The instructions for assembling the Pi v3 and the previous acrylic Pi SAFE are quite similar. The only difference between the models is the location of the LED light pipes, so these Pi3 instructions apply generally to all Pi SAFE versions.
1. Your Parts!
8 x 4-40 nuts
8 x 4-40 x 3/8" bolts
2 x Clear acrylic light-pipes
4 x Black acrylic spacers
6 x Black acrylic SAFE sides (shown here with brown protective paper already removed)
0 x Raspberry Pi (sorry - not included in the kit!)
2. The Baseplate
Find 4 of the 4-40 x 3/8" bolts, and put them through the baseplate, and press the spacers on from the other side. Thee bolts will sort of stay put until you can get the Raspberry Pi on the baseplate. (If adding to a VESA mount, do only 2 diagonal screws)
3. Adding the Raspberry Pi
Slide the Raspberry Pi onto the bolts. The Pi is designed for metric M3 hardware, but we're still using imperial #4 hardware, which is a smidge bigger. The bolts may need to be screwed through the holes in the Pi.
Add the #4 nuts, and tighten them down.
4. Adding 3 of the 4 Sides
Arrange the sides as shows. The sideplate on the top in this image has the long cutout to accommodate a ribbon cable from the 40-pin expansion port. The front faceplate on the right (with the label engravings face-down) is for the communications side. The sideplate on the bottom has the ports for the power, video, and audio I/O.
Align them all up on the baseplate, and use a pair of 4-40 nuts and bolts to lock them in place.
5. Adding the SD-Card / LightPipe Faceplate
Lay the final side faceplate face-down beside the assembly, and pop the clear lightpipe parts out of their holder. It is not necessary to strip the paper off this part.
Sandwich the two lightpipes together, and push them into the lightpipe indicator hole. They will sit a bit loose until the faceplate is attached to the baseplate.
Carefully assemble this assembly to the baseplate, and finish attaching it with the remaining 4-40 nuts and bolts.
Step 6: Top Plate mounting
Notch the top plate into the slots in the rear faceplate, and gently flex the frontplate out to let the tab snap into place. You're ready to power up, with full access to the indication LEDs on the Pi mainboard via the lightpipes!
Tom from our Facebook page recently showed us his latest project, the Pingbot. In Tom's words, it's "a very small (38mm diameter), usb rechargeable, programmable, musical, remote control robot designed for maximum fun and danceability." We don't know about you, but danceability should be a priority on every robot's feature list. Check out some video […]
Solarbotics just attended the MakeFashion Gala here in Calgary. It was a glowing show of glowing lights and wearable technology. Check out the photos in our Flickr stream. Photo courtesy George Dimitrov Photography Among all the other wonderful things we've seen using our string LEDs before, there was nothing quite as intense as these outfits. […]
You would think in these days it would be a simple task to source something you want to have made. After all, MAKE, the Internet and the world "getting smaller" would have you think that it'd be an easy task. Sometime it is, and sometimes it's like this! We've been to Hong Kong and China […]
Solarbotics / Active-Tech Calgary Store Sale! Although we have a new website, we're still working on bringing over the inventory from Active-Tech into it. In the meanwhile, we're participating in the Active-Tech sale, with additional items from Solarbotics Ltd. Solarbotics_Active_Calgary_December_2019_Sale and come on by our store to take advantage of it until January 5 […]
Solarbotics has been operating for more than 25 years, bringing electronics know-how and supplies to both the electronics professional and hobbyist. We'll be happy to help you too!
Solarbotics, Ltd. is not responsible for misprints or errors on product prices or information. For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.
Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.