Designing and Printing a Case for My ESP32 WiFi Scanner
After designing my first shelf in TinkerCAD, I wanted a project that actually needed a proper enclosure rather than a mounting bracket. I’d been building a small self-contained WiFi scanner around this cheap ESP32 dev board — an ESP32 module with a built-in 1.14 inch LCD — paired with a small rechargeable battery, and it had been living on my desk as a loose tangle of board, wires and cells. Time to give it a case.
I started the same way I would with pen and paper before ever opening TinkerCAD — sketching out roughly where the board, screen and battery needed to sit, and where the case would need cutouts for the screen, buttons and USB port.
The finished design is up on TinkerCAD if you want to poke around the model yourself: ESP32 Case.
Unlike the router shelf, this one actually has to fit around real components with real tolerances, so there was a lot more back-and-forth than my first design — printing, test-fitting the board and battery, then going back into TinkerCAD to nudge dimensions and cutouts before printing again. That’s the bit I hadn’t expected to enjoy as much as I did: reworking parts on the back of getting something physical in my hands, rather than just guessing dimensions upfront and hoping for the best.
The one fit issue I didn’t fully solve in the model itself: the board had a little too much freedom to shift around inside the case once everything was wired in. Rather than go back and redesign the internal mounts again, I printed a small spacer to wedge it in place and hold it flat against the base. It took a few tries to get right — printing a couple of variations before landing on the version on the left that actually held the board snugly.
Printed on the A1 Mini as usual, and good enough for a first attempt at an enclosure with actual electronics inside rather than just a static bracket. The lid on this version is just a press fit, which is fine for now but not something I’d trust long-term once it’s being opened and closed regularly to charge the battery. Next revision will have the board mounts built in properly so I don’t need the spacer, plus a proper way to secure the lid so it’s still easily removable — either a couple of small screws into printed bosses, or embedded magnets for a cleaner look with no visible fixings.
I’ve also uploaded the print files to MakerWorld: Case for ESP32 Board with 1.14 Inch Screen, in case it’s useful to anyone else with the same board.