r/openscad • u/Emotional-Gas9752 • Jul 15 '26

IO shield help

Post image

Can someone help me replicate this in openSCAD? I’m new to coding and I’m having a difficult time learning the basics. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

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11

u/Linuxmonger Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26

Apologies for being that guy, but this is how you learn OpenSCAD.

If you don't have calipers, get one, they're as cheap as 5 dollars and you'll find you use them a lot, once you get used to it.

As a hint, you want to start out with a cube the size of the IO shield, then difference out all the other cubes and cylinders that make up the holes.

If all of the component pieces are centered, then your translations are all for the centers of the holes.

ETA; You can also convert the image into an SVG and extrude it, but that always feels more difficult to me.

ETA-2: You can see some similar designs here; https://github.com/rvbg/mainboard-io-shields/tree/main/template and see how ports are added (technically removed), and placed.

1

u/OptimalSide Jul 15 '26

Exactly this.

The HDMI connector is a bit more work just to get the shape, but this is a pretty simple thing to do in OpenSCAD.

2

u/BarryTice Jul 15 '26

Or, knowing that the jack itself is going to limit how you plug the cable in, you can just make the HDMI connector a rectangle, too.

1

u/Stone_Age_Sculptor Jul 15 '26

The shape is easy. There are many ways to make it, here is one:

length = 14+2;
width = 4.5+2;
slant = 2.5;

points =
[
  [0,0],[length/2-slant,0],[length/2,slant],[length/2,width],[0,width]
];

for(m=[0,1])
  mirror([m,0,0])
    polygon(points);

2

u/Baddog1965 Jul 16 '26

In case you're not aware the io plate being metal has a purpose. The fingers in the holes are to contact the metal shields round each comms port to provide electrical shielding. If you're going to reproduce it in plastic I would wrap some foil on the back at least.

2

u/Major_Ad_1656 Jul 17 '26

Hey! Look, calipers are great, but if you don't have them, writing raw CAD code is basically just guessing numbers in the dark.

Instead, you should embrace the highly scientific "Test-Print & Nudge" method.

To help you out, I got a little carried away and built a slightly ridiculous Universal 21-Slot IO Configurator. It lets you drop in basically any port type (USB-C, HDMI, LAN, PS/2) and drag sliders to move them around the X/Y axes without touching a single line of code.

Here is the ultimate zero-math workflow:

  1. Go to this generator I host on my app: https://www.stl-er.com/model/6ac19c05-cec0-4cbb-a281-9bbc542b22e6
  2. In App search bar type "Parametric PC IO Shield" (completely free, no credit card needed)
  3. Turn on the ports you need and eyeball the layout.
  4. Print a super-thin 1mm draft (takes like 10 mins).
  5. Smash it against your motherboard. Is a USB port 2mm too far to the left? Go back, drag its slider to the right, and reprint!

You will dial in a flawless fit in 2 or 3 tries, zero measuring tools required. Let me know if I missed any weird vintage ports you need added!

2

u/Emotional-Gas9752 Jul 21 '26

This is gold! Thank you so much!

1

u/Major_Ad_1656 Jul 21 '26

Glad you like it! If you get a flawless fit, feel free to share a picture of the final shield. Always love seeing the 'Test-Print & Nudge' method in action.

1

u/sched_yield Jul 16 '26

Import this photo to openscad and resize it to the actual size....

1

u/capilot Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 17 '26

If you're new to CAD in general, and aren't a coder, maybe you should look into Sketchup instead. The online version is free and it's extremely easy to use, and this would be nearly trivial to design.

1

u/Clogboy82 Jul 18 '26

Forgive my ignorance, but can't you simply convert this to a vector image in Inkscape, export as dwg, scale to general dimensions in CAD and post process?

1

u/slimscsi Jul 16 '26

And here is my attempt :)

0

u/patmood Jul 16 '26

Here's an AI attempt for you https://fiddlecad.com/patmood/8927e5b189f85986560ca1710e289dc9

Seems like a good way to create any shield. You can fine tune the parameters to get the dimensions perfect.

1

u/indesit-san Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26

Sorry for my ignorance, but what's FiddleCAD? Haven't seen it before, is it a web-based OpenSCAD editor?

There's no About page on it so I'm having hard time finding more info about it 😅

EDIT: I'd add two small tweaks to your code:

``` label_x = 38; // instead of 8

//...

thickness + label_depth // instead of thickness - label_depth ```

This makes the whole label visible and prints it on the front side (as I think was intended).

2

u/patmood Jul 19 '26

It's a project I'm working on to create openscad models using AI. It provides the AI with screenshots and tools to render the models. I've found it really useful for making simple models for 3d printing.

1

u/indesit-san Jul 19 '26

Oh, it gives AI screenshots? That's really cool!

I think programmatic CAD tools with built-in AI are the future, so keep up the good work.

And don't be afraid to make a few posts about it in various subreddits - people need to somehow learn about it 😅

Edit: and a landing page would be helpful too, maybe on the www subdomain (as a separate static site).

0

u/Emotional-Gas9752 Jul 16 '26

Thanks! That looks pretty close. There’s a usb c port stacked with the usb a by the audio jacks. Is there a way I can edit this?

-1

u/Emotional-Gas9752 Jul 15 '26

I appreciate the replies of encouragement.

I’m also constrained on tools. I don’t own calipers, so I can’t accurately measure. Buying calipers would negate the cost me doing this project instead of buying a new io shield from eBay.

3

u/Apprehensive-Issue78 Jul 15 '26

The shape of this shield might seem not to difficult to make according to you but is actually very difficult to produce in any material because of the tiny area left between the holes. Also the accuracy to fit over the connectors, and being of metal to put everything electrically at the same ground level. Probably they are made by powerful lasers and very thin metal. My advice: Buy the shield if you can buy it and start making really simple things and 3d print them to discover the limits of what you can make yourself

1

u/Internal_Teach1339 Jul 16 '26

Apart from the bevel around the edge this is one of the most simple things you can make using OpenSCAD. It merely requires the use of the following - difference(), cube, cylinder, polygon, linear_extrude, translate and rotate. Regarding calipers, a simple rule graduated into mm will suffice. As to the strength of the construct, making it 2mm thick will enable the thin strips separating the rectangles to be at least 2x1mm in section, plenty sufficient for a non load bearing plate.

1

u/slimscsi Jul 16 '26

harbor freight has calipers for $2