Mounting IPAC To Wood

[3NF]

What do you guys recommend is the best way of mounting the IPAC controller to a piece of wood?

thanks

[Lilwolf]

Nails actually work.  I have my mk64 with a screw myself.  (in the original MB slot holder thing).  

[ErikRuud]

Swinging a hammer near an IPac would make me nervous.

The ideal way, is to use some sort of spacer under the board so that it does not contact the wood.

I bought some 1/4" aluminum spacers at Ace Hardware and some 3/4" #6 pan head screws.  You coud also use palstic spacers, or even a stack of washers.

The biggest thing to keep in mind, is not to tigten the screws(or nails) to tight.  ou don't want to crack the circuit board.

[SirPoonga]

Do a search.  I answered this question a couple of weeks ago.

screws and nylon spacers
(copy and paste link)
http://free.hostdepartment.com/SirPoonga/images/ipacmount.jpg

[dac]

Another one i spent time on.
I couldn't find the right nylon spacers, the L shaped ones that are shown in some pictures on ultimarc's site so what I ended up doing was coutersinking #4 1&1/2" bolts/screws (bought from Home Depot) to an extra scrap piece of wood, using regular nylon spacers (available from most hardware stores, i couldn't get the right size from home depot, went to ace's hardware) and nylon washers to go between the ipac and the #4 nuts that came with the bolts.
then just used 1.25" screws to drill the extra piece of wood into the side of the cab... (from the inside of course)... prevented me from having to drill in from the outside, replug the hole, restain, etc...

hope this helps!

[OzStick]

What is the importance of using nylon spacers? I have seen a few posts on this subject and it seems to me that people go out of their way to find suitable spacers to use, so why bother?

Am I missing something here?

I would have thought that using a #4 screw at each corner of the I-PAC and mounting it directly to the timber of the cabinet would be fine.

Just a thought.....
ChrisW

[JustMichael]

Nylon spacers are nonconductive and so can't short out anything.

[OSCAR]

I use these pcb standoffs.  You can get them through Wico for $1/set of (4).

[SirPoonga]

What is the importance of using nylon spacers? I have seen a few posts on this subject and it seems to me that people go out of their way to find suitable spacers to use, so why bother?

Am I missing something here?

I would have thought that using a #4 screw at each corner of the I-PAC and mounting it directly to the timber of the cabinet would be fine.

Just a thought.....
ChrisW

Look closely at my pic!  You see the solder points underneith stick out abit, you' be putting pressure on those.  after a long time if the soldering happen to be bad it will come apart.
On my first IPAC I did that.  one of the keyboard ports came off.

[twist]

You could just easily cut out some scraps of wood, drill holes in the center of them, and screw the PCB through the scraps of wood. (That's what I did in my cp)

[rampy]

Not that I'm recommending it... but for my sidewinder hack I used the button holes plugs that were created from drilling out my ... uh button holes...

I cut them in half and used them as a riser, on to a piece of scrap plywood.  I used a wood screw with a washer on top (there's no contacts near the pcb mounting holes in my case) and badaboom...

I did a half ass job (I didn't actually cut the button holes in half... I split 'em with a screwdriver and a hammer so it's 100% even... but does the job for now... I plan on using pretty white spacers when I eventually do get/use/mount an ipac, FWIW)

http://www.randomdrivel.com/ubercade/pages/mount_sidewinder_buttonhole.htm

[Yarb]

I'm using a type of screw receptacle often used in model airplanes to attach the engines to the firewall, it is hard to describe but I'll try. It looks like a washer with the threads to accept a screw about 1/4 inch deep in the hole; it also has 3 small spikes on the same side as the threads. You drill a small hole to accept the threaded cylinder and then hammer the spikes into the wood with a little glue to hold it better. I then threaded some motherboard standoffs into them to hold the IPAC. Makes a nice, permanent and professional mounting point without a lot of hassles

Yarb

[ErikRuud]

yarb,

Those are usually called T-Nuts, or some times blind nuts.

[twist]

Not that I'm recommending it... but for my sidewinder hack I used the button holes plugs that were created from drilling out my ... uh button holes...

I cut them in half and used them as a riser, on to a piece of scrap plywood.  I used a wood screw with a washer on top (there's no contacts near the pcb mounting holes in my case) and badaboom...

I did a half ass job (I didn't actually cut the button holes in half... I split 'em with a screwdriver and a hammer so it's 100% even... but does the job for now... I plan on using pretty white spacers when I eventually do get/use/mount an ipac, FWIW)

http://www.randomdrivel.com/ubercade/pages/mount_sidewinder_buttonhole.htm

That is EXACTLY what I did!

[Frostillicus]

Why not use white nylon spacers?  I like my stuff to look clean and professional - pick up one bag of 2 ($0.53) nylon spacers from lowes/homedepot and just cut them in half.  Drilling pcb into the wood is just asking for trouble, and so is using any type of metal spacer.

[Chris]

I use these pcb standoffs.  You can get them through Wico for $1/set of (4).

Similar standoffs should be available at your local Radio Shack...

I had to mount a tiny amplifier board to the inside wall of my cabinet, and it had no screw holes... I ended up using plastic mirror clips to mount it.

--Chris