[stinkpot]

hi again all,

i'm putting together a usb dac inside of a plastic enclosure. securing power, rca jacks and LEDs to the surface all seem easy. however, it doesn't appear obvious to me how to go about securing the female usb jack.

the jack is just this little aluminum square. four DIP pins protrude from the base. two, useless looking hooks flank the sides of the DIP pins. there are no screw holes on the thing.

do i just drill a hole in the side of my enclosure, sit the jack there and hot glue the hell out of it? it seems like there has to be a more elegant way of doing this.

thanks a lot! (most likely for some solution that's been staring me in the face!)
- ld

 

[Megaptera]

That's basically what I did: hot glue around the sides. There's certainly better adhesives you could pick up at your hardware store, but a couple of thin layers should do the job. Most commercial cases for them I believe use pre-molded guides and sockets to keep them securely mounted, which isn't really practical for DIY.

 

[BlazerFRS]

If you want the sucker in there PERMENANTLY, I'd use JB weld.

Kind of a pain b/c it's a two-part epoxy, and it takes awile to set up, but the jack won't be moving once it's dry.

 

[00940]

the most elegant way to proceed would be to glue the usb jack on a little piece of wood. Then you screw two little metal pieces shaped as "L" on the piece of wood. You cut just the hole needed for the usb part, you use the L pieces to screw the thing in place.

Another solution is to take an usb cable, cut one end and solder it directly. You just need a small circular hole in your box then.

 

[DaKi][er]

Good way I’ve found is to first drill the hole and file it out square and to the right shape,
Then with 5min epoxy tack it down in a corner or 2
For strength I then use plenty of high strength araldite, once that is on it is never coming off before you completely destroy the jack in the process of trying

 

[Vadi]

There are USB-B jacks for case mounting but I saw them being sold for 13 Euros.

 

[Garbz]

ever thought of just mounting the PCB up against the side of the case like every other manufacturer?

 

[stinkpot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garbz ever thought of just mounting the PCB up against the side of the case like every other manufacturer?

i thought about that

do you think though, that the four little DIP pins on the jack are strong enough to withstand plugging and unplugging of a USB cable?

 

[00940]

that's why you have those "useless looking hooks" to fix the jack on the pcb

 

[Garbz]

I was jsut about to say that

But the fact of the matter is that thats how most of these are mounted on equipment. Same with toslink connectors, and molex connectors. I rarely see any of this with pannel screws although i'm aware the options exist.

 

[mono]

I have also drilled an undersized hole, filed it out to the right shape, inserted the USB jack's lip to be flush with the outside of the case and epoxied it in.

Note that there are two different types of USB sockets, with a very significant difference. One has a completely enclosed, smooth outer shell- it epoxies or hot-glues fine (I prefer 5-minute (4 minutes actually?) JBWeld over hot glue.

The other type of USB socket has only an outer wrapped shell with tension spring-pieces stamped into it. This type can be problematic if covered with epoxy or glue because the springs NEED to move, both to have friction on the plug but even to allow easy insertion of that plug... it is important not to cover those tabs and so you should try to cover them with tiny pieces of tape that don't leave reside behind when later cut away, after the epoxy around them (but not on them) has hardened.

For example see this page of pics,
only the type 35AL and 35BD have covered spring tabs- none of the other "jacks" should have their entire perimeter covered in epoxy or glue for optimal results.

 

[awagner]

If you're not already set on having a female jack and a swappable cord, consider just chopping a USB cable, routing it though a rubber grommet, and soldering it into the board. Much easier to drill one hole of a known size than muck around with glue and filing an odd shaped opening into the case, IMHO.

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showp...&postcount=498

 

[MisterX]

http://www.l-com.com/jump.jsp?lGen=d...ProductID=4257

 

[pho_boi]

Well I couldnt find any reasonably priced chassis mount USB sockets, so what I did was use these connectors:

male chassis mount

female plug

What I did was wire the male chassis mount to mountings on the PCB and then made my own USB cable with the female plug on the other end. Its pretty easy and neat job just make sure you check all the wiring because it did get me confused a bit.