MSG Cyberdeck v2
msg_v2_top.webp
Last updated Mon Mar 7, 2022

This is an update to the MSG Cyberdeck introduced last summer.

Main changes are:

  • Improved air flow: the Noctua fan has been moved to the top, creating a natural upwards flow between the NUC and Pi
  • Back bay has been made a little more spacious to protect the Micro SD card at the end of the pi zero
  • Internal space has been redone to reduce the number of walls and increase space between parts. That made assembly and maintenance much easier. For example now you can take the keyboard out and put it back in without removing the NUC unit
  • Hinges have been redone to make them work better. They are still 3D printed, but the nut is now hidden
  • Right side panel has been simplified. Mini Black Hacker Hat has been replaced with a Hat Hacker Hat and the eink has been separated from the bottom panel. In the prior version there were ~50 solder joints on the panel to the right of the 7 inch LCD. Now there are none, making the assembly and maintenance much easier. It is also much easier now to unplug any parts for testing/debugging or to plug parts that would have conflicted with the SPI or I2C pins
  • LCD panel has been upgraded to a QLED version with toughened glass. Looks better, is thicker that's all I noticed
  • (Pending) Upgraded strap using fancier webbing and hardware.
  • The power plug for the NUC has been moved to the back
  • The power for the pi was previously working off the NUC, charging as the NUC was on. That limited the portability of the unit, since once the pi was out of batteries it depended on the nuc finding a 19V source to charge. Now the Pi powering is independent from that of the NUC. A barrel jack on the right side allows to charge the pi. I custom made a barrel jack - USB A cable so i can charge the NUC from any USB pack
  • Several parts have been “sculpted” for example the kvm switch now sits tight on an indentation and it is bolted to the bottom plate for extra protection
  • A 3 line indented pattern was added to the plate behind the keyboard, purely artsy stuff I came up with. Similarly I added a D-Loop screw behind the mirror to clip stuff there.
  • My wife made a very fancy and comfortable new strap for it, we will all agree that it looks great!
  • Many more small changes to the 3D Design, basically to address issues I had assembling it or using it during the first few months I had it

 

Most of the parts are the same as in the V1, the ones that have been changed are:

For convenience here are the list of the parts that stayed the same:

 

Main Components:

 

Screws & Co:

 

All the updated STL files can be found at Thingiverse and Prusa

The code used to run the eink and MicroDot can be found at my GitHub.

Gallery
Slide 1 of 10
msg_v2_gadgets.webp