RaspberryPi - Cooking up a case

Inspired by this instructables project I thought I would have a go myself and upgrade the old Lego one.

The final case:

I had most trouble finding a couple of pieces of wood; in the end I went for something a little tougher than balsa (but not much) a a stop-gap until I find something more like the oak in the original project.

All the hardware parts were from the local Leroy Merlin store, a large DIY store that sells hardware in a 'pick and mix'.  I ended up with few false starts on the hardware; this outlines the final design. I actually made two identical cases, as I have a second pi on order for another project (so the photos may show both!)

Parts

Wood, 190mm long, 102mm (4") wide, 3mm thick, 2 off.


To hold the case together:
Bolts, M6 20mm, 8 off.
Washers, M6, 8 off.
Coupling nut, M6, 30mm long, 4 off.
Plastic caps, M6, 4 off.

To mount the Raspberry pi board:
Bolts, M3, 16mm, 3 off.
Nuts, M3, 6 off.
Washers, M3, 6 off.

Assembly

The wood parts were marked and cut out.  The pieces are quite a bit bigger than I really needed for just the basic Raspberry Pi - I wanted room to mount a few extra internal boards for future projects.  This case *just* allows access to everything - see 'for nest time' at the end for more comments.

Edges lightly sanded to remove sharp edges.

Four 6mm holes drilled 16mm in from each edge, and the two 3mm holes drilled based on the mounting hole in the Raspberry Pi.  I have the Model A board; no idea if later versions have the same layout.

Adding the hardware

On the base piece (with the 3mm holes), add one M6 bolt with a asher either side of the wood, and screw into the coupling nut.

The plastic caps act as little feet to protect surface the Pi is on:

With all four corners done, add the M3 bolts for the board mounting.  Washer either side of the wood and add a second nut to hold the circuit board off the wood:

Add a washer, the slide the board onto the bolts and add nut to hold in place:

Add the top of the case, using a washer under the wood, and an M6 bolt in each corner.

And done!

If I made another one...

The coupling nuts look nicer than a stack of nuts used in the original design, I feel, although I was lucky to find some the right length.

The thinner material can split when drilling, take care!  I put this down to user-error as much as anything.

The wood used is okay for a proff-of-concept, a thicker piece would look better and as soon as I find something I'l replace it.  The bolts used allow for easy changing of the wood pieces; indeed you could easily use plastic or even ceramic tile.

Access to the board is a little tricky...you can get everything plugged in with the case assembled, just.  the LAN cable needs a pencil to press the release tag, and putting the SD card in is an exercise in dexterity.  However, this is intended for a Volumio media driver, so will only need power and audio connections once configured.