Raspberry Pi Power Box

Upon receiving my Raspberry Pi, I immediately got all sorts of ideas as to how I could implement it in to a fun project. My original plan was to build a case out of acrylic and implement a keyboard on to the top of it, similar to a Commodore 64. However since I have no access to tools capable of cutting acrylic correctly (and I don’t want to pay to have it laser cut), I scrapped that idea.

Next I thought I could modify an enclosure to house it and a USB hub together. I picked up a project box from Radio Shack after figuring out how much space I would need and proceeded to work with it. I eventually found it far more difficult than once though. Primarily due to having to re-route all of the various I/O ports from every side on the Raspberry Pi to a single side on the box. I knew I could get the cables and ports necessary to do so, but that would really cramp the inside of the box. In addition, having to dremel openings for all of that as well as the USB hub itself was a task I just did not want to do.

I eventually decided I just wanted a way to use a single power adapter to power the Raspberry Pi as well as the USB hub with an easy way to turn them on and off. So I picked up a smaller project box, a power plug and jack, and a switch. I wired them up so the switch could be used to turn the unit on and off (as by default, the Raspberry Pi has no switch and powers on immediately upon plugging it in) all from a single power cord. Because the USB hub and the Raspberry Pi both used 5v inputs, no resistors would be needed. In addition, the power adapter for the USB hub provided more than enough amperage to power both of them simultaneously.

So I had my box wired and working, complete with a switch. Now I needed something to house my Raspberry Pi. I found a laser-cut acrylic case from Built To Spec which I thought would work perfectly. It looked great and provided a flat surface to set the power box on without looking too out of place. Though the acrylic itself is glossy and the project box is a matte finish, I’ll try to make them match more with some glossy black spray paint. It’s all sanded and ready to go, so once I get it spray painted and finished I will post pictures of the completed box and Raspberry Pi setup.

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