I've still yet to house mine, it's proving trickier than I expected to find the right one.
I've bought a couple of Hammond enclosures which I thought would fit fine, but unfortunately neither of them quite do.
I don't have access to a 3D printer for the Thingiverse designs, so does anyone know of any commercial designs made for it, or any enclosures that will make for a compact fit?
FWIW, this is one of the enclosures I bought: https://www.hammfg.com/part/1553WCBK
Unfortunately the securing pillars take up a bit more internal room than I was expecting. I'd need to Dremel away two of those and also cut about 10mm from the end of of the PCB for it to fit.
That's kind of a nice box, watertight and everything. Have you thought about maybe keeping it for something else and finding a little roomier case for the theremin? Unless you are going for ultra-compact (not necessarily a good thing because of pitch/volume interaction) you might also want to have sides that aren't on the split line so that you can mount some off-board banana plugs for the antennas, although you can't gain much separation because the horizontal wire extensions would also act as part of the antennas.
Standard guitar pedal enclosures are good. Mammoth Electronics used to be a great place for cheap painted seconds, but Small Bear Electronics has a good variety, and has custom colors as well.
I actually ended up putting my Open Theremin in a Ken-A-Vision projector microscope casting! I had to remote-mount the knobs and switches, and I put a power supply in the base (so that it works with a toggle switch) and it has great grounding using the big cast aluminum structure! That alone really stabilized the Open Theremin for playability. It also makes for a nice heavy base, so that it is far less easy to knock over than before!
If you do need to separate the antennas a bit, coaxial cable is the best thing to use. I had to try several different types before finding one that worked well, but it turned out to be one of the ones that is shielded by a foil layer, rather than woven. I was lucky that I had some leftover from a vocoder project.
The other nice thing about using a guitar pedal box is that the aluminum is thick enough that you can drill and tap it to a camera tripod thread, giving you bazillions of mounting options! Such as a SmallRig camera mounting clamp, or any camera tripod.
Good luck!
Thanks both.
I'd used an almost identical Hammond enclosure for another project before, but the securing pilllars in this one are more intrusively placed. The split line was a slight annoyance with the previous project, but it worked out fine in the end.
I'll probably use the enclosure for another project, although it's tempting to do the mods necessary to use it.I may use 1/4" guitar sockets for the antennae rather than the banana type (which I find a very stiff fit on mine), which give a nice secure fit (it needs to be a stereo socket to 'lock' it properly).
Did ponder a diecast box, but will probably go for ABS again. As for increasing the antenna isolation, is that really necessary, given its design, with the antennae normally directly mounted to the side of the PCB?
No idea if it's of use to anyone else, but I eventually opted for a Hammond 1599EBKBAT enclosure. The extra size allowed me leeway to use which sockets I prefer, rather than those on the boards. FWIW, here are a few photos, I really should learn how to cut rectangular holes in ABS... I didn't add a ground output option, as I made a grounded PSU.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Det4ej52rY4g6xae6
Thanks, I've added a photo of it with the antennas connected, see the previous same link again.
I found the original banana type connection to be far too stiff, so looked at various socket options and the enclosed stereo 6.5mm type proved to be the best. If there's an outer coating on the antenna (as supplied in the kits), you'll need to remove about 15mm to make the electrical connection.
No idea if it's of use to anyone else, but I eventually opted for a Hammond 1599EBKBAT enclosure.
That looks great! I built one while I’m waiting (like everyone else) for Moog to build and ship the Claravox. I should build an enclosure as my cat loves to knock my Open Theremin over (ugh)!
Thanks, I've added a photo of it with the antennas connected, see the previous same link again.I found the original banana type connection to be far too stiff, so looked at various socket options and the enclosed stereo 6.5mm type proved to be the best. If there's an outer coating on the antenna (as supplied in the kits), you'll need to remove about 15mm to make the electrical connection.
I just looked at the photo.
Brillant !
it is simple as it is.
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