Pico ITX case designs

[Shane Morris]

Hello everyone,

A friend of mine, Jason, wishes to build a HTPC from a quad core Pico ITX motherboard, the VIA EPIA-P910. Since he is having USB saturation issues on the RPi, what with a DTV and wifi dongle hooked up (as well as running that pesky ethernet off it too), hes willing to jump back to a embedded x86 platform, simply because its faster, has more on chip USB ports, and is much more widely supported.

My gig is, how long can I power it off a 12VDC LiFePO4 battery, and get away with it. Maximum current draw with a mechanical hard drive (at 700mA) and 100% CPU load is 3.15Amps. I'm pretty certain I won't need 100% CPU load on four cores, nor will I have a mechanical hard drive, due to the fact its going to be out in the bush running a PMR radio network. Someone bumps it or drops it with a 500GB mechanical hard drive, and I'll cry.

Anyway, my question, now I have motivation out of the way, is cases! I can't find anything really good. Jason wants a nice clear case, he likes to show off the guts of his computers, and I don't blame him. Also, since he wont be using any of the USB or serial port expansion cards, it has to be as small as he can get it, hes going to use a SSD inside the unit for OS and applications, and an external USB3 HDD for recording shows off DTV. So does anyone have the ability to make up a nice acrylic clear case for me? I can get you the I/O stack design so you can cut out the ports, as well as the dimensions of the mobo (and just a 2.5 inch Samsung SSD).

The system takes in a 12VDC power supply on a two pole connector, I'm pretty certain we could power it from a 240VAC brick in the case of Jason, or a straight off a 12VDC battery in my case. So I dont need to mount any of those pico-ATX DC-DC power supplies into it like you'd need to do with a Mini ITX mobo.

Additionally, since I had so many problems with RPi not being able to support app_rpt/ chan_voter on Asterisk (that was an uphill battle, and not even finished yet, Digium are supposed to be fixing Zaptel/ DAHDI driver issues in ARM 3.x Linux kernels - note this don't happen on x86 kernels), I'd like to go back to x86 myself, just for this. This is rather attractive, now the problem is, before I go broke paying someone elses mortgage (my lovely stepfathers gift to me, how thoughtful of him), I'd like to get one more embedded board, and the more I write this, I think it'll be the VIA, and not the Exynos5 Cortex-A15 like I was planning.

So yeah, does anyone reckon they could help with some cases? =)

Many thanks everyone!

Shane.

[Rebecca]

Hi Shane,

You might be surprised how easy it is to make a cases with laser cut acrylic.

Throw some appropriate numbers at a tabbed box design generator such as:

http://boxmaker.rahulbotics.com/

or

http://www.keppel.demon.co.uk/111000/111000.html

Then add port holes and whatnots to suit.

If you want to make it bolt-together compatible then modify the design to include captive bolts. eg: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Anything-Using-Acrylic-and-Machine-Sc/step2/The-T-Bolt-design-considerations/

Then drop by the space on a Sat and someone should be able to give you a primer on the laser cutter allowing you to get started.

I think our stock of 3mm clear acrylic is at or near depletion so you probably need to purchase some from your local acrylic/perspex supplier.

If they give you stock sized at 420x250mm then it'll fit in the R&D laser cutter nicely.

Bec :D

Shane.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Robots & Dinosaurs" group.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/sydney-hackspace/-/4q5XjUSktdwJ.
To post to this group, send email to sydney-h...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to sydney-hackspa...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sydney-hackspace?hl=en.

[Shane Morris]

Hi Bec,

Thanks for your great info! I'm going to get some perspex, and make a design =) However, this is a couple of small issues, that are inter-related.

I may have mentioned on the list that I live in Lithgow, so if I were to come down, it would have to be after a bit of planning (and to-ing and fro-ing with you guys to make sure the space is indeed open), and as you can imagine, it couldn't be a regular thing, as much as I would love it to be. It is indeed three hours, on a good day, from Lithgow to Central.

The next issue is, I'm not actually sure who in Lithgow would sell perspex...! I'm going to ask my mate Ali at the local electronics shop today if he knows of anyone, and I'll get back to you. If he doesn't know himself, I' certain he'll know someone =)

Now, I'll have to consult with Jason on the case, so thats more to-ing and fro-ing, but leave that to me ^.^ I'll probably use his case design for my PMR controller.

Last thing: could your laser cutter cut up to 2mm steel or aluminium? I have another friend who wants to build a radio, and a case for that radio, and while she'd love perspex, I'm sure you'll agree, a radio should be shielded. ^.~

Many thanks for your help so far, and I will get back to you when I intend on coming down =)

Shane.

[Max Nippard]

Hi Shane, 

If you can make it to the space on a Saturday it will be open from mid morning. If for some reason no one with a key can make we will give notice on the list. I don't think we've missed a Saturday yet. 

We will get some more clear acrylic soon, we have tinted stuff now. 

If you can't find an easy source near lithgow, pick some up on the way at a Plastix or similar. 

3mm thick is the best for our laser. 

Sorry, 40watts of laser fury does very little to steel or aluminium, besides bleaching the anodizing white. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/sydney-hackspace/-/EEFfn_SMQvQJ.