IP65 with the cutouts already sealed.
A rated enclosure stops being rated the moment somebody drills it on a bench. The useful version of this product has the apertures designed in, with the sealing method part of the design.
Two digits, two different things.
An IP code is not one number. It is two, describing separate tests.
- The first digit — solids. IP6X is dust-tight: no ingress of dust at all. This is the top of the scale.
- The second digit — liquids. IPX5 is protection against a low-pressure water jet from any direction.
So IP65 is genuinely weatherproof, and it is not immersion. Immersion is IP67 and IP68, and pressure washing is beyond IP65 too. If your enclosure will be submerged or hosed down at pressure, IP65 is the wrong specification — say so at the enquiry stage rather than discovering it in service.
The hole you drilled.
This is the single most common way an IP rating stops being true, and it happens in workshops every day: somebody buys a rated enclosure, drills it on a bench for a connector, and fits it.
The certificate on the box described the box as manufactured. An unsealed aperture is a direct path for both dust and water, so the assembly in front of you is no longer the thing that was tested. The rating on the label is now marketing.
Every aperture needs sealing to the same standard as the enclosure:
- Cable entries — a rated gland sized correctly for the cable, not a rubber grommet.
- Connectors — a rated connector with its own seal, or a sealed bezel around a non-rated one.
- Displays and windows — a gasketed bezel or a bonded window, compressed on assembly.
- Switches and indicators — rated components, or a sealed membrane over the panel.
- Unused apertures — blanked with a rated plug, not tape.
Apertures as part of the design.
The version of this that actually works is having the cutouts made with the enclosure, with the sealing method decided at design time rather than improvised at assembly.
Send the board, the connector positions, and where and how the unit is mounted. The apertures, glands, bezel details and gasket all come as one design — and the gasket is cut from the same drawing set, which removes the usual round of fitting problems between a housing from one supplier and a seal from another.
Tell us the real environment too. "Outdoor" covers direct sun, driving rain, coastal salt and daily condensation cycling, and those drive different material and sealing decisions.
Where we will not claim it.
A printed enclosure can be made highly water resistant with careful design — many perimeter walls, high flow, a compressed gasket, often a sealing step. For a great many outdoor and washdown applications that is entirely sufficient, and it is available from a single unit.
But we will not put a tested IP65 figure on a printed part without the testing behind it. A printed wall has layer interfaces, and the honest position is that resistance you have engineered is not the same as a rating you have verified. For a genuine certified rating, moulded is the right process, and that is what we will quote.
Treat any supplier who claims a certified rating on a printed part with the same scepticism. See printed enclosures for what printing does well.
Common questions.
What does IP65 actually mean?
Two separate digits. The 6 is solids: dust-tight, no ingress of dust at all. The 5 is liquids: protected against a low-pressure water jet from any direction. So IP65 is genuinely weatherproof, but it is not immersion — that is IP67 and IP68. If your enclosure will be submerged or pressure-washed, IP65 is the wrong specification and you should say so at the enquiry stage.
Does cutting a hole in an IP65 box void the rating?
Yes, unless the opening is sealed to the same standard, and this is the most common way ratings are lost in practice. Buying a rated enclosure and drilling it on a bench leaves an unsealed aperture, and the certificate on the box no longer describes the thing you have built. Every aperture needs a rated gland, a sealed bezel or a gasketed cover — which is why designing the cutouts in beforehand is worth doing.
Can you supply IP65 enclosures with the cutouts already sealed?
That is the useful version of this product. Cutouts, gland positions and display apertures are made as part of the enclosure with the sealing method designed in, rather than added afterwards. Send the board, the connector positions and where it will be mounted, and the sealing detail is part of the design rather than your problem on assembly.
Is a 3D printed enclosure ever IP65?
Treat that claim sceptically, including from us. A printed wall has layer interfaces that can wick moisture, so a printed enclosure can be made highly water-resistant with careful design and gasketing, but claiming a tested IP65 rating on a printed part is not something we will do without the testing behind it. For a genuine rating, moulded is the right process.
Do you supply the gasket with the enclosure?
Yes, and cut to the same drawing set as the enclosure. Sealing foam and elastomer gaskets are die-cut in-house, so the seal and the part it seals are dimensioned together rather than sourced from two suppliers and reconciled on your assembly bench.
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