by In this article, we will explore some of what we think are the best 3D printed cases for the Raspberry Pi.
A case is a great way to protect your Raspberry Pi from outside sources and make it look more visually appealing. With the newer Pi’s, a case can even help improve the cooling of your device by better-directing airflow.
While you could go out and buy a new case, a more interesting and fun option is to 3D print your own Raspberry Pi case. Many makers around the internet have gone out of their way to design had share their unique cases. There are many places you can search for cases, including Thingiverse, Printables, and Makerworld.
3D printing a case for your Pi is a more cost-effective solution, especially if you already own a 3D printer. You can purchase decent 3D filament fairly cheaply, and most 3D printed cases use very little filament.
Over the next few sections, we will show you some of the best 3D-printed cases we have personally printed and tried out. Some of these offer unique designs or are just simply something we thought looked and printed nicely.
We will try to reference the Raspberry Pi’s that these cases support, so if you want to print your own, you will know it will work with your device.
If you have a 3D-printed case that you have designed for the Raspberry Pi or feel like we are missing a great one, be sure to drop us a comment below, and we will check it out.
Best 3D Printed Cases for your Raspberry Pi
Below, you will find a list of the 3D-printed cases we have found to print and work well with our Raspberry Pi.
To 3D print all of these cases, we have used a Bambu Lab X1 Carbon. It is an excellent printer that allows us not to have to worry about re-configuring everything every time we want to 3D print something.
PiStation 2 by Cypherous
The first case we are checking out is the PiStation 2 by Cypherous. This case is designed to reflect the design of the PlayStation 2. It is a perfect choice for those who are turning their Raspberry Pi into a retro game console with software like RetroPie.
This particular case supports both the Raspberry Pi 4 and 5.
Unlike some 3D-printed cases for the Raspberry Pi, the PlayStation 2 case doesn’t require any screws or nuts to be put together. It has been designed so that it will all lock together using friction.
While printing this case, we used a smooth print plate, but the look of the print would have come out even nicer if we stuck with the recommended use of a textured plate.
The PiStation 2 case does require supports to help with the printing of the lip that goes around the case. One adjustment we did have to make while 3D printing this Raspberry Pi case is we added some support blockers to the bottom text, and a slight one to where the controller ports sit to help stop the generated supports from ruining the look of the case.
3D Printed Raspberry Pi 5 Case by Nikolica
This next Raspberry Pi case by Nikolica is one of the more intricate 3D printed designs that we have seen for a Raspberry Pi case. It features a ton of airflow-helping holes that retain a somewhat stylish design.
On top of helping airflow, this design also greatly reduces the amount of 3D filament you need to print this case. The lid for this case is designed to be interchangeable, so you can put down a different lid depending on whether you need GPIO access or space for an NVME hat.
This particular version of the case that we printed here is purely for the Raspberry Pi 5. However, Nikolica also has a version for the Raspberry Pi 4.
With our Bambu Lab printer, this case printed incredibly nicely with little to no issues during the print process. While the case doesn’t require or need supports to print, it does have some built-in punchouts for features like the Raspberry Pi’s USB ports. These push out with a little bit of force and we felt to be a nice alternative to having to print with supports and leaving it up to the slicer.
Minimal Raspberry Pi Case by Azlan777
Sometimes less is more, and with this minimal Raspberry Pi case by Azlan777 that is definitely true. This design features a rather muted design and is, in a way, the polar opposite to some of the cases we have featured here.
In the middle, this case features a nice round cutout so that the active cooler of the Raspberry Pi 5 can easily pull in fresh air. This is also one of the few 3D-printed cases we have seen that bothered to include a cutout for access to the GPIO pins.
If you are after a case that is more minimal in design, you definitely can’t go past this one. When 3D printing it, you don’t have to worry about supports, and thanks to its rather clean design, you won’t have to stress about printing mistakes completely ruining the look.
Best of all, this 3D-printed case for the Raspberry Pi is designed to friction fit. Essentially it should all clip together without you needing to use screws.
Please note that this case only has support for the Raspberry Pi 5 and is very much designed to be combined with the official active cooler.
Raspberry Pi Case by Stamos
This 3D printed case by stamos comes off as having a very clean design with its use of the hexagonal pattern, making it a good fit with several other popular 3D printed projects.
The bulk of this case is designed as one unibody, with the top plate being completely interchangeable. Removing the lid is also made relatively easy thanks to its clip design. All you need to do is push in the clip to release it from the rest of the body, making maintaining your Pi a little bit easier.
Additionally, Stamos provides modified versions of his STL with raised outer walls to better allow the case to accommodate the vast range of HATS. There is even a blank version of the lid that you can modify to add your own functionality, such as a slot for access to the GPIO pins.
One thing with this case is that you will need access to some M2 nuts and screws. The nuts get inserted into the bottom of the case and then the screws are used to mount your Raspberry Pi to those.
We used the AMS functionality of the Bambu Lab printer to get the more two-toned colour scheme that Stamos shows off in their renders. I didn’t do the best job at “painting” the layers on, so this didn’t quite come out as cleanly as I would have liked it, but I can definitely see how nice this would look with the right color combination.
Conclusion
Hopefully, you have found the same cases we liked to be interesting as well. These can easily be printed on most 3D printers and can typically be used without needing additional parts.
If you have a 3D printed design of your own or have found one that you feel like we missed, be sure to drop a comment below, and we will try and check it out.
If you liked this article, we recommend taking some time to explore some of the many Raspberry Pi projects that we have on offer
