A number of components and connections are made outside of the main compute enclosure. These include the 12V and 24V buck converters, motor cable junctions, and the estop junction. In all of these cases, the components or connections must be protected from water and dust to a similar degree as the main enclosure.

Three types of junction boxes were designed - one for each purpose. While the internal components of these boxes vary, a great deal of effort was put into designing an easily adapted “generic” box which can be modified as required.

Standard IP67 junction boxes were selected in several sizes to account for different component size requirements. The junction boxes, like most systems in the tray, mount to 1” 8020 extruded aluminum. These mounts were designed in CAD and parameterized to mount to different hole spacings for different sized junction boxes. The mounts were printed in PETG with slicer settings appropriate for high strength, durable parts.

Parameterized rail mount adapters

As all junction boxes are essentially single purpose components, they are not designed to accommodate interchangeable penetrators. A drill press was used to create appropriately sized holes for waterproof penetrators according to each box’s purpose. The completed boxes are arranged on the WAM-V tray and installed on the existing 8020 frame.