Jay Doscher Revisits the Recovery Kit Project, Replacing the Pelican Case with a 3D-Printed Chassis
Available in skeleton and solid variants, the 3D-printable chassis drops the cost of the project considerably.
Designer Jay Doscher has once again revisited the Recovery Kit project, this time with a view to replacing the increasingly-expensive rugged case into which a Recovery Kit is traditionally built with a 3D-printable chassis better suited for desktop use than disaster recovery scenarios.
"Starting with my first Raspberry Pi project with the Recovery Kit in 2019, I often hear feedback of how expensive the Pelican case is globally," Doscher explains. "While I really like the Pelican 1300 and 1150 cases, they are often subject to import and export duties and taxes, and while they started out around $40 a few years ago, some of them are $80+ domestically, and from what I hear, as close to $200 overseas."
"I've been toying with the idea of doing a case in CAD, but let me be clear: the designs I am sharing here are nowhere near dust, water, or any kind of weatherproof," Doscher continues, showing off a skeletonized Pelican alternative perfectly sized for the Recovery Kit and fully 3D-printable. "Hopefully they are going to look cool as something on your desk."
Doscher unveiled the original Raspberry Pi Recovery Kit back in November 2019 as a ruggedized portable "off-grid cyberdeck" built into a Pelican case. Where the original design could feasibly have been transported in the event of a disaster and remained fully functional through wind, rain, and other environmental extremes, the cost-reduced variant's 3D-printed case cannot — being made up, as it is, of a series of sizeable holes when printed in its filament-reduced skeleton form.
What it does offer, though, is the ability to put together a Recovery Kit 2 or Recovery Kit 2B at a considerably lower cost — extended the 3D-printed parts to include a frame which replaces the original Pelican case. For those who would prefer something a little more enclosed, Doscher has also designed solid panels — but warns that, naturally enough, "the solid variants are going to use much more filament than other options, and they hide the internals of the Recovery Kit, not to mention you will need to have a nearly perfect print due to the footprint on the print bed."
The 3D print files for each design are available to download on Doscher's website; "the Skeleton Build is my favorite," he adds.