Recorder case V7 (pre-release): one-piece SD-free sleeve

Recorder case V7 (pre-release)

A one-piece slide-in TPU sleeve for the camera-free XIAO ESP32S3 Sense recorder running the SD-free firmware v2. No lid and no glue: the board stack slides in from the open back and clicks over a small floor detent.

Printed, fitted and flown with firmware v2 on 2026-10-22. The core DIY build and first real-flight milestone are complete. Flight sample and test report. Downloads remain pre-releases with the documented USB follow-up.

• 23.76 × 20.68 × 11.18 mm, 2.15 g in TPU (V6.5: two parts, about 4.1 g).
• No microSD access. The recorder now stores audio in internal flash and shows up as a USB drive.
• USB window sized to the receptacle (9.44 × 3.71 mm) with a 12.4 mm overmold recess so cable plugs seat fully.
• Mic grille (2 × 3 holes, 1.0 mm) and 2.2 mm poke holes for the B (BOOT) and R (RESET) buttons.
• 1.2 mm side walls; the zip-tie tab from the first draft was removed.
• STL, 3MF (opens standing in Bambu Studio), a socket-removed STL variant, editable OpenSCAD source, previews, photos, dimensions and print notes.

Print it standing, USB face down, as saved. Dry the TPU first to avoid stringing; my first print, laid flat with damp filament, came out stringy.

Remaining evaluation: repeated-flight retention, measured vibration, wind-noise protection and in-flight temperature.

I'm new to 3D printing, so there's probably a better way to design this case. If you come up with a different or improved design, please submit a pull request! Issues with ideas, photos, or printable files are welcome too.

Files: source, specifications and print notes. RELEASE-SHA256SUMS.txt covers the release assets; SHA256SUMS.json covers every file in the package.

Firmware for this case: fw-v2. Previous case: case-v6.5.

The downloadable October 18 packages and their checksums are unchanged; the current field-test documentation is linked above.