Configurable RPi and 2.5" HDD Boxes

thingiverse

I am creating my first 3D project to meet my need for a simple computer "box" for my Raspberry Pi projects. This project started as a RPi NAS box but evolved into a simple design that can build a box of many needs. The program can create a box by choosing from a set of predefined "bays" to assemble a box with 0 to N RPi bays and 0 to N drive bays of 7, 9, 12.5 or 15mm bays. The only limit is the size of your print bed. I am sharing this code so others can look at design ideas and create their own custom RPi boxes or drive bays that meet their personal needs. This program even includes rail support for VESA mounts for both 75 and 100mm screw spacing, as well as the ability to have 1 or 2 boxes hanging from them. This program is about 95% complete. The largest issue I am facing is that SATA-to-USB HDD adapters are not standardized enough to allow for auto-spacing of the drive bays, so using air gaps (a type of bay) will be needed to be manually added to match whatever you are using. I have also included a second demo program that uses it to create a RPi Box Turtle. The turtle is a DEMO/PROOF-OF-CONCEPT to show how you can quickly convert a simple object into a RPi case. There are many comments in the source code to help explain what is going on, even down to my choice of screw size and length. This makes it accessible for most people to make personal changes to the program without a heavy programming background. I also had to fight against the fact that my 3D printer is a coldbed, so some of my choices were influenced by that. However, I finally found that BLUE painter masking tape and E___s Washable School Glue Stick (disappearing purple) make it much easier to get the prints started. UPDATE 2020-02-14... Added TARDIS1963 and VESA_BAR and updated RPI_NAS7. This update supports RPi4B with multiple cooling options. The VESA_BAR can create support for snap-together VESA bars to hold any number of RPi boxes (effectively six to eight, though) or even asymmetrical VESA bars (three to the right only). For RPi4 support, there are multiple cooling methods with fans from all-in-one to various sleds of fans and chimney. My personal testing kept the temperature between 40c at no load to 50c under 100% load for twelve hours. The pictures show three boxes - one housing a RPi4, one with a powered USB 2 hub powering the RPi4 and fans, and finally a powered USB 3 hub powering an SSD and other disk drives.