When water and electronics meet, it’s bad news.
When you’re Frank, it’s an average Thursday.
This enclosure, named “Frank” by the client, was designed as a proof of concept for client in the data center space.
The result: a named enclosure. The client called it "Frank." That's how you know a build landed.
Disciplines: Sheet metal fabrication · Structural design · Sealing & integration · CAD / CAM
Brae Systems needed a physical proof-of-concept — an underwater enclosure capable of housing pumps, electronics, and supporting hardware — to secure the next round of funding for their data center program. Their CTO came to mHUB looking for sheet metal rolling capability. I joined the project and took it from a loose concept to a sealed, functional enclosure.
The core design challenge was geometry. An octagonal cross-section gave us the best balance of structural stiffness, internal volume, and sealing surface area — while keeping fabrication achievable with available tooling. Every face needed to accommodate flat-pattern rolling, external connector penetrations, and a removable end panel for access.
Sealing was the other critical constraint. With electronics inside and water outside, tolerances on the mating faces and connector interfaces had to be right the first time. We worked through gasket geometry, fastener pattern, and surface prep to get a reliable seal without specialty equipment.
