Batboard

Any great ideas on what to use for a case to put the RIB in? I know there is a guy that sells them for about 25 bucks, but I've spent enough building it. I bought the board off of Sandy and ordered all of my parts from Mouser. The RIB works great, I just want a case to put it all in so I dont have to worry about shorting anything out. Thanks for the help. By the way, I spent a few days searching forums here and found nothing on this, so please dont flame. Thanks.

Ryan

Any project box should do. You can just extend the D sub's to meet the box.

No offense, but a project box is about as dull as it gets. Plus, they're almost never the right size for whatever project I'm trying to use it for. One I already have is about 4"x4"x6". What I really want is 4"x4"x1". Is there such a thing?

I have the Sandy rib also and I have been looking for a cheap, broken radio to gut and put the rib into the case. The trick so far is finding a big enough radio. I wish the board wasn't quite so large.

I believe that Ricciticcitembo is the current and uncontested owner of the "Coolest RIB housing" title...

http://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.php?t=5839

humhead wrote: I believe that Ricciticcitembo is the current and uncontested owner of the "Coolest RIB housing" title...

Yeah, that was exactly what I had in mind. I must have subliminally seen then forgotten about Ricci's ribcase. The board I have is too big for any of the portables I've ever seen.
Rats.

I will try to post a pic of my RIB as soon as i get a camera in here. I had a MOTO tech build on for me from his original a few years back and I built my own case using aluminum and telecom punches to make my holes.

My first RIB was made in a clear VHS tape casette box. It was 3am and I was despirate to get the thing in a box. It looked semi-decent actually.

A project I've been working on for awhile (just haven't had the time at all) is a plug-in ISA "RIBcard" that would just plug into an available ISA (or PCI...depending on the computer I make it for), and have a DB-25 on the back of it. I'd then add an LED to the computer, or just use the "TURBO" LED...since nobody uses that anyway...

The reborn radio into a RIB is a pretty cool idea tho!...I'd love to see pics


-Mike

If you got one of my RIB PCB's shoot an email to Mike at [email protected] he has a fitted case and may sell it seperate.

I guess I am going to have to stuff a RIB into an old HT220 or something just to keep up with the rest of the folks

Sandy

I did that already, he's the one that wants 20 some bucks for the case. I might have to break down and buy one though, not having much luck elsewhere.

I just put some rubber stick on feet and enjoy my craftmanship . But now that I think of it I am going to grab an HT220 omni and see if it will fit. It may be a bit on the wide side but will at least let me relish (sp) my favorite HT of all times

One trick that some folks that have built my PCB have done is get a case that is a bit longer, then ONLY mount one side of the connectors to the PCB, that is, just mount the Radio and RJ45 to the PCB, then use a ribbon cable for the PC connection and a couple of wires for the external power jacks. Same for the switches. I have seen a few that have come out pretty nice, and I think they just got the cases from mouser as well. If you already soldered the DB25 to the PCB, the easiest way to get it of is get angry and cut all the pins on the back of the connector to remove the body. Then unsolder each pin and remove. A solder sucker is a definite helper. Done it many time when I assembled them with the connectors backwards a PITA but not too bad.

Sandy

Now I'll have to dig mine out and post a picture of it. It's Sandy's board, which I built into a very nice gray/black enclosure from DigiKey. I went a little nuts with the connectors, in that I extended them to each end panel, and I used mil-spec parts with crimp contacts. Also used a mil-spec circular connector for external power.

Why? Because I had a junk box full of them, and the appropriate crimping tools to work with them.

Now I am starting to think of what I can put my RIB into that would be cool. I think the HT220 Omni might be able to house one up as said They have a 15V Nicad, and that would be just fine for the board. As my last shot might to to gut out a PT400 and use that as a cable/Rib box, plenty of room for stuff and a nice handle for toting it around, and room for a car battery inside if needed!

Thanks a lot for the idea, not just need to figure out when I can squeeze in the work, wait let me ask my wife and kids.

Sandy
WN6CTY