Mount raspberry pi to SSD bay

[Wrighty]

Hi all

I'm wanting to mount my pi inside my H700i PC case. I'd like to mount it in an SSD drive bay. Have any of you found any cases that I can purchase online or that I can 3D print?

I can't find any on Thingiverse.

Thanks

[thagrol]

Define "SSD bay".

If it's for a single 2.5" SSD anything other than a zero/zeroW is unlikely to fit. SSDs are normally 12mm tall or less (yeah, I know I'm mixing imperial and metric, that's life) so a Pi is simply too tall.

3.5" (HDD) and 5.25"(CD/DVD) drive bays? Should be OK but ti depends on what you have conencted to the GPIO header.

Last time I needed to mount a Pi in a 5.25" drive bay I used an old ATA/IDE HDD swap caddy. With a little creativity, adapters for fitting 2.5" drives into 3.5" days could also be used.

[hippy]

The case seems to be one of these, SSD trays shown at 7:05 ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYYj_k5qXkQ

I don't think you could squeeze a Pi into the window facing tray, as that doesn't look tall enough, but the trays on top of the PSU could perhaps be modified. I'd personally put it in a concealed HDD tray (8:43) or in the back (13:09).

However you do it I suspect it's going to be a DIY job, and maybe a design it yourself task.

Because I use cases which don't have windows on the sides, can't be seen into, I don't have to worry about aesthetics. I simply bolt add-ons into my PC cases using extension bars or L-brackets and place them wherever they fit. Pi's can bolt onto plastic plates which bolt to the trays, bar or bracket, float in free space. Plastic kitchen chopping boards make suitable baseplates using a junior hacksaw.

A couple of hoops of 'knicker elastic' has held my 3.5" HDD in my 5.25" tray for a good few years now. Perfect acoustic isolation for when the disk rattles

That might work for a Pi too, but it depends on what connects to it. Having sockets and connectors on multiple edges can make that a PITA.

[thagrol]

For that case I'd skip using one of the included SSD trays. Instead I'd mount the Pi to a piece of 1mm or 2mm styrene sheet (paint it black if you can't get any self coloured black) and mount that to the grid of holes above the PSU space.

If the mounting holes of the Pi align with the grid you could skip the styrene sheet and just use some M2.5 standoffs combined with suitably sized washers.

FYI, styrene sheet is also know (at least in the UK) as plasticard. Try your local model shop.

[bomblord]

If the SSD bay is removable and you have the clearance just stick your pi on it, mark the holes with a marker, get an appropriately sized drill bit and go to town.

[LTolledo]

using any of these would be fun on your project:

adhesive-spacer-A.jpg (16.86 KiB) Viewed 1612 times

adhesive-spacer-B1.jpg (6 KiB) Viewed 1612 times

adhesive-spacer-B2.jpg (32.13 KiB) Viewed 1612 times