Media Center Lego Case [Difficulty Easy]

[abishur]

I had been working on an NES + Pi combo mod, but I regrettably had to cancel it as the pi wouldn't fit without me cannibalizing the NES case. It's a working NES, so the project was scrubbed

My next choice is an all inclusive media center case made out of Lego blocks. Here's the process I'm using.

Step 1: Add some heat sinks



I know, I know this isn't necessary but I'm hyper paranoid. I live down in Texas and let my house get fairly warm while I'm at work, plus I converted my fireplace to be my media center. Those things are known for reflecting heat, not dissipating it, so I'm putting on a heat sink will also be adding a little fan once I decide how tall my case will be. (I changed the way the heat sinks were placed right after this so that they are in line with the HDMI which is where I plan on putting the fan)

Side note: I used the thermal tape (SKU: PRT-09771) from sparkfun Link
This heat sink (FISCHER ELEKTRONIK - ICK SMD E 15 SA) from Element 14 for the LAN9512 chip: Link
And this heat sink (FISCHER ELEKTRONIK - ICK BGA 10 X 10 X 10) from Element 14 for the SOC: Link

Step 2: Get the measurements

I don't want a case where all the ports are exposed, I want my cables concealed within the pi for the most part so I need to take some measurements on the size of the pi + how far the cable sticks out before I can start manipulating the cable. So with everything plugged in, I traced around it and then measured the dimensions



For those interested, the HDMI is on the right, SD card on the bottom, and so forth and so on. If I wanted to keep everything inside I'd need to make the case 7 1/2 inches wide and 7 inches deep. That's a little too big, so I'm planning on orienting it with the HDMI to the back and SD card/PSU to the right. The SD card will stick out along with the power and HDMI cable. This will let me unplug it easily when it freezes and swap out SD cards. It also means the space the pi takes up is a much more reasonable 4 inches deep and 5 1/2 wide

[JeremyF]

Are more steps coming?

[abishur]

Are more steps coming?

Yep, just gotta get time to design it out, order the parts, and have them arrive, but here's a preview

1) Measure out the space for the rest of the stuff. At the present my thoughts are to do a two tier case with the pi on the bottom and a hard drive on top, but my other thoughts are to possibly tuck a usb hub in there (I'm thinking no just for ease of access), and a usb tuner (again thinking no, not only because I want to keep the case a little smaller, but also because I want the pi to become a little more mature before I invest in tuner device)

2) Once I know the height of my case, order an appropriately sized fan to run off 5V.

3) Order my LEGO parts

4) Glue (assemble) the LEGO bricks together except for the access hatches

5) Post plenty of pics

[sjav]

IMG_0992.JPG (57.32 KiB) Viewed 6729 times

Hi,
Does the RPi need heatsink?

regards,

[stevepdp]

Does the RPi need heatsink?

See this thread for some heatsink discussion.

In short, no

[abishur]

Does the RPi need heatsink?

See this thread for some heatsink discussion.

In short, no

As I said in my post, I'm hyper paranoid and I live in a fairly hot place and I'm overclocking... and (and this is the big ticket reason) I'm keeping it in a fireplace turned entertainment center, so while it shouldn't be needed, I'm doing it anyway. So long answer short, as Steve said, no you don't need heatsinks (unless you just want them like me, it put me out maybe 8 dollars in the end because I had to buy and pay shipping charges from 2 different places)