Hinged Pi3B (and others) Case! (Patreon)

Hey there wonderful people!

I had a question recently as to whether my Pi Zero cases could be adjusted to fit a larger sized board, and that made me wonder why I'd never made such a thing anyway.  I looked at the sadly neglected Pi sitting just nearby and got to work.

Now, there are a million cases out there, but I had two particular design goals:

1) I wanted a hinged case, rather than two distinct pieces.  This means a more robust closure, and increased interestingness :P

2) Rather than using metal bolts I wanted a purely 3D printed closure mechanism, and ideally not a friction-based one that would wear out with continual opening and closing.

Of course, the design started as a two-piece thing until test printing showed that everything fit properly, and then hinges were added.  The side of the board with the micro-SD slot was the obvious choice, because it let the long, thin pieces between the USB and ethernet ports move in close to neatly, which wouldn't have been the case if the hinge had been on the side.    So, the hinge part was pretty straightforward!

The closure part, though, went through all sorts of experiments.  Hinged parts that swung from one side over the other to hold things shut, a separate band to slide over the closed case, and various other things.  In the end, though, I couldn't go past faithful screw closures, though that meant some complexity in how the thread parts on the case were formed.  The end result is a pair of wedge-shaped parts that have just enough thread elements on their outsides to be fastened firmly shut.  I like it!  I really would like to use that approach again somewhere... 

So, there we are, a Pi case for a 3B.  And various other models, too, that use the same board layout, but I only had a 3B on hand to test with :)  Please do let me know if you test it successfully with other boards!

Printing tips

Designed for straightforward, support-free printing.  The case prints open with the outsides flat on the bed.  As usual with hinged designs make sure your first layers are good, and watch out for any stringing that might bind moving parts!

The rings print flat, and one side has a bit of a chamfer on the inside to ease the effect of any elephant footing.  If your print settings are good, though, it can be printed either side up :)

File location

You'll find this on dropbox under Hinged Pi3B Case

Other thoughts

There's actually another file in the folder, too, with "experiment" and "untested" in the name.  This was just a fun alternative to the rings, and it's just a silly thing, but it's there if you want to amuse yourself... I'm not sure it adds anything functional :P

I have to say, it's always satisfying to make these sorts of designs where things just fit.  This is a fairly conventional case, for all its hinges and screw bits, though - it would be cool to make something a bit more eye-catching at some point...

xoxo

Sven.