I had not come across an inexpensive enclosure for the Uno Q so I decided to design one that can be 3D printed. I am sharing it on github with design files (blender) so the design can be modified by anyone. I am sure the design could be improved.
The design is modular so that one can attach a module to house a USB-C dongle or not. To keep everything simple I designed modules to be attached to each other with small zip ties.
I used TPU95A filament to make it impact resistant and durable. I printed my first one in black as that is what I had. As shown below the USB-C dongle has been enclosed in the same stack.
The module for the dongle could easily switched for module containing a dongle with different dimensions. I chose a dongle that was not expensive and that had dimensions similar to the Uno Q. So far I have only tested this dongle with the power passthrough, a USB 3 flashdrive and a webcam.
Edit: I have not tested the Ethernet port (my current project does not require it). The HDMI works as expected.
Thanks for posting this.
May I suggest that the Showcase section of the forum might be a better place to put this. Then it would not get lost so quickly in the general noise that is the normal forum churn.
I wondered about that but thought since it is only useful to users of the Uno Q it would be more visible here. Also, I was thinking it is not project specific.
How did you manage the cables? For me it was major problem with enclosing Uno Q + dongle (unfortunately I have huge one)
Just observation regarding Blender/openscad - why not just subtract Uno Q stl from a cube in openscad? It is one line of code and model perfectly fits: agi-robot/3d/Arduino_Base.scad at main · msveshnikov/agi-robot · GitHub
And final note about prices - I managed to get $3 dongle and $3 webcam with mic on Ali - both work perfectly.
I pondered on what I would do regarding the short cable between the dongle an the Uno Q for quite some time.
- I did not want an enclosure so large that this cable would be enclosed.
- I did not want there to be movement between the Uno Q and the dongle.
- I did want to have the option of using host mode on occasion even though I planned to use it mostly in network mode.
As it is the short cable from the dongle just loops back to the Uno Q in a simple gentle half turn loop. It is a high performance cable so on needs to avoid sharp bends. Currently I have the enclosure between shelves on my shoe shelf. I have a webcam on a tripod and no cable management to speak of between them. This is temporary. The webcam will eventually be mounted on the wall and the enclosure too. That cable will likely eventually run along the top of a coat rack.
Regarding the power connection, ideally I would like to have a power outlet strategically located on that wall. In the short term there is a power cord running along the moulding of a doorway.
This enclosure does not address cable runs. I provides mechanical shielding for the Uno Q and dongle and allows heat to escape by air convection. It also constrains movement between the two devices.
Did you actually try it?
The Uno Q was supplied as a STEP file. This is not a format that OpenSCAD reads. FreeCAD can import the STEP file and export a STL file. 3D Builder can fix errors in the resulting file. OpenSCAD is good at doing boolean operations on constructive solid geometry but doing it on complex STLs can be problematic.
There are additional issues with that approach. The model supplied by Arduino is simplified. Not all the small components are represented. One relatively large inductor is represented by a part that is not the right shape. The female headers on the top side of the board are through hole components with pins that extend out of the bottom of the board. Those pins are missing on the supplied model.
Another issue is that many components create heat that needs to be dissipated. The board is designed to be cooled by air convection. This means there needs to be space around components so that heated air can move away from the heat source.
Sure I did it. But I only need pins to properly secure Uno inside robot chassis, see photo
Just using Blender for functional prints seems strange to me, especially if you have openscad skills
Yes, I could have made approximately the same enclosure without blender but had I used only OpenSCAD it would have taken longer to do the same thing and it would have been more tedious. I started using OpenSCAD in 2013. I only started to use Blender after I retired at the end of 2023. Initially I used it just for things OpenSCAD cannot do. That is making videos. Lately I have been using Blender for practical prints just to save time and effort and because now I can.
Blender takes longer to learn and things can go frustratingly wrong but it can be a lot of fun too.
My prior experience with AliExpress has been a very long wait and then a refund. The only other thing I got from them was endless advertisements. It was just an $8 dollar (CAD) order so this was not a big deal. I have know way of knowing where issue was.
