In this project, I tackled the task of how to stop a battery strap from catching on circuit board components on the flight stack. The solution was simply to put something between that strap and the stack. However, finding a material with the right properties was a challenge.
The perfect material for this needed to be super thin but strong. Thin because it needed to go between the top plate and standoffs without increasing the gap so much that it loosened the side plates, which are held tight by being sandwiched between the top and bottom plate. The perfect material was FR4 fibreboard which is actually the base material that they make circuit boards from. The fibreboard shown here is just 0.2 mm thick go the side plates are still held in tight even when this is placed between the frame stand-offs and top plate.
To achieve a bend in the fibreboard which gives a gap for the battery strap to slide through, the holes in the plate needed to be adjusted. These holes are where the bolts go through the frame and into the stand-offs. This was achieved by offsetting these holes just 0.3 mm further apart than the holes in the top plate.
This image shows how the fibreboard material bends when the plate is pressed in to align the holes in the fibreboard with the holes in the top plate. A gap is naturally formed.
The finished project with the battery strap secured between the battery strap guide and the top plate. This stops the battery strap from getting caught on the UFL connector or any other components on the top circuit board. It also keeps the battery strap positioned in the middle of the frame.