3D Printing Shenanigans - MinisForum Network Adapter

Hello!

Task

Wendell has reviewed several Minisforum PCs. They are great and have multiple ways to get more out of your tiny PC. PCI-E ports, SSD connectivity, M.2 slots, etc.

Wendell has an adapter similar to this M.2 B & M-Key:

He wanted to put it in the Minisforum M.2 Slot, but there would be nowhere to put the new NIC.

Design

I unscrewed the NIC from the metal PCI-E attachment and I’m trying to create something to house it. Wendell had the idea to make a skirt-type design where it will attach to the backplate and be held to the bottom by screws.

I came up with this design, and it’s a WIP, but I think the concept is good:

Zipped Object File:
v3 minisforum backplate network adapter.zip (3.0 KB)

The skirt has to be fairly tall because the cable has to go from the M.2 adapter to the top-side of the NIC PCB card. If it was shorter, there wouldn’t be enough room for the cable.

It’s basically a skirt to go around the backplate. To hold it in place I would need some loong and skinny screws.

I made the walls only 1mm thick because I wanted it to be bendy. If the walls are bent behind the original hooks on the backplate it could kind of be held in place.

The nic port looks a little weird because I didn’t make it big enough LOL I had to melt it some.

Todo

  1. I want to make some way to hold the network card pcb in place better. In the version listed above ^ I have 2 posts to put the card on as well as a little catch on the back. I think these could be designed better, however.

    PCB Posts


    PCB Catch


  2. I also don’t have the measurements for the dual port NIC so I kind of had to guess how far apart to make the 2nd opening. I will update that when Wendell gets it in.

  3. 3D Print the catches from the backplate onto the skirt so that the skirt slots into the bottom firmly.

If you all have any suggestions please lmk xD

4 Likes


I just did a design like that…

So I used M3 heat set inserts for mounting as well as a 2mm lip around the RJ45 port to help hold it in place so the screws/inserts were not the only structural support.

What filament and printer are you working with?

Printables this is the model before I added the 2.5gb M.2 A+E card.

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Thank you for your feedback! L1 has a Prusa MK3 and we have PLA filament.

it looks like your printer could use some tuning based on the images.

What thickness is the wall design (not the wall thickness in your slicing software)

General Tuning questions:
Nozzle size, and material?
Nozzle and Bed temperature settings?
PLA brand or link?
Have you calibrated esteps?

Based on the images you posted I am wondering if you have tuned the filament flow because it looks like in some areas your under extruding and others your over extruding.

Hi.

Thank you for 3D model and wanted to share my feedback. This is how it looks “assembled”:


I wasn’t able to get long screws so zip ties came to rescue :slight_smile:
I have following proposal for improvement of the design:

  • Please add some stiffness elements to the “skirt”. I know that initial design was made in the way so sides would bend a bit, but after all is stacked, I think more stiffness is needed.
  • As it is quite difficult to find long (~40-45mm) screws I propose add two mounting pads to each corner - one at the bottom of “skirt’s” corner to screw the “skirt” to minis’ case and another one in ~middle of “skirt’s” height (or exactly the distance of height of the “neck” of bottom plate’s mounting hole ) to screw the bottom cover to the “skirt” itself. Pardon my artistic abilities :wink:

And thanks to Wendell for the idea of turning a minisforum PC into a router :wink:

1 Like

Wow! Thank you for the feedback. I know…I couldn’t find any screws either… I’ll try that suggestion and see how it goes!

I can do that for sure, give me just a bit and I’ll have another (better) version for you :slight_smile:

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