This "Pi-Slim" Case Protects and Cools a Raspberry Pi Without Bloating Its Height
Designed with a choice of three different hot-swap covers, connected by magnets, this case design makes good use of a salvaged laptop fan.
Pseudonymous creator "CreativeBuilds1236," hereafter simply "Builds," has designed a slim 3D-printable shell to house a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B/B+ or Raspberry Pi 4 Model B single-board computer — with room for an optional cooling fan and a physical power button.
"The case is designed compactly sized to fit snugly around your components," Builds says of the design, created in Tinkercad. "This case also maximizes active ventilation and airflow with its well ventilated design [and] with the choice of three different cover plates you can print any one to your liking."
The build is less of a case and more a frame, designed to fit around a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B/B+ or Raspberry Pi 4 single-board computer with a magnetically-connected cover. The three choices for this latter feature include an entirely open cover, for those who use Hardware Attached on Top (HAT) accessories, a more solid cover that provides some semblance of protection, and a mesh-style cover which offers the most protection at the cost of airflow.
"Airflow," in this case, comes courtesy of a DC blower-style fan salvaged from an old laptop, the size of which goes some way to explaining the increased footprint of the case over a bare Raspberry Pi board alone. The blower pulls air in through the cover, then blows it out of the side — through, Builds explains, a heatsink, though the positioning and dimensions of the heatsink are not included in the documentation.
More information on the case is available in Builds' Reddit post, while 3D print files are available on GitHub under an unspecified license.