iRadio

I wanted to design a home for the Raspberry Pi Internet Radio hack by Anthony Kelly for the "Give Your Hardware a Home" contest. Considering the small size of the internal components, I thought it would be cool to design a small unit that can sit on a shelf or side table. I wanted a design that was a cross between art deco and modern. It needed to be easy to assemble and service, with minimum parts for the housing, as well as pleasing to look at.

In the photo above, the radio is painted in a gloss metalic black with painted raised letters, music symbols, arrows and button text. The staff lines, the lines the music symbols are on, are open for venting and a cool look. The music symbol on the back is also for venting, not that it needs it.

The buttons are made of red silicone rubber for a long lasting soft feel. They are molded as one piece for ease of assembly, and contoured to the shape of the inside of the front housing. They are held in place by the display board. The display board is held in place using 4 self-threading screws.

The internet interface board is mounted to the rear access cover. This allows easy access to all the boards. The internet interface board is mounted with similar screws as the display board. The display and internet boards are connected using a 1.5 foot USB cable that should fit into the empty space of the housing; yes, short cables do exist. 

Since 3 of the USB ports are not being used, at lease that's what I'm guessing reading the hack, I didn't feel it would be necessary to include ports for them in the housing. However, the network port is on the same plane as the USB ports, making the design a little more complicated. I was able to model the back cover to allow access to the network port and not the USB ports. I'm not sure what function the HDMI port has, but I included it anyways. 

It can be downloaded here.