I wanted to have a Raspberry Pi 4 on my desk to run various tasks and also wanted to have active cooling for it. I came across the GeeekPi Raspberry Pi 4 Fan on Amazon and loved how overkill it looked/seemed. I decided to order the cooler and design a 3D printed case to fit around it all. The Pi 4 with the cooler attached is pictured below.
Here, the parts needed will be briefly outlined. Some parts will have links; others you will need to find sources for.
Brass standoffs are included with the GeeekPi Raspberry Pi 4 Fan to mount the cooler to the Pi. The case uses these standoffs to mount the Pi to the 3D printed plate that slides in and out of the case.
M3 brass threaded inserts and screws are used to assemble the case. The parts are linked below:
The vents of the case are designed to be glued into the panels. Therefore, some type of adhesive will be needed that is appropriate for bonding the type of filament used to print the case. Hot glue will work but may be difficult to work with. I used E6000 and it was easy to use and has held up well over time.
The case is also designed to have rubber feet to reduce fan vibration from transferring to the desk it will sit on. I bought the feet from Amazon and are called VOVOV Self-Adhesive Clear Rubber Feet Tiny Bumpons 0.25" in Diameter x 0.079" Height.
The individual STL files are provided if pieces need to be printed individually or laid out differently for various sized print beds. There are also three files that have the parts grouped by case and vents so that parts that are likely to have the same color can be printed at the same time. These files are as follows:
- "Case - All pt1.stl"
- "Case - All pt2.stl"
- "Vents - All.stl"
Some of these parts may need to be printed with support material from the build plate if your printer does not print small overhangs well.
The case can be assembled in a few simple steps.
- Attach the Pi 4 to the 3D printed mounting plate. Use the extra screws included with the cooler.
- Insert the threaded brass inserts with a soldering iron. There are guides to this process online. There are very tight tolerances around the inserts so be careful to make sure they are inserted squarely and do not shift. Using the lowest amount of heat possible can help with this.
- Adhere the vents to the panels and snap the port plate over the power, HDMI, and audio ports.
- Snap together the front, back, top, and bottom panels. Again, the tolerances are very tight so some sanding may be necessary, especially if support material is used for some of the parts.
- Slide the Pi 4 into the case and screw on the right and left panels. The M3 screws should end up flush with the sides of the case.
- Add the rubber feet to the bottom of the case.
These images may be helpful for reference during assembly.