Thingiverse
Microcomputer Laptop Shell by Tinkerloon
by Thingiverse
Last crawled date: 4 years, 8 months ago
update 3/12/19
This project has spiraled off into a different thing called the Plytop Shell, check it out Tinkerloon.com. It's plans for a laser cut version of this with a lot more room and functionality.
This is an attempt to make a laptop shell for raspberry pi (or other microcomputers), while still having a full size keyboard and trackpad. I have wanted to play around with a raspberry pi for a while now, but needed a good excuse ;).
I have an 8" x 8" print area, so each section is broken into 4 parts to fit.
This was printed with black PLA, 30% fill, and 0.4mm layer height
The final print is glued together with Gorilla glue and painted with Plastidip for extra adhesion.
It is custom fitted for the keyboard and trackpad I found on amazon. The keyboard acts as the cover for the components. It is actually a pretty tight fit after the Plastidip treatment, but at least I don't have to worry about it falling out :).
The top piece was originally designed to use an Adafruit 7" lcd screen, but the cable ribbon used on the lcd turned out to be kind of tearable, so I reworked it to use a 10 inch screen I found on ebay instead. I also took the lcd controller out of bottom section and put it on the top section. The cover and lcd controller case glue to the back of the case.
I am including a list of components I used and where I sourced them. It turned out to be around $200. You could probably get some of the components for cheaper prices, or might have already have some laying around.
Trackpad : $20 : Perixx PERIPAD-501B :http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CX85I8
Keyboard : $10 : JETech® 2.4G Wireless Keyboard :http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0173QNVT0
Battery : $30 : Lithium Ion Battery Pack - 3.7V 6600mAhhttps://www.adafruit.com/products/353
Charger : $20 : PowerBoost 1000C :https://www.adafruit.com/products/2465 - requires soldering
CPU : $40 : Raspberry Pi 2 - Model B :https://www.adafruit.com/products/2358
LCD+Cntlr: $56 : 10.1",10" TFT LCD Display HDMI+VGA+Video Driver Board : http://www.ebay.com/itm/331592070110
On/Off : ? : One of those metal toggle switches with the threaded barrel.
USB Wifi : $10 : Not sure where I got this, I just had it lying around, but they are common and cheap
Screws : $2 : A couple of 8-32 x 1-1/2" screws to connect the top to the base. You may also need rubber washers if you don't cover the print in plastidip like I did.
Cords
Male usb to micro usb spliced with the on/off switch spliced with common dc barrel with negative on outside for the LCD controller. - requires soldering
1.5 ft HDMI cord to attach Pi to LCD controller
Shortened cord on Trackpad to fit better in case - requires soldering
This project has spiraled off into a different thing called the Plytop Shell, check it out Tinkerloon.com. It's plans for a laser cut version of this with a lot more room and functionality.
This is an attempt to make a laptop shell for raspberry pi (or other microcomputers), while still having a full size keyboard and trackpad. I have wanted to play around with a raspberry pi for a while now, but needed a good excuse ;).
I have an 8" x 8" print area, so each section is broken into 4 parts to fit.
This was printed with black PLA, 30% fill, and 0.4mm layer height
The final print is glued together with Gorilla glue and painted with Plastidip for extra adhesion.
It is custom fitted for the keyboard and trackpad I found on amazon. The keyboard acts as the cover for the components. It is actually a pretty tight fit after the Plastidip treatment, but at least I don't have to worry about it falling out :).
The top piece was originally designed to use an Adafruit 7" lcd screen, but the cable ribbon used on the lcd turned out to be kind of tearable, so I reworked it to use a 10 inch screen I found on ebay instead. I also took the lcd controller out of bottom section and put it on the top section. The cover and lcd controller case glue to the back of the case.
I am including a list of components I used and where I sourced them. It turned out to be around $200. You could probably get some of the components for cheaper prices, or might have already have some laying around.
Trackpad : $20 : Perixx PERIPAD-501B :http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CX85I8
Keyboard : $10 : JETech® 2.4G Wireless Keyboard :http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0173QNVT0
Battery : $30 : Lithium Ion Battery Pack - 3.7V 6600mAhhttps://www.adafruit.com/products/353
Charger : $20 : PowerBoost 1000C :https://www.adafruit.com/products/2465 - requires soldering
CPU : $40 : Raspberry Pi 2 - Model B :https://www.adafruit.com/products/2358
LCD+Cntlr: $56 : 10.1",10" TFT LCD Display HDMI+VGA+Video Driver Board : http://www.ebay.com/itm/331592070110
On/Off : ? : One of those metal toggle switches with the threaded barrel.
USB Wifi : $10 : Not sure where I got this, I just had it lying around, but they are common and cheap
Screws : $2 : A couple of 8-32 x 1-1/2" screws to connect the top to the base. You may also need rubber washers if you don't cover the print in plastidip like I did.
Cords
Male usb to micro usb spliced with the on/off switch spliced with common dc barrel with negative on outside for the LCD controller. - requires soldering
1.5 ft HDMI cord to attach Pi to LCD controller
Shortened cord on Trackpad to fit better in case - requires soldering