Short Crust Case

[ShortCrust]

Hey Everyone,

Just another quick update to show an example of how the GPIO cable will integrate with the case. The implementation will be refined for the final version, but this gives a good idea of what it will look like. Check it out below.

GPIO Cable.JPG (54.05 KiB) Viewed 6250 times

GPIO Slot.JPG (44.99 KiB) Viewed 6250 times

Cheers,
Short Crust Team

[enwi]

This is a fantastic design solving many problems with the Pi's form factor, but there is one thing that I really want in case that I feel could be incorporated: a power switch!

To have to continue to manually unplug-to-restart from such a nice case would be incongruous - and a small push-button style switch could be incorporated at the rear with the power-supply extension you have already made.

And it might just be an idea to include adhesive rubber feet with the finished product for those that just want it as a desktop showpiece.

Otherwise it looks fantastic, but a power switch would be a killer unique selling point.

[ShortCrust]

Hey Everyone,

Taken us a little bit more time than expected but we're proud to announce that Short Crust is a now live on crowd funding! Check out www.indiegogo.com/shortcrust to view our campaign. Thanks in advance for your support!

Cheers,
Short Crust Team

[Peteman100]

Finally! This is so awesome.

[ShortCrust]

Hey Everyone,

Just thought we'd respond to enwi's comments about a power switch.

We like the idea of a power switch, however the amount of available space around the re-routed microUSB connector is very minimal. We only really have the depth of a microUSB connector and not much more. Any bigger than this and the Raspberry Pi wouldn't be able to snap into place. At the moment we've briefly considered some options for doing this, all of which had issues. That said, we may find a way to fit it in there somehow with some further investigation. It's definitely something we are planning to give some more consideration before manufacturing as we agree it would be a valuable feature.

One thing we are relatively confident we could do is to put a power switch on the front of the case.(spliced into the wires connecting the board with the new power jack) - check out the image below to see where we mean. Considering that this would take away from the clean look of the case, we're interested to see how many of you would or wouldn't want this. Great to get some feedback from you guys here.

Potential power switch.jpg (39.37 KiB) Viewed 6154 times

Cost is a separate issue, obviously it would have to be viable for us to do without a large impact on the current cost, however we don't have a clear picture of this at this stage.

In regard to feet, we should have mentioned earlier that we're planning to supply the case with some simple stick on rubber feet to stop it from sliding around. We also decided that to make assembly / dis-assembly of covers more reliable, and also to provide more secure mounting points for any home grown add-ons, we'll be using brass inserts and machine screws rather than self tapping screws for the covers.

While we want to make this the best case we possibly can, unfortunately none of this will be possible if we can't cover our initial setup costs. So if you like the case, please support us by pre-ordering on our funding site: http://www.indiegogo.com/shortcrust

Once again, thanks for all the great comments and your support!

Cheers,
Short Crust Team

[Peteman100]

Short Crust Team,

Since you're planning to donate some of the money raised to the Raspberry Pi Foundation, have you asked if they'd be willing to post something about your campaign? It would get you a lot more attention.

[milhouse]

For what its worth, I'm not overly keen on a power switch.

For a start, it's not really a power switch at all since the USB charger will still be on at the mains. Similar functionality can be achieved with a cheap USB extension cable and an inline switch, so building a switch into the case (spoiling its lines, adding cost) doesn't seem necessary or even desirable when other solutions are possible/cheaper/better.

By and large, though, my Pis will be on 24x7 so a power switch (no matter how it is implemented) will be pretty much redundant.

Turning the Pi off by removing mains power to the charger, of course, is the best option (particularly for the environment).

[ShortCrust]

Hey guys,

Just a quick update on the status of the funding campaign.
We're now 2 weeks in with approx 8% of funding and just under a month remaining.

Peteman100, we weren't originally going to contact the guys at raspberrypi.org, however as the funding campaign is looking like an uphill battle at the moment we thought we'd give it a go. We're not really surprised that we haven't heard back as wouldn't expect to be given any special treatment, but worth a shot so thanks for the advice.

