Raspberry Pi 4 B SSD & 30mm Fan Case

This Raspberry Pi 4 case was designed with the goal of housing an SSD SATA drive and a 30mm x 30mm x 7.6mm PWM fan. I like running SSDs on my Raspberry Pi(s) that I have critical services running on like my MQTT broker and OpenVPN server because they are way more reliable than MicroSD cards.

There are two versions of the top, one with access slots and one without.

ADDITIONAL STUFF YOU WILL NEED:

SSD/NAND SATA III 6Gb/s 2.5" 7mm Internal Solid State Drive

USB 3.0 or 3.1 Type A to SSD/2.5 Inch SATA Hard Drive Adapter (I used a SABRENT branded one, and the Pi 4 can only support up to USB 3.0)

5V Fan 30mm 3 Pin PWM (I used the KKSB branded one on Amazon.com)

Scotch SP951-NA Bumpers and Door Stops, 1/2" Round, Clear (4) (stick to bottom of case)

M3 Tap & Plastic safe cutting Oil (I used Super Lube Oil with PTFE)

12 x M3 screws. (I used 8 dome head PC HD screws and 4 M3x6mm Pan head screws to mount the Pi)

A set of heat sinks designed for the Raspberry Pi 4b.

Print Settings

Printer Brand:

Prusa

Printer: 

i3 MK2S

Rafts:

No

Supports: 

Yes

Resolution:

.2 mm

Infill: 

10%

Filament: Sunlu PLA+ Silk Silver

Notes:

The model labeled "Bottom" needs "Support on build plate only" turned on.

**No supports needed on the rest of the models**

The models labeled "Top" need to be printed upside down (flat side down).

The other models can be printed in the orientation presented.

I print PLA+ a good bit hotter than regular PLA.

Nozle First Layer: 235C Other Layers: 230C

Bed First Layer: 80C Other Layers: 80C

Post-Printing

Tap the screw holes using plastic safe oil. I have recently realized that I need to use oil when tapping PLA, I have always had trouble trying to tap PLA in the past because the friction builds up fast and the PLA starts to melt. The oil makes it so much easier. If you don't have an M3 tap you could also just carefully screw the screws into the plastic (don't go too fast or deep).

I used small zip ties to route the SATA to USB adapter cable so that the minimum amount of cable would stick out the back of the case.

Apply the scotch bumpers (footers) mentioned above to the bottom of the case.

How I Designed This

About the design process...

I run Ubuntu Linux on all my home computers. This limits my choices for CAD software so I have taught myself how to use FreeCAD since there is a native Linux version that seems to be getting more stable as time goes by.

Category: Computer