Around 1.5 years ago, I got into this problem. I was preparing to launch my product into the market that is based on Raspberry Pi 4, then all of a sudden, Raspberry Pi 5 came into the market.

A lot of folks were asking me whether we will have support for Pi 5 down the road or not, and soon enough this question was extended to other types of single board computers etc.

The problem was that Pi 5 moved the location of the ethernet port. This meant I needed to design a new enclosure for it.

I previously had this idea to make a generalizable/customizable, yet stylish enclosure that does not look like a piece of junk, and use swappable modules on a common chassis to create a versatile and extendable enclosure.

I had tried to keep things as modular as possible in my original design but this was testing the limits of my modular design.

So I thought to myself, what if I make the real panel swappable to accommodate various port hole configurations? So I sketched up the design and sent it to my manufacturer and got some samples. We updated CNC’s post-processing program to add some grooves to allow the rear panel slide in place.

When I bought the NVIDIA Jetson Nano, I knew I had to make this.

So I spent a few hours designing the insert tray that holds Jetson Nano, the rear panel, and 3D printed them. I had to iterate a few times to get it to some acceptable level for the first prototype. I am planning to refine the insert tray since it is a tool less setup (snap-fit) and I have not yet gotten the pleasurable snap click

More about the enclosure:

The top material is made of blank PCB. It is an invitation and signal that you can make a functional PCB if you want. Around the PCB, goes a translucent light diffuser ring (made out of polycarbonate). This is the original ring I used in Ubo Pod design. If you end up putting some light inside the closure, this can make it visible from outside.

I am planning to add an extra PWM fan at the bottom to improve airflow and overall cooling.