Lego Case
#21
I had initially thought to leave space for the headers but it caused the lid to be overly complicated, that was when had the ribbon cable through the side idea. Also, it seems that powering the fan with the pi header may be too much current for the board. Currently I have the board being powered by a supply capable of 2.4a power port, with two purrs available. These are very high quality heavy supplies. I had the system lock up under load several times while the fan was connected, I am not sure if it's a problem at the board out with the cheap amp/volt meter I am using to monitor the power usage. With the fan connected and the system at idle it's using about 400ma disconnected the system uses around 200ma. When the fan is disconnected I have seen the power usage spike to around 800ma, so combined it should be right at or just over an amp which I don't think should be too much as I understand it should be able to handle that (both the supply and board) but it locks up. I will have to take the meter out of the loop to check to see if it's the culprit. I did notice that pin 2 on the pi header is always hot, even when the board is "powered down" which leads me to believe that the 5v pins pi header are being fed directly from the USB power port, but I could be wrong I have not looked at a schematic for the pine yet. I think one is available on the wiki so I may search around to find out later. It certainly is not switching off when the board is shut down and the power LED is off. It locked up both under Ubuntu and Android, which I run on separate cards, so it's not that.

Anyway speaking from a design standpoint the fan I am using would sit nicely and probably a little snug between two walls two studs apart. A side blowing fan might work well but the case would need to be much higher, what about building a duct instead. This would leave fan horizontal and would blow/suck air across the top and bottom and also look neat. I think you would need to raise the board to a full three or four single heights to do and would need added under board support if you plan to use the headers I think. I am currently supporting the center section and directly under the headers with plates (the smooth ones) this way the board doesn't flex under Purdue when connecting to the headers. That flex strains the solder and I don't like it so I fixed it. I have done a lot with this board that makes my phone almost to hot to hold and never has the memory gotten much higher than ambient temperature. The main processor gets warm but with the sink on it isn't bad at all... And if I figure out the lockup issue, then I shouldn't need to worry with that fan on at all.

If the fan is drawing too much current for the board then maybe a power port, that just provides power to the headers would be prudent, maybe I will get one of the stackable project boards and rig it for an external 5v supply if not already capable.... I would have to cut out space for the chip to get airflow probably but in that situation a side on airflow may be better.... Maybe I will post in another area of the forum and ask if anyone knows the amount of current that the headers are able to utilize safely...
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#22
Ok I have pulled the unit off of the volt/amp meter and the lock up issues abated. I think I am going to switch to powering this through the bus though that easy way I can connect my meter inline and watch the power consumption when I want. I also flipped the fan do it bliss onto the sink and I am not sure of the chips safe operating temperature, I checked the data sheet on the wiki but I didn't find it in a cursory search. I installed CPU temp in android and when the processor is showing around 14-24% usage the temps around 40c and that seems a bit warm to me but then again I am not familiar with the thermal specs of this chip. The up shot on turning over the fan was it still fits over the Lego pips, so good there. I got the corner sloped pieces today, and am waiting for the rest to show I got a piece to work as a fan grate I hope but will require cutting, which hate to do but because the fan is an odd length of pips I am having trouble finding bars like used for light sabers long enough to span the seven pips to make it from one side of the opening to the other.

I expect the majority of the rest in the next day or two I believe then I will build the cooling tower/chimney/vent cover. I have a dc bulkhead connector I may use to replace the power plug... Should have pictures soon.
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#23
Rebuilt my Pine Lego case today. Made a mounting bracket for the wifi antenna as well.
   
   
   