So it should become clearer over the following weeks whether we're likely to reach our target, but at the moment we need all the help we can get. If you like the case and haven't checked it out yet, support us by making a contribution over at http://www.indiegogo.com/shortcrust/

Cheers,
Short Crust Team

[yakko TDI]

I hope you guys are able to bring this to market. It is one of the best looking Pi cases I have seen. I really love how you have dealt with the SD card.

[metaljay]

You'll struggle to get funded without more publicity. You Gould contact the foundation like people have suggested

[rmac]

It seems such a pity that this case is lacking support. I've placed my order but currently it looks like it won't be made.

With the advantage of protecting the SD card - where current cases leave it sticking out at the end - Short Crust has it protected by the case

And moving the power connection to the same end as the USB/network - you can have three cables emerging at one point making it much neater.

Please check it out
http://www.indiegogo.com/shortcrust/x/1874378

[ukscone]

it's a nice case. if i was in the market for a case it'd be on my shopping list.

it looks a bit like my old coby mp3 player that i really liked.

[Boezelman]

I also ordered 1!
I hope you will get enough support to continue the project!

[Candunc]

Wonderful case, I think I might be getting this for my Pi!

[milhouse]

I've just contributed, although with only 6 days to go and 28% funding reached I'm not expecting you to reach your funding goal (in which case my contribution will be returned), but I figured that nothing ventured, nothing gained...

Assuming you don't meet your funding goal, I do hope you can bring this case to manufacture by other means - maybe in partnership with one of the bigger distributors (eg. Farnell/MCM/CPC etc., preferably not RS...), as its by far the best looking case around (and also protects the SD card, which none others seem to).

[jfornango]

Gentlemen (and ladies, if appropriate), this falls under the catagory of what us Americans call a Home Run. This case is very professional looking, and it looks like you are taking everything into consideration.

Once you have the design down pat, different colors/materials should be a minor issue. I hear a whole line of cases coming from this.

If I can ever get a Pi in hand, you are definitely in the running for my case selection.

[Rushy]

Are there any samples available?

[Dweeber]

The project failed to make it's goal.

[ShortCrust]

Hi Everyone,

Our funding period has now finished and unfortunately we weren't able to reach our goal. We'd just like to take the opportunity to thank all of you for all the great feedback on the design.

As we’ve received such great feedback, we’re still considering our options for continuing the project independently of the funding campaign. At this point we’re still not sure if this is feasible though, so no guarantees, but if we decide to continue developing Short Crust we’ll make sure we post an update here so you can follow the progress.

Once again, thanks for commenting on and supporting our project! Hopefully you haven’t heard the last from us.

Cheers,
Short Crust Team

[malakai]

Such a pity what a great looking design I would try kickstarter next time maybe. Please don't give up it is so unique and sleek.

[Belkiolle]

Absolutely. If you put it on kickstarter I'll gladly throw the $34 dollars I just got refunded right back your way.

[drpain]

I want one, really is an awesome design and would be perfect for a Media Center.

[realtek]

hmm, I love the look, but there is no access to the GPIO pins which makes it quite useless if you want to use to control anything externally...

[MoloMuy]

hello

excellent case, is the most beautiful I've seen for Raspberry PI

I find it interesting that the power will change locations to have collected more cables

is for sale?
where you can buy if for sale?

thank you very much

[jfornango]

Sorry to hear the funding fell through.

realtek, look at page one of the thread. There is a slot for the GPIO ribbon to feed through. If you look at the design, this wasn't intended to be a developer case (constantly in and out and changing things). It is a very nicely finished production case, used where you want a clean and professional look.

A small suggestion on the power switch idea (if I may). You would have to make the case a little longer (maybe add 2 mm), but a small, flush-mounted slide switch (in black) could fit above the SD card fairly easily. I would assume that prototyping on a 3D printer makes it easy(er) to impliment changes, provided they aren't to terribly massive.

I could see spending between $20 - $30 for something like this.
(hmmm... thinking I need to get my 3D printer completed so I can join in this fun )