How do you fit a pibow to a pi5 with active cooler already fitted? do niot want to cut the fixing to get the coo,ler removed.
I don’t have a Pi 5 or that Pibow case, just so you know.
I don’t think you can? It looks to me like its, attach case, then active cooler. At least one layer of the Pibow extends into free space under end of the cooler.
Yep, layer 3 goes between the cooler and the Pi so you’ll have to remove the cooler to fit the Pibow. You can squeeze the bottom of the plastic bolts that hold the cooler in place to remove it (and the thermal pads unpeel pretty easily).
Thank you @hel - I was struggling with this too.
I was able to remove the active cooler and fit layer 3. There was a spare nut in the “spanner” supplied with the kit - I used it to keep the layer that activates the power switch in the right position.
I do need to adjust the frame so the power lead for the active cooler can be inserted properly.
Hi I am unable to get the active cooler to stay clipped to the rpi5 when using the RPI5 Pibow case. The spring loaded pushpin (the one near the usb sockets) will not stay clipped. There is too much pressure on this pushpin when it has to go through the cooler, the case layer and into the pi. The pin goes in OK but pops out later. The only way I could get this to work is to remove one layer from the Pibow case (the red layer on the rainbow version). Then I add the top layer to hold the rpi5 in place but use spacing washers on the bolts to replace the missing layer. Not ideal but seems to work. I wonder if anyone else had this issue. rdgs
Sorry to hear that - drop us an email at support@pimoroni.com with side on photo of the layers if you haven’t already. The thickness of the acrylic can vary a bit across each sheet so you might have got a red layer that’s a bit on the thicker side?
Little bits of acrylic caught between the layers can also them not to sit right, so that’s also worth checking for.
Hi
As requested, attached is an edge-on photo of the rpi 5 and Pibow rainbow case assembled by leaving out the red case layer. There are 4 spacing nuts on the corner screws that allow the top layer to be set at approximately the correct height and to hold the pi in place.
For comparison, the red layer is also visible in the picture on the bottom of the assembly but is not actually attached.
Its hard to tell from the picture, but it looks like the red layer is a bit thicker than the others and this may be the source of the problem.
I would think, if push comes to shove, you could swap in metal hardware. Keep the springs and put in metal screws / bolts, washers and nuts. You just have to figure out if its M2.5, M3 etc.