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#24
I like that, it looks like a com's room on top of a building, albeit with huge antennae, but function has come before gotten with these things... what antennae is that? Does the"room" house only the cable or is there a mounting bracket in there? I have been messing with my fan tower, aesthetically and I think I have a winner, the only problem is I can't find the bag with the black or yellow pieces I need. So another order on brick link. I will show of the pictures I have later. I am personally debating grabbing an antenna out of one of the many laptops waiting for e-waste recycling day and running it through one of the boat mats I have, won't know for sure until I get my Wi-Fi card in a month or so. Right now I am using a wired connection so it's a mute point. Pictures will be added to this post in a few hours showing the fan tower and grating.
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#25
(05-13-2016, 07:17 AM)MrWizerd Wrote: I like that, it looks like a com's room on top of a building, albeit with huge antennae, but function has come before gotten with these things...   what antennae is that? Does the"room" house only the cable or is there a mounting bracket in there?  I have been messing with my fan tower, aesthetically and I think I have a winner, the only problem is I can't find the bag with the black or yellow pieces I need.  So another order on brick link. I will show of the pictures I have later.  I am personally debating grabbing an antenna out of one of the many laptops waiting for e-waste recycling day and running it through one of the boat mats I have, won't know for sure until I get my Wi-Fi card in a month or so.  Right now I am using a wired connection so it's a mute point.  Pictures will be added to this post in a few hours showing the fan tower and grating.

Thank you. The antenna is from a retired Asus rtn66u router I dont use anymore.
I made a bracket for the antenna inside the "com's room" (see the attatched image)

   
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#26
AH! so you have a cable that goes from the small connector to the detatchable antennae from the router. . .  Is that cable also from the inside of the router? What about the connector and the metal plate bit?   I may have an AP I can do that with, that is bloody brilliant mate!  I would like to offer a suggestion, and by no means is it a criticism, do you have any of these:

[Image: 78c04.jpg]
I have seen them in a few lengths and they should pass the smaller connector and you could use that to protect that small cable... Just a thought.  too bad the connector pegs wouldn't pass the connector but it may be possible to cut one on one side to slide it over the cable.

[Image: 970012-1.jpg]

It's just a thought, I would have to futz with it to give you an actual visual but I think I have what I need and if I do I will see about making it up.  Anyway here is the gallery for my "cooling tower"

http://imgur.com/a/lE1Fp

You will see the original gate in the first picture the second after I cut out the piece I needed, it came damaged and I am not sure if it was that damaged initially but since I bought it to cut it was not a problem, and while I hate to destroy any Lego, it wasn't to expensive and it was already broken.  The part that I made is third, fourth and fifth you can see that it appears almost factory but if you look carefully at image three the bottom left corner is factory and is more rounded.  I used a nail file to rough the nubs down after they were cut near to the base, then rolled the piece while i filed it to make it round then used another file that had progressively smaller grit to polish it as best i could.  The sixth image shows it from the side completed.  The corners of the fan have the second corner slope pieces but I could not put them all the way around because they block the fan.  I tried to come up with a way that it looked good and did not leave a large gap for little fingers.  So I added the little drop down that closes that hole. and setup the grate with four clips on either side so that i could use a 1x4 smooth plate to get a very small clearance between the grate and Legos under it.  I really wish they made the smooth plates in odd numbered bricks like 1x5 or 1x3 anyways.
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#27
(05-13-2016, 04:55 PM)MrWizerd Wrote: AH! so you have a cable that goes from the small connector to the detatchable antennae from the router. . .  Is that cable also from the inside of the router? What about the connector and the metal plate bit?   I may have an AP I can do that with, that is bloody brilliant mate!  I would like to offer a suggestion, and by no means is it a criticism, do you have any of these:

[Image: 78c04.jpg]
I have seen them in a few lengths and they should pass the smaller connector and you could use that to protect that small cable... Just a thought.  too bad the connector pegs wouldn't pass the connector but it may be possible to cut one on one side to slide it over the cable.

[Image: 970012-1.jpg]

It's just a thought, I would have to futz with it to give you an actual visual but I think I have what I need and if I do I will see about making it up.  Anyway here is the gallery for my "cooling tower"

http://imgur.com/a/lE1Fp

You will see the original gate in the first picture the second after I cut out the piece I needed, it came damaged and I am not sure if it was that damaged initially but since I bought it to cut it was not a problem, and while I hate to destroy any Lego, it wasn't to expensive and it was already broken.  The part that I made is third, fourth and fifth you can see that it appears almost factory but if you look carefully at image three the bottom left corner is factory and is more rounded.  I used a nail file to rough the nubs down after they were cut near to the base, then rolled the piece while i filed it to make it round then used another file that had progressively smaller grit to polish it as best i could.  The sixth image shows it from the side completed.  The corners of the fan have the second corner slope pieces but I could not put them all the way around because they block the fan.  I tried to come up with a way that it looked good and did not leave a large gap for little fingers.  So I added the little drop down that closes that hole. and setup the grate with four clips on either side so that i could use a 1x4 smooth plate to get a very small clearance between the grate and Legos under it.  I really wish they made the smooth plates in odd numbered bricks like 1x5 or 1x3 anyways.
That looks great Smile

