Building a Box for the Pi

Status of my Pi workings so far: 2 Raspberry Pi-B boards (Revision 1), 2 HDMI to DVI dongles, 2 1A power packs on back order, and 2 newly arrived cases – courtesy of an eBay seller in Poland – rrascase. Good service, prompt delivery, and at a nice price.

So, the next obvious step that I can do, is to put together the cases.

Step 1 - Check the Pieces

Pull all the pieces for your Pi case out, lay them on a sheet of white paper.

Step 2 – Remove the Protective Backing

Thanks to rrascase for including this extra instruction in the box. Pick a corner and with thumb or finger nail lift the corner of the protective coat. Repeat the same on the other side of each piece. Here is where the white piece of paper comes into play – if you have not removed one side of the protective coating – the piece will appear blue against the paper. Otherwise the pieces will all appear to be clear.

Step 3 – Connect the Base and Audio-Out Side

Before going any further, I have taken the step of getting my ASD wrist band out - putting the case together does require handling of the Raspberry Pi board.

Lay the pieces out.  You will notice that one of the longer side pieces has two round holes – this is the side for the composite video and audio ports. 

Connect this to one of the larger pieces, via the tongues and grooves. There is no difference between the top and bottom pieces of the case – but there is a right and wrong way that they will go. When you piece your bottom/top and long side pieces together, the top or bottom should not obstruct the tongue-catches that the shorter sides should slot onto.

Step 4 – Place the Board into Position

Simple, holding the bottom and audio side together, place the board on top of the bottom panel so that the audio and composite ports fit into their holes.

Step 5 – Connect the HDMI-out Side

Holding everything in one hand, bring the second long side into play, lining up the near-centred hole for the HDMI-out port.

Step 6 – Slot the Top Into Place

Pick up the remaining large piece, which will be the top. As you go to place its tongues in to the grooves on the longer sides, as with the bottom piece, make sure that it is not going to obstruct the placement of either short side. With my initial attempt, I did not do this, and I ended up with a top piece that was out-of-place by about two millimetres – with a gap to one of the ends, and unable to put the second end panel into place.

Step 7 – Hook the First End

Take the end piece that has the ports for the USB and NIC cut out. Align it with the ports on the board, and slip it over the top tongue-catches from the long-sides. Press the bottom firmly in, until the bottom holes click in over their tongue-catches.

Step 8 – Hook the Power End

This end might be the easiest to get wrong. Neither the SD card slot, nor the micro-USB power socket protrude from the side of the board, so it would be easy to get this piece the wrong way around. Make sure that you align the hoel for the power socket with the power socket, and then hook the piece into place over the top tongue-catches, then firmly press into place over the bottom ones.

All done!