What is a safe way to attach my arduino to my rig?

Projects General Guidance
1

Hi, all.

Apologies for imposing myself upon these forums. I would be what you would call a noob at this type of thing. This is my first time doing ANYTHING electronics-oriented. I am a game programming major, and just happened to find myself in a class dealing with building electronics from scratch. It's also my first online class, so I have hardly ANY instructor face-time.

I've already got everything built and programmed properly, amazingly, and plan on even making a tutorial for it if possible. My main concern is getting my arduino board attached to the inside of the case I built for it. I need to find a way to attach it WELL to a smooth, acrylic surface. I can drill holes, if necessary, but I need to keep the other side of the acrylic smooth. Any ideas? Here are some pictures to help:

I basically need to get the arduino into this cube I built.

Here is an inside view, so you can see exactly where I want to put it. (On the bottom side.)

And yes, I plan to dremel out holes so that I can run the proper cables it's going to need. That's the easy part, once I can get it secured in place!

Thanks so much for any help, guys.

-Tate

2

The Arduino has holes in it. Use those holes, with nylon standoffs if needed, to locate holes in the case. Use nylon screws to attach the board, then.

Or, hot melt glue it in place.

3

PaulS:
Or, hot melt glue it in place.

I was thinking about using a hot gluegun, but wasn't sure if it would mangle or mess anything up, since I"m so new to it. I didn't want to have gone to all this trouble just to manage to fry something by using hot glue. :stuck_out_tongue: Thanks a bunch, PaulS.

4

hot glue is your best friend for liquid attachment

5

Bolts with nylon spacers and the hot melt or epoxy the bolt heads to the case.

6

I'd suggest you plan it to be removable - don't glue the Arduino itself directly to the case.

One easy way to mount it is to scrounge a closed cell foam block and cut a hole in it that the Arduino will push into with a slight interference. The foam block then glues to the case and holds the Arduino firmly but without applying any high point loads to the boards.

Another possible approach is to use machine screws long enough to go through the Arduino plus all your shields, use stand-offs to prevent them crushing the stack of boards. Put a blob of epoxy on the head of each bolt and put in place. Once the epoxy sets you can undo the nuts if necessary to release the Arduino.

Make sure you have strain relief on the wires at the Arduino end, and also where the wires leave the case.