I dont have that "tube" you are referring to, but I can see how that would make things look way better Smile


The cable I use for the antenna is one of these.
Just be shure to get the right connector for the antenns (male or female). I bought the wrong one, so I had to reorder...

Some minor changes made on the "tower". Now I can adjust the position of the antennas...

   
   
   
   
   
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#28
(05-14-2016, 12:23 AM)Tarjei85 Wrote: That looks great Smile

I dont have that "tube" you are referring to, but I can see how that would make things look way better Smile


The cable I use for the antenna is one of these.
Just be shure to get the right connector for the antenns (male or female). I bought the wrong one, so I had to reorder...

Some minor changes made on the "tower". Now I can adjust the position of the antennas...

I got to admit, I am right jealous of your coms tower...  I don't yet have my Wifi adapter, and I know that once I have it that I will be looking for a way to do something similar.   I have some shorter antennae floating around, I may use them as a starting point.  That T is that from Ali as well?  I am going to have to place some orders I think... and I will probably be redoing the case again.   I am thinking about altering the footprint a little to make it so its odd numbered.  That will move the wall away from one side, but I think I it will be ok to do because it would put the one side that has no connectors just a little further from the board.  The reason is that this would center the "cooling tower" on the roof, the bad part of that is that it will de-center it on the plate it is on, I think that I can get away from the plate either way if I just get few more large black panels.  I already have a few more of them to work with so I may break it down tomorrow and build it again, with the thought of adding the coms room across from the cooling tower.  Another thing I backed was some light bricks that work with Legos essentially there LEDsinside a clear brick.  I am thinking I can use some of those to do some interesting things when I get them... Maybe make it look like W.O.P.R. if I was so inclined... that is a little more curvy but I think It could be done and have blinky lights to boot.  OH not to mention having more computing capability inside the model than anything that could have even theoretically been inside that super computer back then.  I hate to doubt your geek creds but if your not sure what I am talking about its from a movie Wargames.

I know that these cases are functionally to protect the computer, but I figure were playing with Legos too so we may as well make them aesthetically pleasing.  At the moment I only have the main processor sinked, though I have ordered some sinks  for the rest of the board, well the top that is.  I assume that your board is raised like that in order to put sinks on the lower memory chips?  I am still pondering a cooling system that will allow me to cool those chips underneath the board, and I am thinking I may actually build a grey cooling/exaust tower like on a power plant... I am going to look at some more modern coal power facilities and see if I can come up with something that will work with Legos, this of course may end with a totally different color scheme as well as another several orders to bricklink.... I think that site may be the end of my bank account, especially considering I want to make robots for the war game that some people dreamed up but it requires a bunch of smaller bits I don't have enough of.  MFZ   Anyway I will post some more shots when I have somethign to work with, I may build this one on the computer first then figure out what parts I am missing.
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#29
I figured it would be less risky for the wifi-cable to turn the tower around and just pull the cabe out the hole for cooling.
Allso added some smooth blocks on top to make it a bit better looking.
       

The T-splitter is also bouht on Ali yes. (Ordered the same time i backed the Pine, and I'm glad I did. It took forever to arrive)
I also have a bunch of small antennas laying around (~3cm length) but they are fixed position antennas, so not really that ideal...

     I still havent put on any heatsink on the ram underneath and have not added hole for cooling from beneath. Yet...
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#30
I once heard someone say "less is more", but I couldnt disagree more... just for fun I added YET another antenna to my tower... I know... Its a bit much, but then again I wouldnt want anyone to not notice my Pine Wink

I also rebuilt the tower and modified some Legos to fit the connector for the third wifi antenna.
To get the best result I also cut a clearing for the cable back to he WiFi/BT board so I could close up the whole tower.

   
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