Small case for Faketec v5

I recently built several faketeck v5 rev b modules. I was very surprised that there is not a single normal case for it. Well, or I'm really messed up with AlleyCat cases))

I decided that I would make myself the most compact case for faketec v5 and was inspired by the AlleyCat case option for heltec v4. While I was designing the case, my Snapmaker U1 arrived, so I decided to cave and cast it immediately for multi-color printing.

Yes, it's not perfect and it's quite difficult to print, but I hope that someone will have more time than me and finalize it. To do this, I have attached STEP files.

My case supports the installation of the GPS GP-02-Kit module (just because I had it), a vibration motor (as far as I know, it only works for meshtastic) up to 10 mm and a square buzzer with a width of 5 or 10 mm. A battery that can fit: 103450/ 1034 50mm 3.7V/ 2000mAh.

I also noticed that when installing a high current charging jumper, the tp4056 chip is on nice!nano warms up so that it goes into protection. I think it's dangerous, so I didn't come up with anything better than cooling it with the case. I made a tower that is located very close, so close that all that remains is to put a thermal pad. Yes, you can say that plastic does not conduct heat well, but believe me, this is more than enough for such a small chip. I checked everything on a fully discharged battery. The heat dissipates quite well through the thermal pad in the plastic. The plastic itself is barely warm.

Printing procedure:

• The back is easy to print - just place it with the bottom facing the table.
• The front part is difficult. You can put the front part on the table and print without supports, but it won't be as beautiful as when you print everything face up. But to do this, you will need to add support to all surfaces except the faketec scabbard. Believe me, it's better to suffer a little bit, but then get the perfect quality of the case. It is advisable to print the front with 100% filling. This is necessary for the cooling tower of the charge controller. The front part also contains inserts for printing in a different color, if you need it.
• It is also advisable to print the buttons face up with a border and supports so that they do not fly off during printing.

Device assembly procedure: Immediately after you have removed all the supports, you need to take a piece of transparent PETG plastic and slide it into the holes for the LEDs. It will play the role of a light guide. Then we cut off the excess plastic from the front with a stationery knife, and from the back with either a knife or side cutters. If the plastic does not fit into the holes, they will need to be hardened with a 1.8 mm drill bit.

Buttons. Due to the fact that printers print with different accuracy, and the buttons may be unevenly soldered, you will most likely have to sharpen them a little. The procedure is as follows: we put the buttons on, screw on only the board, and see if the buttons are pressed. If not, it means they are too pressed down and the part that presses the buttons must be removed.

Do not solder the display to the faketec board immediately!!! Otherwise, the display may not fully fit the case afterwards. I designed the tension bars for the display. There are two possible options:

1. You insert the display into these guides and melt them to hold it. This will make it as close to the body as possible and beautiful. But this requires caution and soldering the board to the dipsleigh only when you are sure that everything is fine and you are going to close the lid)
2. Insert the display into the guides, but do not melt them. Then we put the board on top, screw it on the screws so that everything is in place. Now we press the display from the contact side to the housing and begin to solder its pins. This option allows you to remove the board with the display later, but in this case the lower part of the display will not fit completely or may eventually move away. I would just put something between the board and the display.

The antenna is installed right before you are going to finally screw the faketeck to the housing. To keep it from falling out, I designed a small tower that will hold it down after screwing in the faketeck. Only after the board is screwed on and the antenna is pressed by this tower, you can twist it and hide it in the front part. I showed it in the photo.

Immediately after you have secured the board with the buttons, display and thermal pad (do not forget to install it), you need to install the GPS, speaker and vibration motor modules if you are going to use them. After installing them, we lay thin wires and solder them.

It remains to install the battery, but so that the modules do not pop out when installing the battery, I glued them all with duct tape. After installing the battery, if it is loose in the case, you can glue it onto a thin (about 1 mm) double-sided foam tape.

Now you can snap the case shut and enjoy your life!

Category: DIY