Electronics
5 min read
Board first, box second
Why we start an enclosure from the circuit board, its connectors and its antenna, and only then draw the plastic around it.
Author
Aiko Tanaka
Role
Electronics integration
Published
Reading
5 min read
The board sets the rules
It is tempting to design a beautiful shell and ask the electronics to fit inside. It almost never works. Connectors need to reach the wall, heat needs a path out, antennas need clear space and the board needs to be held without stress.
So we start from the board outline and its keep-out zones, agree them with the electronics team, and freeze them before the industrial design goes too far.
Four things we agree on early
Mounting holes, boss heights and screw sizes
Connector positions and how far they protrude
The thermal path: pads, vents or a metal plate
Antenna keep-out, with no metal or ground pour nearby
One shared model
Mechanical and electronic CAD live in different tools, but they meet in one assembly. We exchange board outlines and component heights every time either side changes, and run an interference check before each review. It takes minutes and saves weeks.
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Draft angles are a conversation with the mould
Why one and a half degrees decides whether a part releases cleanly, and how we choose draft before the first sketch is dimensioned.
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Reading a tolerance stack before it reads you
Four parts, four reasonable tolerances and one gap that can close completely. A worked example of worst-case and statistical stack-ups.
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Designing an IP67 gasket path that survives assembly
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