The external design of the Mothbox 4.0 is much more streamlined than the previous 3.0 version.

The Mothbox has 2 main external parts

• Modified Plano 1460-00 box
• Arms

Modify the Box

Drilling Arm Holes

You should start with 4 laser cut arms.

Each arm of the mothbox is made from 2 arms. This is for strength as well as redundancy. If one arm breaks in the field, you already have a backup!

Lay an arm against the outside of the large plastic flanges.

Use a marker to mark exactly where the holes are. Using a 1/4in drill bit (6.5mm), cut two holes for the arm.

I actually use a drill bit that is slightly larger than 1/4in, like 5/16in because my measuring and aligning abilities aren’t always that great, and this gives you a little wiggle room.

Slide two 1/4in bolts through the holes and secure the arms.

Now you should be able to attach the target to the arms easily!

Drill Front Lens Hole

These boxes are manufactured with a little dot directly in the center of the back of the box. You can use this as a reference point to drill a small pilot hole. When drilling this side of the box for the lens make sure to always use a light pressure as you don’t want to press too hard and crack the box.

After you have drilled the pilot hole, You can get out your 53 mm hole cutter bit. Align this bit with the pilot hole and drill out your hole.

Sometimes the edge of this hole can be a little rough and have extra plastic sticking up that can get in the way. You can just take a deburring tool, or a razor, and go along the edge of this cut just to clean it up.

Epoxy the Lens adapter into place

Mix together some 2-part epoxy on a piece of cardboard with a Popsicle stick.

Put a little bit of epoxy onto the rim of the hole you just cut. Add the lens adapter. Use a thin stick to slide around the edge and make sure the epoxy is in all the seam between the lens connector and box.

Then you can use a larger popsicle stick to smooth out the border of the epoxy and have a nice thick seam connecting them.

Use a towel to clean up any epoxy that may have spilled on the inside of the lens adapter.

Once it is in place, and the epoxy is nice and smooth and thick, let it sit aside for several hours to cure.

After the epoxy has dried, sometimes you may notice some white smudges inside your mothbox. It’s not a big problem. These are from the fumes of some glues attaching to oils left from your fingers. This is actually how people do fingerprinting sometimes! You can just wipe it off with a clean, damp cloth.