A Small Box and a Pi Zero Case (Patreon)

Hey there wonderful people!

It's probably not a surprise that I made a hinged case for a Raspberry Pi Zero, but this was completely unplanned.  The thing is, I had a Pi Zero W arrive that I'd ordered aaaaages ago and had largely forgotten was on the way, so I sat down and made an enclosure for it.  I have of course made enclosures in the past, but those didn't have hinges, so where's the fun in that!

But yes, unplanned, and in fact this was something I was poking around with while waiting for test prints to finish on my "real" designs, and this one was well and truly finished first.  Of course, that's probably because this little case is a very quick print, unlike some of my more involved explorations, so making small adjustments and printing off tests felt like it took no time at all!

So, design considerations!

Well, you might remember that for the Pi3B case I opted not to use a friction-based closure approach, and I started out with the same attitude here.  It didn't last, though.  The case is such a tidy little thing that it seemed a shame to encumber it with other stuff, and so I started adjusting parts to provide enough contact to keep things neatly closed.

There is, however, some consideration to be given to the hinges when using friction closures.  See, the hinges have a certain amount of play in them, so any closure that works in the direction of those hinges is going to need to pull them forward as far as they go, and I'm not super happy about that idea, and what it might do to the hinges, especially when they're very small ones.  So, the friction surfaces here all operate perpendicular to the hinge direction, and they are all in pairs, so the hinge isn't put under any stress at all.

So what's this about a small box, then?

 So, I made a few different options, which really differ only in how they look.  They sat on my desk while I was working, and I twiddled and fidgeted with them until it occurred to me that maybe I should just fill in all the holes and make a box instead.

Of course, such things sound simple to do, and they kind of are, but in practice I ended up stripping it back to the outer panels and the hinge, and rebuilding the rest in a much simpler way, given that it didn't need all the allowances for cables and such.  

So, there it is, a rather small box with some friction teeth for closure.  Oh, those teeth - they're intentionally quite tight (though it'll depend on your printer, of course).  The idea is that a few open/close cycles will wear them into submission as the layer lines smooth out, and then it'll be looser (but hopefully not too loose - again, printer, etc). 

Pi Zero Compatibility

This fits a Pi Zero W, which should also mean it fits a few other models - check yours to see how it looks (or look it up at the raspberry pi site!)

Printing tips

Both these models have the same considerations, and they're really the same ones as all mechanical models need!  Get that first layer dialled in and try not to elephant-foot things too badly (but at worst you'll just bond the outer edges of the lids, so it's not a disaster).  Watch out if your printer is prone to stringing, in case it interferes with the moving hinges.

The cases print outer-sides down, hinged open, assembled, and require no support!

File location

Dropbox won't be needed too much longer, but for now you'll find the models there!

Pi Zero W cases are in a folder called "Hinged Pi Zero W Cases"  and there are three different versions with different hole shapes.

The little box is in a folder called "Small Flat Hinged Box With No Pi Zero"

Have fun!

And please continue to share photos, I love them :D

xoxo

Sven.