As Thingiverse user wildseyed notes, creating enclosures for compact electronics shields can be tricky because the goal for the electronic component was to minimize the physical footprint while maximizing the interface potential. Here he does a great job creating a faceplate for the Adafruit RGB LCD Shield Kit w 16×2 Character Display and asks for your ideas in the Thingiverse comments for what to try to improve the design for CNCs and 3D printers.
I have tried to address the button problem as best I can think of right now. I may add faces to the buttons that can be glued on after the faceplate is assembled.
The design allows both CNC Router, and 3D printing. It’s a tight fit, so be sure to calibrate before (or after) printing. Even with calibration, you may need to sand the LCD window a bit, as that part is not always of uniform dimensions.
The buttons will need to be cleaned up for best results.
Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has thrilled us at Adafruit with its passion and dedication to making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed that our community integrating electronics projects into 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!
Have you take considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless EL Wire and LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects!
The Adafruit Learning System has dozens of great tools to get you well on your way to creating incredible works of engineering, interactive art, and design with your 3D printer! If you have a cool project you’ve made that joins the traditions of 3D printing and electronics, be sure to send it in to be featured here!