The Budget Deck

With electronics prices being a bit higher here than in places like US or Europe I’ve set out to build what might be the first of it’s kind, a budget conscious Cyberdeck.

Parts used:

Raspberry Pi 4B 2GB - 3215 rub - $43.50.

3.5" GPIO screen - 777 rub - $10.50.

“2x18650 shield thing” - 370 rub – $5.00.

Wireless keyboard with trackpad - 400 rub - $5.50.

3 switches - 100 rub - $1.50.

20x20x10 5v fan – already had one but probably like $5.00.

Under $10 in filament, failed/prototype versions included.

7 ordinary PC screws of which I have like a kilogram of them.

M6x50 bolt and M6 nut. Random size I chose, seemed big enough to act like a hinge.

Recycled a small length of an Ethernet cable for wiring.

Grand Total: ~5700 rub / $70.00

https://aliexpress.ru/item/4000870234968.html

I don't know why the seller calls them "18650 shields", since they're a different size from the rpi, but oh well. It’s got a type-C input, so that's modern enough. The two cells are ran in parallel and it will work with just a single 18650 if that’s all you have available.

Used black hotglue to isolate the terminals in places where I've soldered them, just in case. Installed a tiny 20x20x10 5v fan, just because I had one lying around. It’s switched on by the third switch on the front and it makes the whole thing emit that fan rumble, which is fun.

The screen is just a noname one from aliexpress and I had a problem with calibrating the resistive touch but it seemed to resolve itself, dunno what I did differently.

This little machine will be quite helpful in my day job since I work as a "IT jack of all trades" in a small company. Things like accessing and testing network switches that are otherwise inaccessible, just plug into eth and go. I think this will replace my t420 in my "work" bag.

Further mods probably will include a carrying strap and a WIFI dongle with monitor mode just for a bit of fun and maybe a latch of some sort to keep it closed. For now I'm happy with how this thing turned out.