Norns shield case designs

klingklangmatze · 2020-09-09T10:22:11.870Z

Excellent case, looks great. I also printed a simple case for my Norns Shield and found out that ventilation slots for heat dissipation are sometimes helpful, especially for scripts with high CPU load.

JHC · 2020-09-09T10:34:49.305Z

Where did you put the holes? I was considering it but chickened out because I loved the slickness of the case

klingklangmatze · 2020-09-09T10:46:45.025Z

I also find a closed case much nicer. In the end, I inserted slots all over the case. Take a look at my post dated July 21st (above in this topic). There is a Tinkercad link.

JHC · 2020-09-09T12:47:41.073Z

Yeah - I hear you about the case, I just wanted to get a basic one up and running that required less messing around. I have some acrylic being cut to develop a screen cover that will be used in a two part fully encased version. I saw your post - looks great! And I see what you meant about the holes. It’s easy enough to add so I might make a third pass. Thanks

SeBasHek · 2020-09-18T18:18:43.191Z

I didn’t like the through hole encoder knob design of the front plate of the shield.
So i designed and printed some knobs/buttons myself.
Maybe i went a bit overboard with the size of the encoder knobs, but they are easy to grip now

IMG_43831396×1396 293 KB

PaulFe · 2020-09-19T17:47:32.822Z

I don’t have a norns shield, but a fates. Also wooden, and I’m using a raspberry pi 4 (which runs about 10c hotter supposedly than if it was a pi3).

I’m new to it, and have minimal venting where the ports are on the back, and the hottest I’ve seen it get to is 67c. I believe the pi4 throttles at above 80c, so I’m still good.

I know the fates and norns shield aren’t the same (especially with my pi4), but hopefully it helps in comparison. Here is a link to my case.

Glitcher · 2020-09-19T18:02:59.635Z

Thanks for your reply @PaulFe . I don’t mean to be off topic but I would like to know if ventillation slots are a good/needed thing on the norns shield enclosures. I found some relevant info here.

'For Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+, the PCB technology has been changed to provide better heat dissipation and increased thermal mass. In addition, a soft temperature limit has been introduced, with the goal of maximising the time for which a device can “sprint” before reaching the hard limit at 85°C. When the soft limit is reached, the clock speed is reduced from 1.4GHz to 1.2GHz, and the operating voltage is reduced slightly. This reduces the rate of temperature increase: we trade a short period at 1.4GHz for a longer period at 1.2GHz. By default, the soft limit is 60°C, and this can be changed via the temp_soft_limit setting in config.txt.

The Raspberry Pi 4 Model B continues with the same PCB technology as the Raspberry Pi 3B+ to help dissipate excess heat. There is currently no soft limit’

Perhaps it was the soft throttle at 60c that happened on my 3B+. If so and if I increase the limit to 68c It may never happens again with or without vent slots. Worth noting anyway.

JHC · 2020-09-20T19:31:18.621Z

I think I’ve reached a stage of perfection on this particular design. Loving the white case. New additions to the design include recessed screws fittings on the base and rubber feet to stop slipping. And ventilation. STL coming tomorrow.

image3024×4032 4.07 MB

image3024×4032 3.84 MB

image3024×4032 4.13 MB

tehn · 2020-09-20T22:15:55.458Z

indeed, this is looking great. recessed screw holes+++

where did you source rubber feet? if they’re a standard size it works really well to recess those as well— they don’t fall off as easily (maybe you did this, but couldn’t tell from photo)

JHC · 2020-09-20T22:22:29.941Z

They’re 10mm by 2 mm deep and recessed 1 mm into the case - should’ve said that. Sourced them on amazon from a specialist supplier. Could probably go a bit deeper tbh.

alley_cam · 2020-09-21T03:02:19.540Z

Really great work on this

forestcaver · 2020-09-27T09:53:33.770Z

This looks great! Any thoughts of doing a 3d-printed top with a cut away for the screen as well? (Pretty please !)

JHC · 2020-09-27T10:18:00.101Z

Ive tried to keep it simple - like a one piece solution. Adding a top would incur some loss of protection to the OLED unless you add an acrylic screen. A bit of a fiddle. However I’ll give it a go with just a cut out and you can see.