2015 certification
Proven under pressure
500 ventilator housings in two weeks.
In 2020 Toolless produced 500 housings for Ford's COVID-19 ventilator program in two weeks, from a standing start, using the same process that builds a first article of one. Read the story of the ventilator program or the amplifier medical enclosure case study.
Engineering guides
Further reading on medical device housings.
Articles from our engineering blog on designing and specifying enclosures for medical research and clinical electronics.
Questions we get asked
Laboratory enclosure FAQ.
Answers from the engineers who quote these jobs. For anything not covered, contact us or read the full FAQ.
Can you hide the joint lines on a medical housing?
Not without causing bigger problems, so we do not. We use the joint lines as an aesthetic feature and control where they fall to keep the best look and optimize cleanability. Our staff industrial designer turns them to your advantage.
Which materials are stocked for medical and lab devices?
General-purpose ABS (UL94 HB) in white, black, light grey and dark grey; Royalite flame-retardant ABS (UL94 V-0); Boltaron 4335 (UL94 V-0); polycarbonate TUFFAK; PETG; and acrylic OPTIX. Custom colors need a minimum of around 2,000 lb of material.
Is this an interim process before injection molding?
It can be, and it is especially appropriate when the design is not yet stable and you need customer feedback through several iterations. We regularly produce 500 units, make changes and build 500 more before a customer releases tooling.
What does the engineering package include?
A complete set of 3D models in SolidWorks, delivered in prt, igs, stp, stl or sldprt for your approval before the prototype is made. One engineer acts as project manager for your job from quote to production release.
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