Raspberry Pi 3 Mounting on Wood

Question

I'm working to make a MagicMirror for my girlfriend as a Christmas gift. I've got all the programming complete, however I'm still looking at what kinda of wood I'd need for it

I've got a couple questions here I guess...

1. Should I be concerned about any particular type of wood when working with electronics?
2. Is there any mounting plates I'll need for the monitor/Raspberry Pi 3?
3. I've concluded that a one way mirror is needed for this to place on top of the monitor, is this correct?

Also, maybe should be a separate question here, but is there a way I can integrate a camera system here? It'd be cool to be able to video chat with her while she using a mirror, something like a small screen of the chatee in the top corners?

Answer 1

Should I be concerned about any particular type of wood when working with electronics?

Not really. As long as it is dry, you keep some clearance between the wood and Pi, and you do not completely seal of the enclosure you should be fine.

Is there any mounting plates I'll need for the monitor/Raspberry Pi 3?

Not sure about the monitor but if you want to fix the Pi to a wooden board I'd go with a non-conducting clearance spacer (e.g. Nylon, M3, see here: Harwin Clearance Spacer) and simple screws of appropriate diameter and length.

I've concluded that a one way mirror is needed for this to place on top of the monitor, is this correct?

I am not sure how they are called, but MagPi calls it Two-Way mirror.

Good read on a full Magic Mirror Project on the MagPi, Issue 54.

Answer 2

In places where your circuitry touches the board, use a plastic insulating material (it can be bought in sheets, typically black). Be careful to clip away sharp bits.

Use 3mm and 2mm screws as appropriate. IIRC, the Pi boards all use 3mm, whereas PTH boards typically use 2mm.

A hard laminate is more rugged than a pure type of wood - always predrill with a 1-2mm drill, directly through the board’s holes if you don’t like rulers and pencils.

The advantage is very clearly that - in addition to wood being a great insulator - that you can use old school wire wrap to supply various voltages ad-hoc.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Use-a-real-Bread-Board-for-prototyping-your-circui/

If you use nails or screws, strip some wires, wrap the copper filament around the nails/screws, and solder it a bit to fix it in place.

If you need to route some wiring nicely, use small nails to make corner posts.

Contacts etc can be embedded in this material even more easily than in ABS plastic.

I personally use plexiglass, which is a bit brittle, and requires care when drilling. But it looks a lot less cr?pp?.

Usually I just lay out the bits and get approximate X, Y, then have a goon at the hardware store to cut it for me.