TBeam Case Screwless (T22_v1.1 20191212 with SX1262, NEO-M8 and IPEX) by drewsed

Last crawled date: 3 years, 3 months ago

Hi everyone,
I am not very satisfied with the existing cases for the TTGO TBeams, so I simply created my own one ;)
It is completely screwless, and very easy to print.
You can choose different bodies, one with and one without a hook. On both bodies the appropriate symbols for the buttons are integrated. Furthermore the button in the middle is 1mm longer, the power and reset buttons are even with the surface, but still easy to press.
There are also different lids:
without a LCD cutout/window
with a LCD cutout/window
with a window and a inserted PET window
Instructions for printing the lid with inserted glass window:
I use a plastic (PET) box of a DDR RAM memory module. The PET glass is very clear and rigid. It is 0.5mm thick, so with 0.2mm layers I chose 0.6mm free space within the glass cutout. Cut a piece of plastic with 38x24mm (or smaller) and clean it with isoprop. Make sure you have some glue at hand, the plastic is too light and will be blown away by the part cooling fan, or some filament on the nozzle. So you need to glue it, trust me ;)
In your slicer software, insert a pause command before top layer of the cutout section is printed. It takes about 30 minutes then the printer will pause and you can insert the "glass".
Put a very small drop of glue onto the four edges and press it down gently with your fingers. Click resume print, but make sure there is no filament oozing out of the nozzle. (This could cause the inner frame (first layer on the PET plastic glass) to get loose and the frame won't be perfect.) See pictures for reference)
Soldering the LCD:
The 4 pins (short side) should be solderd to the LCD first. After that align the LCD parallel to the TBeam PCB and make sure the capacitor on the bottom of the LCD PCB sits on the IC on TBeam PCB. See pictures for reference.
Antenna cable management:
When mounting the antenna itself, put all rings and the nut outside of the case.
Bend it down to the bottom, do a loop an go through the hole where the GPS antenna cable is located. The bend radius is not very tight, so there will be no problem.
See the position of the GPS antenna on the pictures. Make sure the antenna does not short circuit with the via un the bottom of the USB port. This will set at least the antenna cable on fire: Isolate this via properly!
Insert PCB:
There is a nipple in each of the four corners. After inserting the TBeam PCB you should use a pen to push down the PCB in each corner. After that it fits very tight. If you dont want it this tight, remove one or all nipples by simply cracking it with a screwdriver, knife, etc.
Closing the lid:
Fit one of the small edges and push it all the way down to the other side. See pictures for reference.
Opening the case:
Use a knife to remove the lid. I did this about seven times and now the lid becomes a bit loose. Before it always did fit/close perfectly.
Removing the PCB:
If you want to remove the PCB, you can do that via the USB cutout. If you want to remove the PCB often, i suggest to remove some or all of the small nipples which hold the PCB in the four corners. Simply crack them away with a screwdriver or a knife.
Printed PLA and PETG so far without problems.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask ;)