Quick answer: When a customer needs an enclosure that can carry heavy equipment without flexing, sagging, or cracking at the mounting points, Qube builds the base thicker. This recent project used a 3/4″ base (double our standard thickness) paired with three 12″-tall mounting stands and upgraded hardware, all designed around the customer’s own equipment dimensions.

The Problem: Standard Bases Aren’t Always Enough

Most of our plastic enclosures hold up fine with a standard-thickness base. But every so often a customer comes to us with equipment that’s just plain heavy, and a standard base isn’t going to cut it long term. That was the case here.

This customer needed a large two-door enclosure to house heavy equipment, and they were worried about the base flexing or fatiguing under the load over time. Instead of trying to force a standard configuration to work, they came to us with their own dimensions and asked us to design around them.

What We Built

Starting from the customer’s specs, our team designed a custom two-door cabinet with a base double the thickness of our standard units, 3/4″ instead of the usual 1/4“. That extra material gives the enclosure a lot more rigidity right where it matters, directly under the equipment.

A few other details that came out of this build:

  • Three 12″ mounting bases. Instead of the cabinet sitting flush on the floor, it’s raised up on three separate stands, each 12 inches tall. This keeps the unit off the ground for airflow, cleaning, and cable routing, while still giving it a stable, load-bearing footprint.
  • Upgraded hardware. The customer wanted different latch hardware than our standard setup, so we swapped it out to match what they needed for their application.
  • Dual-door access. The enclosure has two full-size doors, each running the height of the cabinet on large bullet hinges, so there’s easy access to everything inside without having to reach around a divider.
  • Smooth, finished interior. Even with the reinforced base, the inside of the cabinet is clean and ready for mounting, with the same strength you get from any Qube unit.

Why Thicken the Base Instead of Building a Whole New Enclosure Design?

This is a question we get a lot, and it’s a fair one. The short answer: because our fabrication process lets us adjust individual specs like base thickness, door count, and hardware without starting over on the whole design. There’s no need to reinvent the enclosure just because one part of it needs to handle more weight. We add material where the load is, keep the rest of the design consistent, and the customer gets a unit that’s built for their exact use case instead of a generic one they have to work around.

That’s really the whole idea behind custom fabrication versus buying off the shelf. You tell us what the equipment weighs, how it needs to be accessed, and where it’s going, and we design the enclosure to fit that, not the other way around.

Qube Custom Enclosures: Made to Order, Built to Last

This project is a good example of what we do every day: take a customer’s real-world requirements, whether that’s a heavier load, a different door configuration, or specific hardware, and turn it into a working design in a matter of days, not months.

All Qube enclosures are made to order. Our plastic enclosures are corrosion resistant, hold up in tough environmental conditions, and cost significantly less than comparable stainless steel or fiberglass units, often by around 50%. And because every unit is custom-built with CAD-CAM technology, you’re not stuck choosing between “close enough” and paying for an expensive custom mold.

Have a piece of equipment that needs a heavier-duty enclosure? Call Qube at 800.747.8381 or email william@qubeinc.com and tell us what you’re working with. We’ll design something that fits it, not the other way around.