When working with cyber-physical systems you end up dealing with a lot of devkits, sensors, various adapters, probes, fans, power supplies, connectors, batteries, breadboards, and wires….oh the wires! Yes, you need to move fast when prototyping but consider this…
How many hours have you spent debugging what you thought was a software problem in a setup like this just to find out that a wire was lose, a ground was floating, or capacitance actually mattered?
Some up front neatness counts. This is where the DangerLab concept comes in. DangerLab™ is my library of parts, go-to products, and neat hacks I use to organize my dev kits when starting a project. Of all this, the first thing it is is a common module for mounting small hardware.
The Module
The base module is a 6mm thick 30.5 cm x 30.5 cm (1/4" thick, 12" x 12") expanded PVC sheet with five (5), 4mm holes located per Figure 1. These sheets are easy to find on Amazon or places like TAP plastics. Expanded PVC is a great middle ground between the rigidity of high-strength materials like polycarbonate and the workability of materials like foam core poster board. You can drill it precisely when being careful but also just punch a hole with a screw driver when in a rush. Likewise, it can be cut with a saw or knife and, unlike Aluminum, it’s not conductive so any FOD is benign.
While a Dangerlab rig can be arranged horizontally along several of these baseplates they can also be stacked three deep as shown in Figure 2.
Any individual plates or the bottom-most plate of a vertical rig shall have soft-rubber feet, mounted at each of the five (5) holes, and be elevated 10mm from a flat surface.
All plates shall keep mounted components within 60mm of the baseplate except for the top-most where 60mm is a guideline but may be violated as needed, however; the 20.8cm overall height of the devkit shall not be violated.
Interior cutouts between levels are allowed including skipping levels as needed, however; the 20.8cm overall height of the devkit shall not be violated.
Figure 3 shows mechanical keep-out areas within which no electronics or wires shall be placed.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Parts
Goofy Standoffs
Goofy standoffs solve the problem of devkits with mechanical allowances that just don’t quite line up