Ender 3 V2 Drawer replacement - Tool-less Raspberry Pi 4 enclosure

thingiverse

There are quite a few raspberry pi 4 enclosures around, including a few for the Ender-3 V2, but none of them had exactly all the things I was looking for, so I made this! I wanted an enclosure that: 1. Didn't increase the footprint of the printer (so that rules out mounting it on the side) 2. Had the option of adding a fan if required 3. Had plenty of ventilation for the pi 4. Fitted the raspberry pi 4 5. Had slots for all the cables (printer USB / power / ethernet / pi cam) and kept them as invisible as possible 6. Didn't require any tools / screws / bolts etc I never used the drawer in my printer and there were a few examples of other designs that replaced the drawer with a space for the raspberry pi. This ticked the "don't increase the printer footprint" box - so I based by design around this. ## Why add a raspberry pi? I initially added a pi to my setup so I could run octoprint and submit jobs remotely (I am far too lazy to keep ferrying an sd card around!). However, on top of this, there is also a bunch of extra stuff you can do with this kind of setup: 1. Submit and monitor jobs remotely with octoprint ([I originally used this guide](https://howchoo.com/octoprint/ender-3-v2-octoprint)) 2. Add a pi camera and watch your jobs from your phone / octoprint web interface 3. Install Klipper and make use of your Pi's processing power to speed up and improve your prints. There is a [good guide on reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/klippers/comments/kj2h5r/stepbystep_guide_for_ender_3_v2_klipper_w_bltouch/) for setting this up on the V2. ## Fans and ventilation The raspberry pi 4 runs a little hotter than the older Pi's so may require ventilation to prevent it throttling (it will throttle above 80C). This design adds quite a few ventilation holes around the pi to try and alleviate this. There is also a cut out in the box to mount a 40mm fan if required. I have so far found that I haven't needed this; the stock MCU fan pulls enough air through to cool everything enough (the holes in the side of the box line up with the holes on the MCU enclosure). ## Other similar designs In my search for a solution for housing my pi, I came across a few other options. If my design doesn't quite do what you want, one of these other ones might! - [Improved Ender-3 V2 Replacement Drawer for Raspberry Pi](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4656072) - Only replaces the removable drawer instead of the entire enclosure and exposes the pi ports on the front of the printer - [Raspberry Pi Octoprint Drawer for Ender-3 V2 - BitBangLabs](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4597864) - Alternative 'draw only' design with space for an on/off switch and fan - [Ender-3 V2 Raspberry Pi Case](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4740829) - Full drawer enclosure replacement with space for a buck converter - [Ender-3 V2 Drawer](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4605071) - Full drawer enclosure replacement which also includes cut out for original ender 3 v2 screen on top - [Ender-3 V2 Drawer - generics14](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4659683) - Remix of the one above that adds a tool compartment at the front and some other improvements. I used this one as reference for the measurements of my design. - [Ender-3v2 - All in one undercarriage](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4745387) - Allows you to keep the original draw and mounts underneath it, as well as providing a space for a bigger MCU fan. Requires raising the printer up. I am sure I have missed some, so feel free to ask me to add to this list!