Its been a while, I have been playing with the case design and tweaking it all to match the V0.2 boards. Mostly its the screen adjustments for the higher resolution screens, and the changes for the add-on cards using the M.2 socket.

So i want the add on boards to be able to be swapped without tools. The normal method of securing M.2 cards is with a screw, but that is easy to loose, and needs a small screwdriver which can be fiddly.

My original plan was to have some little clips which would hold the board in place. The clips would be removable and replaceable in case of damage.

The clips were included with in the last print, and they sure were small!! I wanted to get the mounting system sorted before spending too much time on the add on boards themselves, so i printed a dummy board for testing (please excuse the fuzzy photos)

While the clips do work, they are super hard and tricky to unclip.

So with some thinking happening, I have come up with another plan

https://cl-32.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Screen-Recording-2025-01-23-220257.mp4

The add on board would of course need to be tweaked to move the cutout to suit, but i think it might be a better solution

Might need some more thought/polish, but its already looking like a better solution...

So after posting about my plan on the ol socials, someone over on Twitter (im not calling it X) said that it would be fun to make it work like a GameBoy power switch. For anyone unfamiliar the sliding action of the switch locks the cartridge in place.

I had a bit of a play with the CAD to see how that would work, and it might be possible. The latch would be on the thin side though, so I thought I would check the datasheet for the M.2 socket and see how it works

Unlike the normal M.2 sockets I have come across in the past, once the card is slid fully into the socket, it no longer wants to jump upwards, and so that changes the way of thinking for the latching method.

Im actually thinking that for small and light boards (like LED's or sensors, etc) would be fine with just the grip of the M.2 socket. Anything like a LoRa board with an antenna or such might need something to stop it coming out (in the direction of 5)

I think its time to get some of these add-on boards routed and ordered and see how it pans out.