Create a customized, 3D-printed case for the Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi cases suitable for your unique set of accessories are difficult, if not impossible, to find. Making your own case with a 3D printer immediately comes to mind, but the task of designing and printing a case has its own set of difficulties and challenges. Moreover, you might not be able to purchase a 3D printer because of cost, the need for dedicated space, or the knowledge required to select a suitable printer. If you have access to a printer or a printer service, though, a little planning can help you achieve the goal of printing a customized case. In this article, I show you how I planned and designed a case for a Raspberry Pi with a 2.5-inch hard drive plus powered USB hub (Figure 1).

Components and Cables

The standard cases for the Raspberry Pi are usually as minimalist in their design as the devices they house; their form is definitely driven by function. Connections for the Rasp Pi are distributed over each edge of the circuit board. Therefore, a minimalist case is the only one that allows the Rasp Pi to fit inside easily. Placement of the connections proves to be one of the biggest obstacles when selecting a larger case that also has space for accessories. Once you manage to find a case large enough, it reduces external access to the connections to a maximum of two sides.

The Raspberry Pi 2 (RPi2) is more amenable than the RPi1 to limiting the connections to two sides. Whereas a short edge of the board still has the USB and Ethernet ports, which will accommodate the connection to a USB hub (data link), the power supply has been moved from the other short edge on the RPi1 to the long edge next to the HDMI port on the RPi2 (Figure 1).

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