Raspberry Pi Model B Cases?

Andy,

I have bought the SK Pang case, it is OK and not bad value for money. I had to dremel one of the legs slightly as I couldn't get my SD card it, don't know if I have a wide SD card and I also picked the Red one, which when looked at from the top down means you can't see the LED's flashing on the pi, so I would suggest going for the completely clear one !

I have nothing else to compare it to, I guess i'd give it 8/10 generally, and 9/10 for value if you want me to put numbers on it.

Steve

I like the case from Adafruit which Drew linked above:

Unless it costs too much by the time it's imported into the UK, I'll probably be getting that one.  It'll match my laser-cut acrylic cases for the Bus Pirate and OpenBench Logic Sniffer.

Now I just need to find the same for BeagleBone, Olimexino-STM32, STM32F4-Discovery, Stellaris LM3S811, and Kinetis KL25Z Freedom Board. Quite a little collection it'll be.

Morgaine.

Morgaine Dinova wrote:

 

Unless it costs too much by the time it's imported into the UK, I'll probably be getting that one.  It'll match my laser-cut acrylic cases for the Bus Pirate and OpenBench Logic Sniffer.

 

Now I just need to find the same for BeagleBone, Olimexino-STM32, STM32F4-Discovery, Stellaris LM3S811-IQN50-C2LM3S811-IQN50-C2, and Kinetis KL25Z Freedom Board. Quite a little collection it'll be.

 

Morgaine.

Special Computing (USA) has one for the BeagleBone: https://specialcomp.com/beagleboard/bone.htm.  USD10 but overseas shipping may be prohibitive.

John Beetem wrote:

 

Special Computing (USA) has one for the BeagleBone: https://specialcomp.com/beagleboard/bone.htm.  USD10 but overseas shipping may be prohibitive.

I periodically look at their site in case there's progress on their Spartan 3A cape for the BeagleBone, but there never is.

Re international shipping, aye, that's a killer.  I generally stick to buying things that are already in UK and in stock, just to avoid the cost and the occasional duty hassles and to have good control over delivery time and tracking.

Do you see a need to produce a new board for BeagleBone?  We were looking at creating one but didnt know if there were already quality options out there.  THanks for your input.  We would probably produce something similar to the Pi Sandwich: http://www.budind.com/view/Plastic+Boxes/Microcomputer+Enclosures

Well, case appreciation is a somewhat personal and subjective thing, as I'm sure you're aware.   For me, the Pi Sandwich doesn't work.

The way I see it, clear acrylic isn't only ornamental for tech-lovers, but functional.  Most prototyping boards have LEDs which you need to see, and doubly so when they provide daughterboard mounts, since these in turn may introduce more LEDs or other displays.  This is why I like SK Pang's lasercut cases for my OpenBench Logic Sniffer and Bus Pirate, and I think the same construction would be ideal for BeagleBone as well -- http://www.skpang.co.uk/catalog/acrylic-case-for-openbench-logic-sniffer-p-901.html

I dislike SK Pang's ridiculous raspberry-shaped Pi covers though.  I don't want "cool", I want functional.  The engineer in me reacts badly to "cool".

Morgaine.

Morgaine, thanks for the input.  When you say for you it doesn't work, are you referring that you are not a fan of the design, or that there is a functional issue?  I think the clear acrylic is a nice look as well, but we decided to go with an IR Red look for similar purpose as you can see the LEDs and displays, but also allows for the shifting of components or an individual's expansion of the board.

One of the major gripes I have heard from engineers on these boards is the hassles of missing screws when ordering.  Wouldn't a tool-less box be a better fit for something that may be opened and closed?

Josiah Haas wrote:

 

One of the major gripes I have heard from engineers on these boards is the hassles of missing screws when ordering.  Wouldn't a tool-less box be a better fit for something that may be opened and closed?

Oh absolutely, screwed casing is a major pain if you're continually gaining access to the insides.  This doesn't apply to the Bus Pirate and OpenBench Logic Sniffer of course, as they remain permanently encased.

The BeagleBone ... well that depends on what one is doing with it.  If it's not being used for hardware interfacing then the OBLS-type of enclosed lasercut acrylic case would work well there too, but if a prototyping daughterboard is attached then you'd have to assemble the acrylic slices without the top section.  The design doesn't really allow for a detachable cover, although a clever designer could probably conjure up something.

If you've been following the other threads then you'll know that I consider it a poor fit for a *nix machine like Pi or BeagleBone to be doing low-level realtime interfacing --- it only works well when your realtime requirements are very unambitious, like blinking LEDs for human consumption.  Instead, I think it's better engineering to use a bare-metal microcontroller to handle the low-level realtime work, interfaced to the *nix machine for high-level non-realtime control.  This creates uncertainty for case designers though, since they no longer know what else is going to be fitted in the same enclosure.

I suspect that the answer lies simply in leaving space around the board, especially above it.  I do think that using a transparent plastic is important though, for reasons already given.

Morgaine.

Here is a new case that came out for the Pi.  http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/laser-cut-raspberry-pi-case-complete-with-led-light-pipes-05-07-2012/

there are a lot on ebay some nice ones from about £8.