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docs(shell): size the rear Ethernet, DC and power-button openings - #13

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jewbetcha merged 4 commits into
open-flight:mainfrom
HuggeK:docs/rear-io-dimensions
Sep 23, 2026
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jewbetcha merged 4 commits into
open-flight:mainfrom
HuggeK:docs/rear-io-dimensions

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@HuggeK

@HuggeK HuggeK commented Sep 22, 2026 •

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The shell page names the three rear openings but never gives their dimensions, so there is no way to tell which coupler or jack fits without opening the STL and measuring it. This adds the numbers.

Measured from the release STLs; identical on Shell-x1202, Shell-x1206 and Shell-x12-a1:

Opening Size Centre (model X)
Ethernet 16.0 × 14.0 mm cut-out, plus two Ø4.0 mm screw holes 27.0 mm apart 40.0 mm
DC power Ø12.5 mm 73.0 mm
Power button Ø12.5 mm 161.8 mm

The face all three sit in is 3.0 mm thick — the number most often missed, since many panel connectors are cut for thin sheet metal and will not close on 3 mm of plastic.

⚠️ The reference Ethernet coupler does not fit a v1 shell

reference-models/connectors/Ethernet_Panel_Coupler.step is a round coupler with a 21.7 mm thread, and the v1 shells have no round Ethernet bore at all. Sweeping every cut-out in the sloped rear face returns exactly five — the rectangle, its two screw holes, and the two Ø12.5 mm round holes. Nothing at Ø21.7.

That fits how those models arrived (#8 contributed them as references for other enclosure projects), but anyone buying from them for a v1 shell ends up with a coupler that cannot fit. The page now says so. The DC reference jack is the opposite case and is noted as representative: Ø11.0 mm barrel, Ø15.5 mm flange, a correct if slightly loose fit.

Polarity warning

A 5.5 × 2.1 mm barrel plug has no keying, so a centre-negative supply mates perfectly with a centre-positive jack and reverses the rail into the Pi, the UPS and both radars at once. The X1202 and X1206 are both centre pin positive — per @JedS on openflight#273, cited because Geekworm's own wiki states it nowhere.

How the dimensions were measured

The openings lie in one sloped rear face, plane 0.85y − 0.52z = 144.3 (inner) to 147.3 (outer), giving the 3.0 mm thickness. Bore-wall triangles inside that slab were clustered by shared vertices and each cluster measured in the face's own in-plane frame; listing every cluster with no size filter is what rules out a missed opening.

The Ethernet cut-out resolves to exactly 8 triangles, confirming sharp corners rather than rounded, at 16.00 × 14.00 mm. The round holes come out at Ø12.50 (12.47–12.53 across the facets) and the screw holes at Ø4.00, all through the 3.01 mm wall. Re-running on all three v1 shells returns identical numbers.

These are measured from the meshes rather than read off the CAD source, so please sanity-check them against the Fusion model before merging — particularly the 27.0 mm screw spacing, since that is the one a buyer cannot fudge.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

claude and others added 2 commits September 22, 2026 19:40
The shell page named the three rear openings but never gave their
dimensions, so there was no way to tell which panel parts fit without
opening the STL and measuring it.

Measured from the release STLs and identical on Shell-x1202,
Shell-x1206 and Shell-x12-a1:

- Ethernet: 16.0 x 14.0 mm cut-out, plus two 4.0 mm dia screw holes
  27.0 mm apart on the cut-out's horizontal centreline
- DC jack:  12.5 mm dia
- Button:   12.5 mm dia
- The face they sit in is 3.0 mm thick

Each opening now lists what to check on a datasheet before ordering:
body size, screw spacing and panel-thickness rating for the Ethernet
coupler; barrel thread, flange diameter and 5.5 x 2.1 mm socket for the
DC jack. The 12.5 mm dia button hole takes a 12 mm momentary button, not
the 16 mm button that gets referenced elsewhere, so that is called out.

Adds a barrel-jack polarity warning. A 5.5 x 2.1 mm plug has no keying,
so a centre-negative supply mates perfectly with a centre-positive jack
and reverses the rail into the Pi, the UPS and both radars. The Geekworm
X1202 and X1206 are both centre pin positive.

Also counts the two M3 screws the Ethernet coupler needs in hardware.md,
which the shell hardware table did not list.

Co-authored-by: HuggeK <48095810+HuggeK@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The reference models under reference-models/connectors/ came from open-flight#8, where
they were contributed as dimensional references for other enclosure
projects. The Ethernet one is a round coupler with a 21.7 mm thread, and
the v1 shells have no round Ethernet bore at all: an exhaustive sweep of
every cut-out in the sloped rear face finds exactly the 16.0 x 14.0 mm
rectangle, the two 4.0 mm dia screw holes, and the two 12.5 mm dia round
holes. Anyone buying from that model for a v1 shell would get a part that
cannot fit, so the page now says so.

The DC reference jack is the opposite case and is noted as representative:
11.0 mm dia threaded barrel, 15.5 mm dia flange, 18.5 mm long, which is a
correct fit in the 12.5 mm dia hole.

Also sources the centre-positive claim. Geekworm's X1202 and X1206 wiki
pages do not state the barrel polarity either way, so the page now points
at the exchange where Geekworm confirmed it rather than implying the wiki
carries it.

Co-authored-by: HuggeK <48095810+HuggeK@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
claude and others added 2 commits September 22, 2026 20:13
The DC jack section said nothing in this build needs soldering, which
contradicts Required hardware on the next page over: an iron is needed to
heat-set the inserts. The goal is to keep soldering to a minimum, not to
reach zero. The advice to buy a pre-wired jack stands on its own.

Co-authored-by: HuggeK <48095810+HuggeK@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
The 16 mm button is being removed from the project's shared Mouser
project, so contrasting against it points at a part nobody will be
looking at. The section states the requirement directly: a 12 mm
panel-mount momentary push button.

Co-authored-by: HuggeK <48095810+HuggeK@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

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Read through it - looks fine to me.

@HuggeK
HuggeK marked this pull request as ready for review September 22, 2026 19:49
@jewbetcha
jewbetcha merged commit b0dab8b into open-flight:main Sep 23, 2026
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3 participants