The client had a challenging set of requirements for this project. It needed to look like an expensive piece of scientific equipment yet not look like it belonged in a lab. It must perform well in a rugged outdoor environment. It needed to be portable, battery operated, slip into a carrier, self-cooling, withstand shock-drop-vibration and was only expected to sell less than 50 units a year. Because of the low volumes there was no budget for injection molded tooling so the client had assumed sheet metal was the only way to go but there were other solutions available they did not know about.

The solution was to incorporate low-volume cast urethane components that met all of the requirements and kept tooling dollar to a minimum.

The choice of cast urethane parts meant short lead times and parts could be cast on demand and in custom colors.  This initial design has launched a family of successful products using the same housings with different internal configurations and color options.