Building Your Pibow

2023-12-07 | By Pimoroni

License: See Original Project

Courtesy of Pimoroni

Guide by Pimoroni

Our lovely Pibow keeps your Raspberry Pi protected from bumps and bruises. ‎This tutorial covers how to build the Pibow Coupé 4 for Raspberry Pi 4 but if ‎you have a different model of Pibow and Pi, then the process is much the ‎same.‎

We've got a separate tutorial that covers how to build the Pibow Zero and ‎Pibow Zero W.

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Preparation

Take your Pibow out of its packaging and keep the little bag with the nuts ‎and bolts handy. The little diamond-shaped piece of Perspex with a hole in ‎the middle is a tiny spanner to help tighten your Pibow's nuts.‎

Before we start to build your Pibow, use your fingernail to peel the white ‎protective film from each of the plastic layers. Some of the layers, especially ‎layer 3 (the red one here) are quite fragile, so be careful when peeling off the ‎film!‎

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Stacking the Bottom Layers (0, 1, and 2)‎

Each layer of your Pibow case is labelled with a number at the top right ‎corner, as in the image below. The bottom layer (coloured blue in our rainbow ‎Coupé) is labelled on its underside.‎

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Start with layer 0 and lay it down as in the picture below, with the cutout for ‎the micro-SD card at the left-hand side and square set of LEGO holes at the ‎bottom-left corner.

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Lay layers 1 (green) and 2 (yellow) on top, with the number upwards and in ‎the top-left corner.‎

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Placing Your Pi

The next step is to place your Pi on top of the layers you've stacked so far. ‎Layer 2 should sit around the edge of the Raspberry Pi, with the micro-SD ‎card slot at the left-hand side.‎

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Layers 3 and 4‎

Layer 3 is the trickiest layer to place. It sits on top of your Pi's PCB and goes ‎around and between a lot of little components. If it isn't sitting right, then ‎don't try to force it down or you'll risk cracking it; a gentle shake or wiggle (of ‎the Pi and Pibow) will hopefully get it to lay flat.

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Layer 4 is the top clear layer. It gets placed with the etched labels readable ‎from the top and the large cutout over the Pi's CPU. Place it on top now.‎

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Securing Your Pibow

The final step is to secure your Pibow with the nylon bolts and nuts. Push the ‎bolts through the four holes in the very corners of the Pibow, from the top.‎

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Screw on each of the nuts on the bottom of the Pibow. You can use the little ‎Perspex spanner, or just use your fingers.‎

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All of the layers of your Pibow should sit flat and flush with each other, as in ‎the picture below. If they aren't, then loosen the nuts and bolts, give the ‎layers a gentle wiggle until things settle, and tighten them back up again.‎

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Your Pi is now safely ensconced in its Pibow!‎

Easter Egg!‎

Here's a little easter egg! Did you know that our new Pibow Coupé 4 case is ‎LEGO-compatible? The two sets of holes on the bottom of the Pibow let you ‎build a little set of feet for your Pibow or build it into larger LEGO projects!!

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