Build an enclosure for a dev board

Build an enclosure for a dev board — video walkthrough

A standoff plate and a vented project box — two generators composed into one assembly.

This is the project that shows what generators are actually for: **composing** them. One produces a standoff plate that matches a specific board; the other produces a box; together they are an assembly that would take an afternoon of measuring to draw by hand. The board choice is the whole trick. Picking *ESP32 DevKit* from the Board mount list sets the outline **and** the mounting-hole pattern in one go — and the hole pattern is precisely what people get wrong, because it is rarely symmetrical and never round numbers. Raising the standoffs to 6 mm is the other half: without that clearance the solder joints on the underside of the board foul the plate. **Sizing the box** is the one judgement call. The ESP32 plate is roughly 60 × 40 mm, so 80 × 60 leaves a sane margin for wiring, and 32 mm of height clears the board on its standoffs. Slot vents are not decoration — anything with a regulator in it sheds heat. Both parts stay live. Swapping the board to a Raspberry Pi later is one dropdown, and the holes move themselves; that is the difference between a generated part and a drawn one. Open Help → Build an enclosure for a dev board in the editor to build it hands-on, step by step.

  1. Open the Generate panel and choose Board mount; pick ESP32 DevKit and raise the standoff height to 6 mm.
  2. Open Generate again and choose Enclosure at 80 × 60 × 32, with the vent set to Slots and the lid on.
  3. Move the enclosure clear so the base, lid, and plate all sit apart.
  4. Run the print check — the box is the part that has to fit your bed — then export.