Case/Material to Protect Raspberry Pi 3b and Zero in hostile environment

Hi Skeeve,

I have not used any of these cases, but I thought that this might be of help:

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-ways-to-ruggedise-your-raspberry-pi/

Good luck,

Gene

Polycarbonate, cast acrylic, PETE, ABS, or similar materials are good choices for enclosures.

With proper tools anything can be constructed from design.

Element 14 has a large selection of enclosures and custom  services as well.

Hi Skeeve.

Make sure that all of your components are securely fastened.

If there is any flexibility at all, you will get things breaking off due to the moment of inertial. Even small things.

If you can, seal everything in a podding compound.

Try wrapping the case with gel to get as much shock absorption as you can.

If any part of the insides can move, they will probably break off after repeated drops.

DAB

Strong cases made of polycarbonate, aluminum or die-cast metal are a good start, but the case also should be mounted on shock mounts or foam to minimize shock loading. And make sure all cables have adequate strain relief.

Materials with UV protectant, anti-static/esd safe, and hydrophobic properties are optimal.

Many manufactured enclosures can be found with waterproof/waterproof silicone seals that can protect your design from environmental factors such as moisture and debris. A conformal coating can provide extra protection as well. 

Protection from EMI should also be considered.

correction, waterproof/ weather resistant

Hmm. I thought them being anchored would be worse.

If they were floating on some kind of gel base, and able to move a

little... kind of like suspension on a car... when it is tight, it is very

rough.

...Skeeve

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Skeeve Stevens - Genius As A Service

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Sorry about the email signature... I assumed it would strip it when replying via email.

If there is any flexibility at all, you will get things breaking off due to the moment of inertial. Even small things.

If you have a rigid box and drop it from 10cm, and the floor does not give in so that the box stops inside a stopping distance of about 0.1mm, then the G-force experienced by the box (and everything rigidly attached) is going to be 1000G's. Having say 1cm of "cushion" is going to reduce the G-loads enormously.

So for stuff that is shipped and might be dropped once, they use Styrofoam. It crushes and absorbs energy when under a high load. For stuff like "hard disks" inside a "ruggedized" enclosure, you see rubber used as a cushioning material.

Skeeve,

For a diy approach you could shock mount the RPi3 and PiZero to a small metal plate (eg aluminium). Use 2.5mm machine screws, rubber tap washers/grommets, suitable metal washers and light duty compression springs. You'd have a mounting that had some dampening in the plane parallel to your pcb as well as perpendicular. Adjusting the nuts (suitably threadlocked) to give just the right amount of restraint.

Like this:

Rod