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Work / Electronics

Technical details

Parts body — open-top rounded shell, four M2.5 heat-set standoffs at the Pi 5 hole pattern (Pi screwed down from above), four M3 heat-set bosses fused into the inner corners for the screw lid, connector windows for USB-C + 2x micro-HDMI (-Y wall), Ethernet + 2x USB-A (+X wall) and a microSD access window (-X wall), vertical exhaust vent slots on the +Y (GPIO) wall, four rubber-foot recesses underneath, and four cantilever snap latches cut into the top of the +/-Y walls (for lid_snap; harmless under lid). lid — screw lid: flat plate with a drop-in lip (square-notched around the corner bosses), four M3 clearance holes, 30 mm fan cutout + 4 x M3 fan screw holes centred over the SoC. lid_snap — snap-fit lid: same plate, lip and fan cutout, no screw holes; four skirt tabs hang outside the long walls, each with a window that the body's latch hook snaps into.

Snap latch design (mechanisms.cantilever_latch + mechanisms.latch_window) The latch component's orientation rule is "beam lying flat in the bed plane — never print the beam standing up". A finger hanging from a face-down lid would stand up, so the beams live on the BODY instead: each is a 12 x 6 mm strip of the wall at the rim, freed by a 1 mm slit below and at its tip, beam length along X, flexing in Y (bending stress runs along the layers). The hook points outward through a window in the lid's skirt tab. Closing: the tab's chamfered bottom edge pushes the hook inward ~1 mm until the window lines up and the hook springs out; the hook's underside then bears on the tab material under the window. Release: press the four hooks inward while lifting. The lid lip is removed over each beam so the deflected beam has room.

Hardware: Raspberry Pi 5 (bare or with a low-profile heatsink <= 7 mm), 4x M2.5 + 4x M3 brass heat-set inserts (CNC Kitchen / Ruthex standard length), 4x M2.5 x 6 screws (Pi), 4x M3 x 8 screws (screw lid only), one 30 x 30 x 10 mm fan with 4x M3 x 16 screws + nuts (or self-tappers). The fan is meant to hang under the lid blowing down onto the SoC; exhaust leaves through the +Y vents. It can equally be bolted on top of the lid — the cutout is the same either way.

Print orientation: body floor on the bed; lids top face on the bed (returned already flipped). Material: PETG for the body if you use the snap lid (the latch component is validated in PETG only; PLA fatigues); either PLA or PETG with the screw lid. All parts sit with z_min = 0.

Assumptions (user unavailable): * Corner bosses need ~5.6 mm between the board edge and the wall, so the cavity is 6.5 mm bigger than the PCB on every side — connectors are recessed ~8 mm from the outer face and the windows are sized for cable overmolds (USB-C 14.5 x 8.5, micro-HDMI 11.5 x 7.5). * Pi standoffs use a 1.2 mm insert wall (OD 6.4) instead of the 1.6 default to respect the component keep-out around the Pi's mounting holes; use STANDOFF_WALL = 1.6 if you prefer. * Pi 5 power button and PCIe/CSI/DSI connectors are not dimensioned on the official drawing and get no cutouts; the microSD window position is inferred (slot centred on the SD edge). * No Active Cooler: with the official cooler (13.7 mm tall) the lid fan would collide; raise HEADROOM to >= 28 or move FAN_X/FAN_Y. * Snap lid: latch defaults (12 x 6 x 1.6 beam, 1.2 hook, 30 deg entry, 90 deg retention) and root_fillet=0 because the beam root merges into the continuous wall. The latch is cut with the wall it belongs to, so the vents were shortened to stay 1.2 mm below the latch slits.

Parts

PartSize (mm)VolumeThinnest wallPrintability
body101.2 × 74.6 × 29.228.6 cm³0.8 mmpasses
lid101.2 × 72.2 × 514.2 cm³1.2 mmpasses
lid_snap101.2 × 75.9 × 10.314.4 cm³0.73 mmpasses

Engineering views

Downloads

Library parts used

Parametric components shared with the other designs; see the parts library.

ComponentWhat it doesPrinted in
Clearance hole
fasteners.clearance_hole
Negative (subtract me) clearance hole for a metric screw, with print oversize and optional counterbore or countersink.PETG, PLA
Heat-set insert boss
fasteners.heat_set_boss
Cylindrical boss with a correctly sized pocket for a brass heat-set insert.PETG, PLA
Cantilever latch
mechanisms.cantilever_latch
Cantilever snap-fit hook: flexing beam along +Z from z=0 with a ramped hook on the +X face at the tip.PETG
Latch window
mechanisms.latch_window
Negative (subtract me) rectangular window through a wall for a cantilever_latch hook to snap into.PETG
Corner holes
patterns.corner_holes
Four holes inset from the corners of a length x width rectangle (lid screws / corner bosses), centred on the origin.PETG, PLA
Fan mount
patterns.fan_mount
Axial fan four-hole pattern plus optional circular airflow cutout, centred on the origin.PETG, PLA
Raspberry Pi 5 mount
patterns.pi5_mount
Raspberry Pi 5 four-hole mount pattern (58 x 49 mm, M2.5) centred on the origin.PETG, PLA
Pi 5 port windows
patterns.pi5_port_cutouts
Raspberry Pi 5 connector windows for one board edge as a wall-plane sketch (x along the edge, y = height above PCB top).not yet
Raspberry Pi outline
patterns.pi_board_outline
Raspberry Pi PCB outline (rounded rectangle) positioned to line up with the matching mount pattern.PETG, PLA
Box lid
primitives.box_lid
Flat lid for rounded_box with an inner lip that drops inside the walls; printed upside down (top face on the bed).PETG, PLA
Rounded box
primitives.rounded_box
Open-top rounded rectangular shell (enclosure body) with floor, standing on z=0; outer dimensions given.PETG, PLA
Rubber-foot recess
primitives.rubber_foot_recess
Negative (subtract me) shallow recess to locate a stick-on rubber foot; top face at z=0, extends down.PLA
Vent slots
primitives.vent_slots
Grid of rounded ventilation slots filling a rectangular area, centred on the origin (subtract from a wall).PETG, PLA

Source: models/pi5_fan_case · built 2026-09-09 13:43

Electronics

Raspberry Pi 5 fan case

A ventilated Pi 5 enclosure with a 30 mm fan in the lid, in a screw-down or a snap-on version.

Brass inserts hold the board and the lid; vent slots run vertically so they print cleanly. Two lids are included so you can choose tools or no tools.

$23.00for one in PLA, printed as designed
Size
101 × 75 × 29 mm
Print plate
212 × 158 × 29 mm
Parts
3
Filament (PLA)
about 71 g
Print time
about 4.9 h
Status
Ready to print

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