RAKwireless Mini 19003 MeshCore/tastic Case 3,000 mAh Battery

Background:

I checked all the usual places for a reasonably compact case for my RAKwireless Mini Meshtastic Starter Kit (the smaller RAK19003 board paired with the RAK4630/1 MCU and radio module). 

While I found a few cases out there, none of them met all of my requirements:

• It must accommodate a 3,000 mAh Li-Po pouch battery. 

• It must snap together (no additional screws/hardware).

• It should be as small and portable as possible.

• It must be able to recharge while keeping the antenna vertical.

  • Bendable antennas perform far worse when at 90 degrees in my experience, so anything with the USB port on the bottom was also out of consideration.

So, I decided to apply my dubious CAD "skills" to make my own case that would snap together, and I am reasonably happy with it. 

I opted to use self-tapping screws for mounting the board to the case's standoffs to make things a bit more secure, but you can probably get away with using the machine screws that RAKwireless includes in the kit as long as you aren't too rough with the end product; I did this in my initial testing and it worked fine for me.  If there is a lot of interest I can create a revision that supports heat-set inserts, but doing so will make the case thicker.

I may circle back around and add a dedicated slot for the Bluetooth antenna, but honestly there isn't a ton of room in there for it to flop around and it mostly seems to stay put in my testing so far.  If you are paranoid, some electrical or Kapton tape over the solder joint that attaches the coax cable to the actual antenna board should prevent even the small risk of a short. 

Print Settings:

I printed my case in clear PETG, but it should also be fine in PLA.  Using either the "strong" or "draft" profiles resulted in acceptable quality, though I did enable tree supports to help the standoffs and USB port cutout.

Additional Hardware:

I used one of these 3,000 mAh batteries from MakerFocus, and given the battery life I have seen so far I estimate being able to get close to 10 days on a charge. 

NOTE: as with pretty much all batteries out there, be sure to flip the polarity when splicing/crimping on the JST PHR-2 2 mm pitch female connector required to battery power all three current generation WisBlock base boards.  In their infinite wisdom, RAK decided to use the opposite polarity to the rest of the industry (the negative pin should line up with the white triangle printed on the PCB).

Feedback:

I am still quite new to CAD and completely self-taught, so all feedback on my designs is appreciated.  I want to get better!