3D printed Raspberry Pi cases are nothing new but YouTuber Print ‘N Play, James, set himself the goal of 3D printing 26 cases over 26 weeks and his latest case is printed as a single piece and requires no tools to construct.
Designed using Autodesk Fusion, the case was printed on a Prusa I3 3D printer and took around three hours following an iterative process, each time improving the print learning from the lessons of the previous failed print. James learned about the tolerances in his model and those of the 3D printer. His diligence paid off after a series of failed prints produced a stiff hinge that would break, and posts used to hold the Pi in place that rubbed against the USB / Ethernet ports. James finally produced a case which enabled the Raspberry Pi to be inserted and removed with great ease.
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(Image credit: Print 'N Play https://www.youtube.com/printnplay)
(Image credit: Print 'N Play https://www.youtube.com/printnplay)
(Image credit: Print 'N Play https://www.youtube.com/printnplay)
(Image credit: Print 'N Play https://www.youtube.com/printnplay)
(Image credit: Print 'N Play https://www.youtube.com/printnplay)
(Image credit: Print 'N Play https://www.youtube.com/printnplay)
The case is more of a cage that offers great access to all of the ports and it should work with some low profile HATs, or via a GPIO breakout board for other add ons. The case requires no tools to build, but has screw points for attaching the case to a screen or desk, and there is a small fan mount point on the top of the case. The files to 3D print your own case are available via Thingiverse and you should definitely give them a go if your Raspberry Pis need a convenient case.
Les Pounder is an associate editor at Tom's Hardware. He is a creative technologist and for seven years has created projects to educate and inspire minds both young and old. He has worked with the Raspberry Pi Foundation to write and deliver their teacher training program "Picademy".
