My enclosure from TB broke on half of my screw holes today, and I’m needing a makeshift replacement like yesterday for some necessary light commuting. The bolt holes busted on every bolt but the far back – on one side. So I do have something holding the battery in, and it made it back the last mile or so on my long ride this weekend, but prior to receiving my new enclosure in the mail soon…what are some good options? Also, any sort of alternatives (aside from making my own from carbon fiber processes) for the 12s4p brick battery with esc enclosure?
If there’s an ikea near you take some measurements of your current one, nip in to the kitchen section and look at the trays. They are solid and cost about $2 max.
An option of intermediate difficulty is to thermoform your own out of a sheet of plastic - ABS or Kydex are common materials. Much less involved and messy than a full blown resin-and-fiber setup. All you need is an oven (or other way to heat the plastic sheet), a buck of appropriate shape to form the enclosure over, a board, and some EVA foam (Harbor Freight floor mats work good).
That’s the method I used to make the enclosure on my last build, and it held up pretty well.
A couple things about enclosure fasteners and mounting: Ideally you want the enclosure to only be supporting its own weight, not the weight of your battery, ETC. The heavy stuff should be strapped/screwed/velcroed to the board, and the enclosure should just be for keeping the rocks out.
Also, using washers with your enclosure mounting hardware is a great idea to distribute the clamping load more widely.
Duct tape. I’ve run many a commute with a duct taped on enclosure cause the bolts pulled through the enclosure. It’s a very very short term solution though, duct tape and grip tape don’t mix well.
