Battery Case for Tiny Apple Pi

This project is a continuation of "Making Tiny Apple Pi: Mini VMac for Raspberry Pi Zero".

(After this post, I also made "SSD Case for Tiny Apple Pi")

I wanted to carry a Tiny Apple Pi. However, I thought it would be difficult to build a battery inside the Tiny Apple Pi. I should have been able to select other power supply methods, so I intentionally decided to use an external battery.

The first thing that came to my mind was a mobile battery. Not surprisingly, Tiny Apple Pi worked fine.

But using a mobile battery is dull, isn't it?

So I came up with a "Zabuton"!?

"Zabuton" is Japanese. The external HDD of the original Mac was called "Zabuton" by the popular name in Japan. "Zabuton" is a so-called "Cushion".

* By the way, the external cooling fan was called "Chonmage" by the popular name. Have you ever heard of "Chonmage"? The old Japanese samurai hairstyle is called "Chonmage".

Excuse me, let's get back to the story ...

I thought that if I used the box that looked like an external HDD as a power source, it would be a design that maintained the style of the Tiny Apple Pi.

The outside looks like an external hard drive, so it's just a box. However, since it is for Tiny Apple Pi, I tried to maintain the design such as aspect ratio and number of slits.

The problem is the contents. Initially, I wanted to have a Tiny Apple Pi with a built-in battery. The advantage of a mobile battery is that you can charge the battery itself while sending power to your Tiny Apple Pi, and even if the power is cut off, it can be used as a substitute for a UPS, which is very convenient.

But it lacks impact.

With a mobile battery, it's too normal.

I want my friends to be surprised when they see it, "What? With this power supply !?"

I came up with it again. "Let's make it cheap!"

AA batteries. 😍

And it's about $ 5.

In the case of mobile batteries, depending on the product, it may be necessary to replace all of them at the end of their life, but with AA batteries, you only need to replace the batteries.

Even friends who don't know the Raspberry Pi will be amazed at the cheapness.

And, as you can imagine, it's easy to make.

1. The design of the external HDD box that is the case. (Just add a little design to the rectangular parallelepiped)
2. Print out the box (In my opinion, stereolithography is desirable)
3. Get a dry cell USB battery (Products with visible batteries are recommended)
4. Combine & Connect to Tiny Apple Pi
5. Switch on!

Very easy. Let's make it.

What you need for production is also very simple. In my case it is as follows.

• Resin A little (I use a stereolithography 3D printer)
• Dry cell type USB battery 1pcs
• AA batteries 4pcs (batteries included)
• Brash Seal Strip (9mm * 5mm) A little
• Type A to micro B USB cable 1pcs (short is recommended)
• Decal A little

Excuse me, but the link will be to a Japanese site.

For dry battery type USB batteries, please patiently search for compatible products.

Unfortunately, I don't own the original external hard drive. (I want)

I referred to the photo I searched on the net and designed it like this photo with CAD software.

that's all! :-)

I printed it out using stereolithography.

Because the slit is very fine in design.

* I forgot to take a photo when printing, excuse me. (I'll post a photo of Tiny Apple Pi)

that's all! :-)

Paint like a Tiny Apple Pi.

* For me, the basic procedure was "Sanding > Filling the scratches with putty > Sanding > Surfacer > Color paint > Transparent matte paint".

that's all! :-)

It's a battery, but it's smaller than the outer box. If you put it in the outer box, there will be a gap on the left and right. It will be inconvenient to carry.

Therefore, attach the Brash Seal Strip to the left and right inside the outer box. Then, it fills the gap with just the right feeling. (Please let me know if there are other alternatives)

Without this, the atmosphere wouldn't come out, right?

I used a decal that can be made with an inkjet printer.

You can easily make it if you follow the instructions on the decal.

It is okay if the apple mark is about 3.5 mm square.

Please challenge yourself.

Did you make an outer box? Did you paste the Brash Seal Strip?

Did you get the battery? Have you prepared AA batteries as well?

Do you also have a USB cable?

Now, let's combine, connect, and start up with Tiny Apple Pi!

When the production of Tiny Apple Pi settled down, I thought, "I might want to make my Tiny Apple Pi mobile" As I wrote at the beginning, I intentionally made AA batteries in search of maintainability and cheapness. (You may use a suitable mobile battery, etc. according to your preference.)

For the time being, I like this because it meets the specifications I was thinking of.

For the time being, when I showed it to an acquaintance, the acquaintance said, "How long does the battery last?" "Can I have it?"

Also, if you find a mini keyboard of your choice, the atmosphere will increase. (I paint and use a nice mini keyboard)

Raspberry Pi Zero, good, after all.

If you make something again, see you at that time.

Making Tiny Apple Pi: Mini VMac for Raspberry Pi Zero

SSD Case for Tiny Apple Pi [micro SATA]

SSD Case for Tiny Apple Pi [USB Type-C]