Although SIO2SD is a fine device, it's usually supplied as a bare PCB. Various custom cases have been made, but many SIO2SD owners use the board "as is". Mine was without a case until late 2009, when I decided to put it inside an XM301 modem housing. After two attempts, I ended up with this:

Although my conversion is still held together with tape, the project was a complete success and generated a not inconsiderable amount of admiration. My attempt at using the XM301 casing for this wasn't the first and probably isn't the best, but it works and it's in keeping with the XE styling. Since I've now been commissioned to make another, I've decided to document the job in pictures (something I didn't do first time around).

So: this is what the postman brought me this morning:

The customer had helpfully provided everything I required, right down to the SD card. This SIO2SD looks different to my green PCB, but it follows the same design. Having done this before, I figure I can make an even better job of it second time around. So here goes...

First job is to remove the pin array for the LCD, which is effectively mounted upside down on the original board. What we're going to do is replace the pin header with a twisted ribbon cable, soldered directly to the LCD pads and the PCB to save space. This will allow us to flip the LCD display the right way up, and have an arbitrary and variable amount of clearance between the board and the LCD panel.

While the feint of heart may prefer a more refined method, my approach to removing the pins and the header involves cutters and then a solder sucker. I first cut apart the plastic housing of the header pins underneath the LCD panel, then snipped the pins short prior to clearing the stumps with the soldering iron and solder sucker:

When complete, it should (and did) look like this:

Next up was the main PCB. I followed more or less the same procedure to clear the holes:

The last things to be removed were the LEDs, which will be mounted remotely on top of the case:

That's the easy part done. I'm leaving the buttons in place on the board; I'll just connect the case-mounted switches in parallel with them since they're too awkward to remove and aren't really doing any harm where they are (and they're also handy for diagnostic and testing purposes when assembling the unit).

Next time, I'll wire up the LCD, buttons and new LEDs, before getting started on modifying the XM301 case.