Custom sensor enclosure

[pbenco]

Hello

I'm very frustated to have electronical circuit board of my home made sensors, "laying" into my robots, as i don't want to glue a liftarm under them, or drill an hole into the board, as mindboards do, and i try to figure out how to improve this. I have found an idea, reading the reports of the "LEGO beyond toys"http://www.bartneck.de/2008/03/09/lego-beyond-toys/.
What i want to do is to use home made 3D printer as huxley REPRAP, to build "compatible" enclosures.
Some of you have try this? any suggestions, tips or advices???

[nxtreme]

Most breadboards have a sticky backing that can be stuck to stuff. You could stick that to a couple beams and connect the beams to your project. Or, if you want it to look more like a polished project, places like RadioShack, Steren or Jaycar all sell nice project enclosures. I would not recommend 3D printing unless you know at least the basics of CAD programs and such. If you do want to go the 3D printing route, check out Ponoko. While not cheap, they are pretty good at what they do and it would be cheaper than investing $15,000 in 3D printer .

[doc222]

With out knowing how big this home brewed sensor is, not sure if this if this may work. But if you want to make it "look Lego", You could hollow out some larger studded plates to fit if two high is not enough you could stack or glue studes on both sides like a sandwich. A Old styl 9v battery box hollowed out. Things like these could be stealth. But they all add alot of weight too.

[aswin0]

I sacrificed y lego sound sensor to house my custom sensor. But of course it all depends on the kind and the amount of hardware you have to put in it.

[pbenco]

Dear aswin0
That was my first tought, but i don't want to smash a lego sensor to get the housing...
But have a look at the 5 rgb led housing:



or this wireless sensor


or this GPS sensor
.

[mightor]

Just be very careful when making sensor housings like that for commercial purposes. You may find yourself on the wrong side of LEGO's legal team. Trust me when I say that these guys will not take kindly on anyone violating LEGO's patents.

- Xander

[mattallen37]

I thought that lego was turned down patent rights, based on the simplicity of the lego design. Perhaps that was only for the "stud" idea. It would make sense that they have patents on their more expensive stuff though.

[aswin0]

Pbenco,

These are nice sensor housings.

Mat,

I thought the patent for studded lego just ran out, it was old. I do not know if studless lego is protected by another patent but i do expect it to be. Here are some stats about lego patents.

[HaWe]

As far as know about patent laws, nobody can forbid you to to imitate shapes or brands if you use them only for your own personal purposes.
But of course you are allowed not sell them...
for reselling, the Lego patents run out (or have been turned out) for the classic bricks (1x2, 2x2, 3x2, 4x2...)

@pbenco:
I'm really curious how you managed to build those perfect shaped housings!

[mightor]

The ones for the bricks ran out, this is also one of the reasons why LEGO is constantly making new shapes and patenting those.

- Xander