I was replying to the What accessories would you like for UDOO X86? thread with a request for a case and somehow ended up spending a couple of hours drafting a spec for my ideal UDOO case. The primary purpose is to provide a simple, yet flexible design that accommodates a variety of use cases for both the UDOO x86 and the UDOO Dual/Quad. (There is a serious lack of readily-available cases for the UDOO!) It's not as fancy or visualized as Laura's modular designs. Modular design allows for a variety of configurations for various use cases. Metal chassis: Encapsulates the main board. Consists of separate front and rear faceplates; design allows for snug fit against the board, so the connectors sit flush. UDOO x86 rear plate should include mounts for two external antennae with required hookups for the WiFi module. Alternate faceplates can be produced to fit the older UDOO Dual/Quad boards. Risers: Provide additional clearance above/below main board; may provide specific functionality. One-piece, metal or plastic, mounted above chassis to provide clearance for shields. HDD riser mounts below chassis to provide a mounting and ventilation for 2.5" HDD or SSD. Custom risers can be made, or blank risers can be customized, to provide mount points for additional ports, switches, etc. Plates: Top plate with cooling fan Bottom plate with rubber feet/standoffs for desktop usage Bottom plate with screw slots for wall mounting Can be made of a variety of materials: Metal, ABS, clear/colored acrylic How it fits together: Faceplates are wrapped around the UDOO board and secured to each other with shallow, countersunk screws. The UDOO board is additionally secured to the faceplate standoffs with screws. This is the chassis. Adding a HDD: Mount 2.5" drive to plate provided by HDD riser. Fit HDD riser to bottom of chassis and secure with screws. Connect HDD to UDOO board with SATA data/power cable. Adding a shield: Fit shield to UDOO board. Fit blank riser top of chassis and secure with screws. Fit top plate to top of unit and secure with screws. Fit bottom plate to bottom of unit and secure with screws. Notes and thoughts: Metal not recommended for UDOO Dual/Quad boards with WiFi module. Should the faceplates have enough vertical clearance for a crossmember to hold a fan for the heatsink? Should the faceplates come with plastic passthroughs for the LEDs? Bottom edges of faceplates, risers, and top plates should have a lip to aid in fit/finish and assembly. The width of the chassis should be keyed to the UDOO x86 board (Or a dimension reasonable for future UDOO boards?), so the same risers and plates can be used, regardless of the board type used. If keyed to the x86 board, Dual/Quad boards will end up with ~1cm clearance, which can be used for routing SATA data and power underneath the board. UDOO x86 SATA hookup is already on bottom of board. Would be really nice if it could also fit the original UDOO Quad (Board dimensions are similar), and came with a SATA+power cable that was long enough to work with both ARM Quad and x86 boards.
