After the initial announcement of the Astro Pi case by the Raspberry Pi Foundation and ESA there were demands for them to be available for sale but the costs were prohibitive. 5-axis CNC machines are not just expensive to buy, they are expensive to run; the foundation pointed out that each one cost about £3000 (roughly USD3800 or CAD5000 at this time) to make. A while later the foundation released a set of STL files for a simplified design that could 3D printed and many people have succesfully printed a case of their own – but it’s still plastic.
As you can see, ours is not; our replica case is aerospace grade 6063 aluminium, just like the units on the International Space Station. After machining it is bead blasted and finally laser engraved. It looks fabulous and feels amazing. Interestingly, the Pi 3 WiFi capability does not seem to be much impaired by being inside the Aluminium case.
But that’s not all. We provide a package of items you need to build your Astro Pi case, including the Switchboard.