Hi,
Wasn't really sure where to put this, guess it losely falls under 'electronics chat'.
I am currently constructing a device (box on a jig) that will be in a very 'rugged' enviroment. ie: people will be smashing it against everything, and generally being quite abusive with it. It's a die cast aluminium enclosure, 1.8mm thickness, with a heavy duty switch and metal LED bezel.....we're winning so far. There are 3 cables that exit this box. 3mm diameter (awful things, but I can't change them).
My problem is that I can find plenty of glands and grommets that require a 'hole' to mount them, but...the 'end user' wishes to easily replace the cables should they break/wear/strech/snap. At one end, they have a moulded proprietary connector, then they go into the box, to a 4-way crimp connector...box connectors are significantly larger than the cable diameter. What I would like is a rubber grommet (or strain relief type thing) that has a square mounting.
By this I mean, instead of having to 'thread' the cable through a hole (and then fitting the crimp housing on the end), the end user could simply take off the lid of the box, and slide in another grommet-equipped cable...into a 'slot' cut out of the top edge of the side of the box. The lid would then hold this in place once screwed down. So, the replacement cables, would come with the grommet already on them, meaning the end user simply slots it in, then plugs in one end to the PCB (inside the box) and them other end into its app.
The ONLY example of this I have seen is on PSU enclosures, such as these:
**broken link removed**
Both the grommets shown in the above link (at the bottom of the page) are the sort of thing I require. I sincerely hope someone knows what I mean here, its surprisingly hard to explain.
Cheers,
Blueteeth
Wasn't really sure where to put this, guess it losely falls under 'electronics chat'.
I am currently constructing a device (box on a jig) that will be in a very 'rugged' enviroment. ie: people will be smashing it against everything, and generally being quite abusive with it. It's a die cast aluminium enclosure, 1.8mm thickness, with a heavy duty switch and metal LED bezel.....we're winning so far. There are 3 cables that exit this box. 3mm diameter (awful things, but I can't change them).
My problem is that I can find plenty of glands and grommets that require a 'hole' to mount them, but...the 'end user' wishes to easily replace the cables should they break/wear/strech/snap. At one end, they have a moulded proprietary connector, then they go into the box, to a 4-way crimp connector...box connectors are significantly larger than the cable diameter. What I would like is a rubber grommet (or strain relief type thing) that has a square mounting.
By this I mean, instead of having to 'thread' the cable through a hole (and then fitting the crimp housing on the end), the end user could simply take off the lid of the box, and slide in another grommet-equipped cable...into a 'slot' cut out of the top edge of the side of the box. The lid would then hold this in place once screwed down. So, the replacement cables, would come with the grommet already on them, meaning the end user simply slots it in, then plugs in one end to the PCB (inside the box) and them other end into its app.
The ONLY example of this I have seen is on PSU enclosures, such as these:
**broken link removed**
Both the grommets shown in the above link (at the bottom of the page) are the sort of thing I require. I sincerely hope someone knows what I mean here, its surprisingly hard to explain.
Cheers,
Blueteeth
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