Case for RockPi with heatsink?

#1

to be able to turn hobby projects into real products, it would be very useful to have a plastic or aluminium case perfectly surrounding the board with the big passive heatsink.

Also may consider providing a long version, with 2-3 drill holes for a NVME module, directly attached to the board

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Just an idea…

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#2

I can agree you, that would be really usefull. I had the same problem, so I tried to assemble a case based on an old RPi case. I used the half of a transparent RPi 3 case, added small pieces of ESD foam and two little fans. Now I have a more or less suitable solution, but I would prefer also a decent solution, which would fit out of the box.

Here are some pictures:

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#3

I shared the idea with some other guys during lunch break and we had ideas to improve it a bit

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the M.2 heatsink

  • prevents down throttling on continuous disk io.
  • should make it easier to produce the plastic tray (red in the sketch)
  • if made without cooling ribs it would allow custom engraving/laser
  • allows one screw access to M.2 and SDCard

There is also space for extension boards or custom electronic parts/cables/antennas, or even an active cooler.

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#4

Another idea is to provide a plastic cover instead of the second heatsink, with an opening perfectly fitting thus little 0.96" I2C OLED displays. So the device can provide status information like DHCP IP address, CPU usage, temperature, …

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#5

MrJim12,

I like that , what case is this ?

How did you screw down the board with the small black screws with teh case above it ???

#6

Hi Jacob,

This is the half of a very cheap RPi case: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00MQLB1N6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Overall it is not a perfect solution, more or less quick and dirty, but the case fits without screws (it’s strong enough, that it holds without any pressure on it)

Modifications:

  1. I have filed the cavity for USB-c socket a little bit withhelp of a rasp/file, because the cavity was too small for USB-c (was designed for the µ-USB connector of a RPi)

  2. I put (glued) some small pieces of foam (pink pieces on the left side of the pictures) on the inner side of the case for better stability. It’s only necessary on the opposite of the USB connectors, as the USB connectors itself hold the case already in correct position.

The two fans are also glued with double-sided adhesive tape.

Maybe that gives you some ideas for your own customized solution.

Cheers,
KH

#7

Jim12,

Great thanks for the info. I have contacted https://shop.sb-components.co.uk/ to see if they have plans to release something as they seem to make cases for lots of SOCs not just PIs

Assume RADXA will do their own but in the meantime yours might just be the answer … great work!!

#8
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