sudomod

Greets all!

Shout outs up top - THANK YOU HoolyHoo!!!! You were kind enough to modify the sti file for the faceplate, giving my build an original and unique look. Also, your M2 brass inserts that you sell with your screen brackets really saved my bacon. This project literally could not have been completed without them.

Also, a big thanks to Wermy! Not only is he the mastermind behind all of these crazy devices we all love so much, he's incredibly nice and helpful. I was looking for a custom case for my build and he helped out in a big way. Everybody's said it, but it's worth saying again... you're fantastic! Please keep up the amazing work we all love so dearly, and cultivating the awesome Sudomod community that's grown around your great ideas and hard work.

Here's a look at the finished tin: So I decided to go with nylon instead of plastic. As some of you might have discovered in your own builds, those ridges caused by extrusion printing can make the buttons stick like crazy! I tried sanding the bumps down on my first build, but I went overboard and ended up sanding too much. So I decided to go another way. Horray for SLS printing!
I got a batch of Wermys prints, so I could use the screen and faceplate brackets, as well as the screws. Hoolyhoo helped my change the mintypi logo to a pentagram (thanks again!) I sent the modified file off to Shapeways for printing, as well as the screen bezel (so they'd match.)
I think the ridges would work to the builds advantage in the case of the screen bezel. But the nylon is sitting nice and tight, and I have no plans on removing it. Should work just fine.

I used the plastic faceplate to screw down the pi zero w for the purposes of soldering all the GPIO pins. Is it necessary to fill all those holes? No.
Was it easy? This time around it was!
Do yourself a favor and get some nice thin solder. I got some Kester "44" 63/37 0.015" solder off Amazon, and it made all the difference.

I know some people have been having issues with the drill guides on a black case. I was too! My solution? Silver paint pen did the trick!

After all that soldering, I had to take it for a test run. Here's a tip - this stage is the PERFECT time to get the software side of things done. Get a USB OTG adapter and a USB hub. Plug in a keyboard and a USB to ethernet adapter, and plug that in to your router. Trust me, transferring gigs of files across a wired connection is a whole lot faster than wifi!

This time I was super careful not to pull off a pad on my sound card. So, the biggest hurtle I ran in to during this build turned out to be the nylon print. It looks cool, and the buttons are no longer an issue. The problem with the material? It's soft! I went to screw down the board to the bottom of the faceplate, but the screws weren't carving threads. They pulled straight out with barely any effort.

I was stuck. I didn't know what to do. Dark days were upon me. But then, I remembered a thread on the For Sale/Trade section of the forums, "HoolyHoo's AIO bracket for Kite's SAIO Board" viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2553 Hoolyhoo was using brass M2 inserts in the bracket, and was selling loose brackets and screws. I ordered eight inserts and waiting patiently for them to arrive in the mail. These were exactly what I needed! I don't have a chisel tip for my soldering iron, so I carefully pressed them in to the print with the tip of my soldering iron directly, then used a small flathead screwdriver to hold the insert still while I lifted out the iron. Here's a pic of three installed. By the end of the build I had put those in every screw post. They saved my project for sure.

Speaking of saving the Spooky Pi, I had Wermy whip up a custom protective sleeve for my build. If you're going to go thru all the time, effort, and cost to build one of these beauties, you should definitely protect it from loose change and keys!

There's another problem, the top of the case is way deeper than a standard altoids tin. The lip comes about halfway down the case. The regular transparent case that Wermy designed and sells http://market.sudomod.com/mintypi-protective-sleeve/ wouldn't work in this instance. The groove needed to be moved to make room for the top half of the case. Lucky for me, Wermy was on the case! This next pic shows how the groove sits below the top half, but above the power switch and charge port. Here's a pic from above. And of course, it all nice and cozy. This was a very fun build, and I'm proud to add the Spooky Pi to my other builds.

Awesome build, I'm jealous , the SLS prints do come out nice, again awesome job, keep them coming.

Awesome and beautiful looking build! Glad everything finally worked out. All you need now is a custom built splash and theme for that Spooky Pi!

Congrats on clean build. Thanks for taking the time to write this. Lots of good tips here.

Very good log, thanks for sharing this with us !