DIY Apex Breakout Box

[Greybeard]

Doing an Apex breakout box for a friend's build. Did one for myself a few years ago, used a spring terminal strip from Amazon, had several left over. UXCell 12 way spring terminal strip... they're not expensive, work great, no need to try and stick 6 grounds into a single screw terminal. Only other items you need are a DIN 8 cable, a bit of solder, a few screws, and a box to put it in.

Back when I built mine, I bought a box. Certainly the most expensive bit of the project. This time, I decided to print one. If anyone is interested, .STL file is attached. Box turned out pretty good, IMHO. Works great with the 3" UXCell spring terminals. I'd recommend ABS or PETG, since it's so close to a tank... I did 20% infill. Plenty strong. No supports, no plate adhesion, etc.

Screw the base to the wall, top, with the strip mounted, slides right over it.

 

[Greybeard]

Decided I wanted a bit more space in the box, so I increased it by a half inch. Also made the mounting holes smaller, they were way to big on the original.

Printing this version now, I'll post actual photos when it's done printing.

 

[Greybeard]

Some final pics. Tests out fine.

 

[Greybeard]

And a link to Thingiverse...

Project Box - UXCell 12 way spring terminal strip by GreybeardFM

Project box - used to DIY a breakout box for a Neptune Apex. Cutout is properly sized for UXCell 12 way spring terminal strips part WP12-03. No attribution necessary, use as you see fit.

www.thingiverse.com

 

[garbled]

Super nice! Love it!

 

[ca1ore]

Nice! Unfortunately I am the worlds worst solderer.

 

[garbled]

Nice! Unfortunately I am the worlds worst solderer.

I used to be, until my wife got me a higher-end soldering station for xmas. Turns out, I'm way better when the iron isn't trash. Even with shaky hands.

 

[ca1ore]

Would you be willing to share which one she got for you? I'm quite happy to 'blame' the tools (never hit a bad forehand, it was always the racquet) ... even if my suspicions about being bad at soldering are well founded LOL.

 

[Greybeard]

eh. It's a skill... takes a bit of practice, is all. I'm not much good these days either... bad vision, shaky hands, and I'm using a junk $12 Chinese soldering iron.

Does it work? Good, Close the box, nobody's going to see the sloppy soldering

 

[garbled]

Would you be willing to share which one she got for you?

Aoyue Int 968A+. She got it off Amazon. It's really super good, comes with replacement tips, the vacuum on the iron is really nice for the fumes, and the SMD air blower is actually really useful for doing shrink tubing or bending ABS/acrylic. (I don't even go near SMD). I was really impressed with the quality, and all the spare parts they included in the box when I opened it up. It heats up really quick, and I found that I enjoy soldering now, as opposed to dreading it, when I was using a radio shack 50w simple iron.

I went from avoiding all soldering other than tinning wires to replacing all the LED's on a 48" strip in like a month of using this. The heat-up time is a huge difference. I hate waiting around, and the basic iron you just have to keep trying until it works or you throw it out the window. This one has a digital display that tells you when you are good to go, and I'd say you go from off to solder in about 45 seconds. I also sometimes turn the heat on it way down and use it to press nuts into 3d prints.