Scratch Build – In Progress Raspberry Pi Competition: der_george - "Blinky - Pinky - Inky and Clyde"

Welcome to my litte Worklog for my entry into the Bit-Tech Raspberry Pi Competition:

What I want to build - a case that looks like this:



I don't think I have to say any more than this picture does - every decent geek noes what I am trying to build. I traced the pixels to get an exact image of a ghost first of all. Then I tranfered the pixeled image back to the image that the developers probably would have liked to resemble.

I want to build a small Case that I can either hang on the wall next to my tv or stand next to my tv.

Then I started in CAD - after a couple of evenings I ended up with the following model:



If you remove the Faceplate it will look something like this:



It has all the openings for the cables - for wall mounting and for just standing on the table. As well as everything that is needed to fit all parts together and for mounting the Pi.





So now you should have an idea what I want to make - now I just have to make it. Time is not on my side.

I hope that I will be able to show you it tomorrow.

Thanks for reading if you got this far!

So long :0)

 

Another Pi log

Very curious what the material of your choice will be! The first thought that crossed my mind was plastic, but that would be very labour intensive I guess. So my next bet would be aluminum?

 

3D printer perhaps ? Liking the idea, good luck frood

 

Dude, I'm loving the idea..
If only you gave me a shout a week or so ago.. Would have been happy to give you a hand machining something up.. I'm currently doing Asouter's custom res for one of his projects now so machine is currently tied up..
Really hope you get it done in time.. Good luck!

 

Definitely unique. I like where this is going.

 

Wow This is gone be totally new. Following this one.

 

Yes, plastic is correct - I don't have a mill so machining it out of aluminium would be hard for me.

Coooooorect! A 3D printed part - Thanks!

Wow, thanks! That is very kind of you! Yes - time is my big problem. I might get if it done in time with a bit of luck.

Thank you very much! Glad you like it.

Thank you too! :0)

Well.. small Update which took a loooooooot of time to do:

The 3D Printed part:



It took me quite a few tries to get this far - I think it is very good - but not quite perfect, but I won't be able to get it quite perfect in time though so this will be the part I will be making this first prototype for the BT- RPi competition. I will do a set of all 4 ghosts later on.








here are all the parts I needed - Printed Part, Screwdriver, two M2.5 Screws ( I tapped the mounting holes before this picture - notice the dirty areas around the holes), four little magnets and of cource the SD-card and the Pi.



Then I glued in the magnets with Uhu superglue



and then mounted the Pi.





well that is it for now - now I have to quickly make all the acrylic parts ( face, eyes and pupils)

Hope you like it a bit.

So long :0)

 

Crack on then, you don't have long

Looking good though, Good luck

(I admire your time management skills)

 

Awesome! I like it a lot.
How's the durability of the material?

 

Thanks! My time management skills are - well having to work through the night and have to take some hours off work to get it finished in time is not excatly.. good.

BUT.. I've finished. The Prototype for the competition at least - I will make all four ghosts in a couple of weeks time - then I will do the whole set: Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde. Today we just have Inky-Prototype. :0)

Durability is very good - just as good as most extruded thermoplasts - strength is alright - depending on the direction of the stress put onto the part it is slightly stonger than acrylic or about half of acrylic due to delamination in Z-Axis (Printer) direction.

Here is the piece of acrylic (thanks to Patrick for the piece of blue acrylic)
I didn't take any pictures of the building process as time was not on my side - its just cut out of a normal 3mm sheet of acrylic using a jigsaw and then filed into final shape.



(In this picture the "eyes" also have been glued into place using acryfix)

Next I glued in the pupils and glued the magnets to the back so that I could mount it:



Well this is finished - Inky Prototype is finished

Now lets have a look at all sides:



Noticeable are the slot for the SD-Card and the slight angle of the casing so that the center of gravity is in the middle and so that it will stand up nicely and not fall over easily but stand sturdily.

Here you can see the rear - noticable are only the holes for the Wallmounting - which I will show you another time - you will just have to believe me that it works for now and the bigger opening at the bottom for the HDMI cable if the Pi is standing - also all the other cables can also come out of this hole als long as short plugs are used.



This is the other side - noticeable are the holes for LAN and USB and again you can see the slight angle again.



And from the Front:





Now I just have to stick all the cables in and see if all works like I thought it would:



Looks good - now lets put the "lid" back on.





Well I have finally finished - it took a whole lot longer than I thought but I am glad I finished now.

Thanks for reading if you got this far!

So long :0)

 

Yup I reckon they'd sell in big numbers, really really good

 

This is wicked dude, I also think you should get these produced and sell them. There amazing!

 

I want one of these in pink into my kids room. Great work and awesome design.

 

Awesomely done.
Another really nice addition to the compo.

 

Awesome. Take my money!

Loving how the pi competition is providing some epic mini mods :thumbup:

 

Thank you very much! No, I don't want to sell them I want to keep them.

Thank you!

Thank you, glad you like it! If someone else makes them maybe, but I think it is more work than it looks and any price I'd put on that would be way to much to pay for.

Thanks! :0) Pinky will be the next one I am going to make.

Thank you very much Waynio! :0)

Thank you aramil!

Thanks a lot for all the nice comments guys - hope you will like the others as well.

So long :0)

 

First of all, looking great! Excelent work on modeling and nice idea on mounting the pi using the magnets!

But also a question Where does the power connector go? The connector is on the side of the SD card I think, but there is no hole there on the outside...Are you going to use an angled connector (to make it fit inside) and reroute the wire to one of the other holes?

 

Thanks!
The Pi isn't mounted using magnet - it is screwed on using M2.5 screws. Just the faceplate is fixed with magnets so that it can be easily removed to access the insides.

Good spotting with the power connector. Yes there is no hole and yes the cable will be rerouted to go down and out of the HDMI hole (where also other cables can go out when it is hanging on the wall or standing) Instead of an angled cable though I am jusing just a normal connector modded with an on/off switch - in the power cord and including a GPIO Power / Reset Mod.
I will show this mod on the next update.
I only put holes into the side for input and output cables, as these might changed in use - where a power allways stays the same.
(On the wall next to my TV I will only be using the bottom hole as I will bundle the HDMI and Power Cable coming out and all the other connectors apart from USB will not be used. USB having a BT dongle for Controller and WiFi dongle. - so that it looks nice and clean on my wall looking like only one cable coming out the bottom.)

So long :0)

 

Cracking wee case. Lovely idea and finished product looks superb. Will need to add a 3D printer to my (very) long list of wants!