Hi All
Nice idea with the open source cloud cad software, however I have to admit I'm quite useless when it comes to cad. I've drawn my idea in PSP so u guys get the idea. Basically the grey part is the small case, and the sides are addons for a revised design that can cater for the 10" screens.
The middle of the case has a 5 1/4" bay that has the iso standard mounting holes and is fully enclosed (except for the rear)to keep the hdd/optical motor noise away from the pi and dac (there usually isnt any but it doesnt hurt to be sure. The pi would have mounting lugs close to the front of the case without interfering with the touchscreen. The touchscreen would have lugs to screw into on the inside of the case, so no screws will be visible on the outside except for the rear panel, where there would be a thin strip of metal at the top and bottom for the rear panel to mount onto.
The case bottom, front, top and sides are all one piece. The rear panel and mounting panel slide into the rear of the case as a whole unit (makes building easier, and maintenance/modification too).
(I know its quick and dirty but I usually draw my projects out on paper with lead pencils ;\)
I'm buying my 5 1/4" bay device and a bunch of cables next week and they should arrive a week or two after that, so I'll be able to fit them all together and take photos with measurements. Positioning the mounting lugs for the screen will be the biggest challenge (and by that i mean we can easily mount it if we take into account that the screen itself isn't perfectly symmetrical, so we would need to offset the lugs in relation to the hole cut for the screen.
I dont know if anyone can sketch up a design using the above url based upon what I've drawn. The 5 1/4" bay fortunately has an ISO spec which we can draw measurements from...
-D
Edit - Depending on peoples preferences and space avail, the pi lugs might have to be located more towards the rear, to allow the pi and the hat and anything that comes out (im thinking of wires that need to have space to bend etc). The rear panel can also be provisioned with 2 usb ports, a hdmi port, 3.5mm headphones, etc. One thing to consider, by enclosing the pi in the case, we do get to shield from RF interference and other ambient electrical noise, however the onboard bluetooth and wireless would stop working. In the purposes where people want to use that, we can have the design 3d printed in a plastic. I personally would prefer to use ethernet and disable the onboard wireless but I know not everyone has that in mind.
