My nephew is VP for http://www.promptprecision.com/ that builds primarily enclosures for mid range products typically like you see 19" rack mounted.. The entire punching, laser cutting, folding process is fully automated..

He told me they are now building enclosures for circuit boards that have 17 signal layers.. An of course with surface mount, any twisting forces put on the board could pop solder joints.. They actually build a suspension system in the enclosure, so that if the case is racked or stressed for any reason, those forces don't get applied to the board.

Imagine trying to rework a 17 layer board?? better get the wiring right the first time... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" />



These babies (the model 91 and also model 75) did the heavy computing at NASA. Machines that could do floating point math, all in hardware logic, it smoked in terms of computation speed...typically done today in embedded pico/micro code due to the complexity.. Given that IBM had just pulled off one of the biggest missions in the development of the 360 Series, the company was tapped to be a primary mission manager for a good part of the program.. I can't remember, but believe that involvement focused on launch and mission control systems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:360-91-panel.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_System/360

Model 75 at JPL
http://tmo.jpl.nasa.gov/progress_report2/VII/VIIV.PDF

This image of the System/360 Model 91 was taken by NASA sometime in the late 60s.


People who think it was faked get no respect and are to be pitied! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rodent.gif" alt="" />