Maker.io main logo

Assembling the Heatsink Case

2024-05-23 | By Pimoroni

License: See Original Project Raspberry Pi

Courtesy of Pimoroni

Guide by Pimoroni

Our heatsink case for Raspberry Pi 4 is a really effective way to silently cool ‎your Raspberry Pi 4, and it looks pretty slick too. Let's learn how to assemble ‎it!‎

Assembly takes just a couple of minutes, and all of the tools and bits you ‎need are included with your case.‎

Because the case is metal, and hence conductive, it's really important that ‎you fit the case while your Pi is powered off and unplugged, otherwise you'll ‎risk shorting components against the case and damaging your Pi! It's also ‎worth bearing in mind that this case will get warm whilst in use (that's the ‎heatsink doing its job), so you'll want to avoid sitting it directly on surfaces ‎that could be damaged by heat.‎

Attaching the Thermal Pads

Your case comes with some blue thermal pads that are used to transfer heat ‎between your Raspberry Pi 4 and the aluminum case.‎

Early models of this case just had one contact (over the CPU), but newer ‎ones have three contacts (over the CPU, RAM, and USB controller), so come ‎with three differently sized pads (and some spares). If you take a peek at the ‎underside of the top, you can see the protrusions where the case will make ‎contact with the Pi!‎

early_1

The best way to apply the thermal pads is to stick them to the appropriate ‎components on your Pi, rather than trying to stick them to the case, as ‎there's no way you can position them wrongly this way.‎

Carefully peel the protective film/paper off both sides of the blue thermal pad. ‎If there's a paper side, we'd recommend removing that first as it tends to be ‎stickier than the plastic side. It's important to remove the film or paper from ‎both sides, so that it can make proper thermal contact.‎

film_2

Stick the pads to the corresponding components on your Pi, like this!‎

pads_3

Fitting the Case

The top of the case is the taller piece with the cutout for the Pi's GPIO pins. ‎Position it on top of your Pi, with the posts lined up with the four mounting ‎holes on your Pi.‎

case_4

Flip the whole thing over, position the bottom case (make sure the mounting ‎holes are the right way round), and then screw in the four hex bolts using the ‎little Allen key that's included.

flip_5

Your case is now fully assembled and ready to go!‎

assembled_6

That's all folks!‎

制造商零件编号 SC0195(9)
RASPBERRY PI 4 B 8GB
Raspberry Pi
Add all DigiKey Parts to Cart
TechForum

Have questions or comments? Continue the conversation on TechForum, DigiKey's online community and technical resource.

Visit TechForum