I am a cad novice and set out to create a FW mainboard case to be machined in aluminum. This case takes inspiration from existing cases on printables but is created from scratch. The resources I used to make dimensions and take inspiration from are as follows:
https://www.printables.com/model/1083401-minimalist-framework-mainboard-case-2-piece-optimi
https://www.printables.com/model/1058061-minimal-mainboard-enclosure
https://github.com/FrameworkComputer/Framework-Laptop-13/tree/main/Mainboard
This design has the following:
- It accepts 3mm screws and nuts
- 2 Versions are provided: STLs for 3D printing and STEP for machining
- I wanted the design to be more rigid, so I opted for printed bars to join the two halves of the design, which can be "glued n’ screwed"
- It has proud and inset notches on both the cover and base so they can be aligned without any screws or fasteners
- There are some thin walls, which might be hard to fabricate, maybe I will modify these with a better solution in the future.
- I didn't like that the cover switch needed to be pressed for the board to be turned on (switch in the center of the board), and so this design doesn't have anything to press this switch. I simply keep it pressed down with a piece of polyamide tape. (This is if you don't update BIOS to standalone mode)
- Airflow holes are only provided for the fan and NVME drive, as I saw that those significantly require more airflow than the rest of the board. I will add more holes as needed after I test the thermal characteristics.
- The pieces are divided such that they can be printed on the 180x180mm print bed on the Prusa Mini
- The antenna mount is a WIP, and so it currently needs to be glued and the holes slightly sanded to fit larger based antennas
The author marked this model as their own original creation.