Enclosure route 2 — hand-made, no 3D printer

Four variants, cheapest and best-fitting first. All reuse the X240 palmrest + keyboard deck as the top; they differ only in what closes the bottom.

Variant	Cost	Tools	Fit	Looks
E1 Original X240 base cover	$22–25	screwdriver, rotary tool	perfect — it was made for this deck	stock ThinkPad
E2 Laser-cut sandwich	$30–60	none (service cuts it)	good	industrial / transparent
E3 Hammond sloped console	$50–60	drill, nibbler or jigsaw	deck overhangs 9 mm	desk instrument
E4 Wood frame	$10–20	saw, drill, sandpaper	good with care	warm, one-off

E1 — Reuse the original base cover (recommended)

FRU 04X5184 / 00HT389 / 0C64937 — the moulding itself is labelled SCB0G39215 or AP0SX000I00, and eBay listings use any of these — ~$22–25 used (eBay 04X5184, eBay SCB0G39215). It is the laptop’s own bottom shell: every screw boss, clip and edge profile already matches the palmrest. Zero CAD, zero measuring.

What you get for free: the rubber feet, the rear USB/port cutouts (one becomes the cable exit), the mainboard standoffs (the board mounts on them), and the stock M2.5 screw set.

Steps

1. Strip it. Remove any residual mainboard standoff screws, the fan duct, the battery latch mechanism and the battery-bay door. Keep the standoffs.
2. Plan the board position. The Rev A stripboard / Rev B PCB sits where the mainboard was, FPC connectors toward the keyboard’s cable exit (front-centre of the deck). Mark which original standoffs line up with the board’s M2 holes; the Rev B PCB is drilled to match at least three of them. For Rev A stripboard, drill to match.
3. Clear the ribs. A few internal ribs will foul the ZIF connectors or the Pico. Cut them flush with a rotary tool or flush cutters; the cover is thin ABS/PC and cuts easily. Cut less than you think — the deck’s rigidity comes from the cover.
4. USB exit. Use an existing rear port opening (the old Ethernet or USB cutout). If the Pico’s Micro-USB cannot reach, fit the optional USB-C breakout at the opening and wire TP1/TP2/TP3 (see ../hardware/components.md). Fit a cable-tie strain relief anchored to a standoff.
5. Mount. Adhesive M2 standoffs (or the original metal ones with M2.5→M2 adapters) under the board; keep ≥ 3 mm between the board’s underside and the cover.
6. Route the FFC. Gentle S-curve, ≥ 5 mm radius; tape the extension to the cover so it cannot shift during closing.
7. Close. Deck face-down on a towel, cover on, original screws in the original holes. The stock rubber feet give the typing angle.
8. Seal. The original gasket is already there; add 1 mm foam only where light shows.

Serviceability is the stock laptop’s: remove the screws and the cover lifts off.

E2 — Laser-cut sandwich

A flat bottom plate plus perimeter spacer frames, stacked and bolted with M3 standoffs.

Files. ./dev build cad writes them to out/cad/, all derived from the same solids as the printed case by cad/export_plates.scad (projection(cut = true)), so the two routes cannot drift apart:

DXF	What	Material
plate_bottom.dxf	Floor outline with every hole: M3 at the deck bosses, M2 for the sled, light pipe, feet, tilt feet, reset	3 mm cast acrylic or 1.5 mm 5052 aluminium
plate_spacer.dxf	Perimeter ring, wall_t wide, with the USB notch in the rear edge and the M3 holes	3 mm acrylic × 6, or 12 mm plywood × 1, or 6 mm acrylic × 3 — whatever sums to internal_h (18 mm)
plates_sheet.dxf	Bottom + spacer + box insert on one sheet	one upload

Order. Upload the DXF to SendCutSend (aluminium, acrylic) or Ponoko (acrylic, plywood); both quote instantly. Outlines are nominal — the service applies kerf. Budget $30–60 for a bottom plate and six acrylic rings.

Hardware. 8 × M3 × 20 mm F-F standoffs (or 8 × M3 × 25 mm bolts + nuts), 8 × M3 × 6 mm screws into the deck’s bosses from below, M2 × 6 mm for the sled, 4 rubber feet.

Stack, bottom to top: plate → rings (2–3 mm foam tape between the top ring and the deck as the gasket) → deck. The sled bolts to the plate through its four M2 holes; the USB cable leaves through the notch, with a cable tie through two extra 4 mm holes you drill 20 mm inboard.

Acrylic shows the electronics; aluminium is stiffer and can be bonded to the board’s GND through one standoff. Both need feet.

E3 — Hammond sloped console

Hammond 515-0950 — 300 × 200 × 58 mm steel/aluminium sloped-front console, ~$50–60. The X240 deck is 309 × 210 mm, so it overhangs 4–5 mm per side; that is acceptable — the deck’s own edge hides the console’s edge.

1. Mark the opening on the console’s top panel: print plate_spacer.dxf at 1:1 (or trace the deck) and draw the outline 5 mm inboard all round. Mark the 8 boss positions from params.scad (deck_boss_positions).
2. Cut the opening with a nibbler or a jigsaw (fine metal blade), file the edge, deburr. Keep the cut-out panel — it becomes a template for the gasket foam.
3. Drill the 8 boss holes at 3.5 mm in the remaining lip; countersink from below.
4. Mount the board on adhesive M2 standoffs on the console floor, rear-centre, with the USB cable to a rear grommet (cable_d 4.5 mm → 6 mm grommet hole).
5. Fit the deck: foam tape on the lip, deck down, M3 screws from below into the bosses.

The sloped front gives a wrist-friendly angle; the spare internal height is harmless.

E4 — Wood frame

A 6 mm plywood base with a hardwood perimeter, height internal_h (18 mm) so the stack matches the printed case.

Cut list (finished sizes; mitre the strips at 45° or butt-join and plug):

Piece	Size	Qty
Base, 6 mm birch ply	309 × 210	1
Side strip, hardwood 18 × 12	210 long	2
Front/back strip, hardwood 18 × 12	309 long (285 inside the sides if butt-joined)	2
Rear strip USB notch	15 wide × 10 deep, centred on usb_x	—

Sequence. Cut the base square (check diagonals). Glue and pin the strips flush with the base edge, USB notch cut first. Clamp, cure, sand to 180, break the edges. Finish (oil is forgiving; lacquer is harder). Drill the 8 boss positions through the base at 2.5 mm (print plate_bottom.dxf 1:1 as the template) and countersink from below. Fit rubber feet at foot_positions.

Mount. Board on adhesive M2 standoffs; cable tie through two 4 mm holes for strain relief; foam tape on the frame’s top edge; deck on; M2 × 12 mm screws with washers up into the bosses.

Common to all hand-made variants

• Keep the FFC bend radius ≥ 5 mm. A printed cable guide is nice; a loop of tape around a 10 mm dowel does the same job.
• Put the strain relief on the cable, not the connector: a cable tie through two holes in the base next to the exit.
• Probe, wire and flash on the bench before closing any enclosure. Opening a glued wood frame is not fun.