[HeyLaughingBoy]

That and because the vast majority of products can use a standard, off the shelf enclosure. Problem is that many of the new product designers don't come from a hardware background and either aren't aware of the huge scope of what you can buy (and get modified cheaply) off the shelf, or they think that their product must have a fully custom enclosure.

One of the benefits of having a traditional engineering education and experience is working alongside other engineers and designers who are trained in fields you weren't. It's really hard to put that type of combined experiences into a book or a tutorial.

[impostervt]

Is there some way to find "of the shelf" enclosures online?

[HeyLaughingBoy]

Besides the other suggestions, you can go to the source. Three of my favorite electronic enclosure manufacturers are Hammond, Bud and Polycase. Polycase in particular has pretty low setup and per-unit costs for modifying enclosures.

[DanBC]

Here's the UK version of Farnell, who are "quite big" in component distribution.

http://uk.farnell.com/enclosures-racks-cabinets

There are several thousand off the shelf boxes here.

[jpindar]

Google "electronics enclosures". Or look on the distributor's sites (Mouser, Digi-Key, Element 14, etc.) where you buy other electronics parts.