I am planning to design a custom 3D-printable case for the BPI-R4 Pro. Since I am not an expert 3D designer, working with existing STL (mesh) or DXF files is quite challenging for me to get the dimensions and clearances right.
Would it be possible for the team to share the STEP or native CAD files of the board? Having a solid 3D model of the board would be incredibly helpful for me (and the community) to design accurate enclosures. @sinovoip
DXF and 3d model have already been published at Banana Pi BPI-R4 Pro Wifi7 Router board design with Mediatek MT7988A | BananaPi Docs
I checked the docs, but the available 3D files seem to be in STL (Mesh) format. While STL is great for printing, it is very difficult to work with in CAD software (like Fusion 360 or SolidWorks) for designing a precise case because itâs just a surface mesh, not a solid body.
A STEP (.stp) file would provide precise geometry, curves, and component clearances, making it much easier to design a custom enclosure without measuring everything manually or trying to reverse-engineer the mesh.
If a STEP file export is possible, it would save a lot of time for anyone designing a case. Thanks again
Understandable, but you bought a board without a case!? I wouldnât expect the case for months!
I see shielding areas on the back of the board, but there is no shielding.
Good morning Lorem_amicus Michael Fischer, thank you for your kind reply. The only thing is that a simple email saying the case was put on sale would have cost very little, although from your words I see that idea never crossed your mind.
Some days passed between when you sent me the product and when the case went on sale. Honestly I didnât expect any email or anyone to answer my question; although I see that my message annoyed you, which is a good sign â thereâs life in the Banana team, itâs a great day.
Since you replied, you left things half done â it seems you didnât finish reading my questions. If youâre so kind, since you know everything and believe we shouldnât ask anything that might bother the Banana team, would you be so kind as to answer the rest of my questions?
Will accessories be put on sale so we can move our beloved and powerful BE14000?
Also, as colleague Marazm says, on the back of the board there are protective pieces â what are we supposed to do with them, eat them with potatoes? Or do you plan to put any accessory for them on sale?
And what about the famous BE19000 â do you know if weâll ever see it for sale, or is it just a myth from the photos? Donât tell me itâs all because of hardware, because if that were true you would never have released the BE14000, which was sold as the most powerful on the market â and that was true, it was the only one â albeit noisy and with defective revisions.
As I said, thank you for looking after your customers and for your kind words to people who ask questions and give ideas. A simple email â which, as I see, never occurred to the thoughtful heads of a company â would have been enough.
Donât tell me now that itâs a development board; I know perfectly well what that is.
Have a good day. Iâm sorry if my words offended you, but they were not directed at you personally.
If not at you, then at the person responsible for the Banana team â or maybe you were the person responsible for selling the case, and thatâs why you answered my question.
And as I said, donât tell me itâs just a development board â I know that very well, because afterwards itâs up to me to make patches for it, and after two years you still havenât even managed to provide a solution for the BE14000.
Besides, I spend my money with a company that treats its customers well, and Iâll spend it however I like â thatâs why I ask. The board didnât come to me in any giveaway.
Iâm only asking whether you will release accessories, which is really what interests me, although I see that you were only worried that the case was released a few days later â as if Iâd won it in the same giveaway?
That I was lucky and should be grateful that the case has been put on sale and that I can enjoy it.
I hope the rest of my questions will be answered, although I very much doubt any executive of this leading company in the sector will bother to reply to my questions; only low-level employees come out replying with their best thoughts and whatever their intelligence gives them to respond.
I hope you enjoy your workday and that itâs very productive.
First of all, youâre welcome!
Iâm not angry about your question! You can say and criticize anything, including me 
.
The best way to describe this board â what it is and what it is not:
Banana Pi themselves decide with every new release how far or how close they are to a real consumer product.
Some things are getting better:
Some things are not getting closer to a consumer product:
âIf youâre so kind, since you know everything and believe we shouldnât ask anything that might bother the Banana team, would you be so kind as to answer the rest of my questions?â
Again: You only bought the BPI-R4 Pro board. Even Banana Pi cannot tell you exactly when the BE19 will be released:
Did you see the BE14? There is no shielding installed (compared to AsiaRF, âŚ):
It could be that heatsinks (especially on the BPI-R4 Pro) will have some shielding effect, but Iâm not sure. The release of the BE14 was accompanied by some hardware bugs.
Banana Pi released a new taller case for the R4 (not the Pro) with an additional heatsink for BE14 after years (and I think for the BE19 as well)!
Iâm not saying you made a mistake, but if you want more than just the board, you could have waited. I will do so until more information about the board is published.
What I also want to say: you are not forced to buy the BE19 (or the BE14). There are AsiaRF, 8devices (used in the new Turris Omnia NG), and Compex modules. I cannot recommend anything; this is just information âŚ
Good luck!
Good morning Lorem_amicus Michael Fischer, thank you for answering the rest of the questions I asked.
Just one more point of emphasis: as I said, I know what I bought â a development board: Banana Pi BPI-R4Pro Router Board MediaTek MT7988A.
Some completely defective products: the BE14000 should never have been released for sale, and neither has the BE19000.
You only have to look at the forum: with every new feat a thread is opened by the person in charge at the company, filling it with garbage and never answering their customersâ questions.
How easy it would be to pin 5 threads about the current Banana boards where they could put things in order â specs, repositories, accessories, images â instead of opening, as I said, useless threads for every supposed discovery. I could list many more, but itâs not worth it.
BPI-R4 Pro Case design - #47 by Xiaomi_ax3600 Banana Pi BPI-R4 heatsink - #7 by kvic Banana Pi BPI-BE1900 Wifi7 Module design - #70 by Lorem_amicus BPI-R4 Pro OPENWRT-V24.10.0-Master-Devel source code on github
It seems that the mind â or the AI â of the Sinovoip BPI team leader canât do more, and with every discovery or big step forward we get a new thread. I could give many more examples but itâs pointless.
I know very well what Iâm talking about: I have two Banana Pi R4 boards with 4 GB RAM, one Banana Pi R4 with 8 GB RAM, and finally the brand new development board Banana Pi BPI-R4Pro Router Board MediaTek MT7988A.
But as I said, when it comes to answering questions it looks like they are thinking about how to make a few more dollars instead of replying to the many people who have questions on the forum.
We have a BE14000 with unresolved noise issues for two years, later BE14000 units that are defective for which no solution has been given, and the mythical BE19000 waiting at the gates â perhaps the AI will order its release, but because of the problems of its predecessor the BE14000, maybe itâs even worse, and thatâs why it only exists in photos.
Meanwhile, customers ourselves have to make cases, because what they have sold us over these two years â and continue to sell â are toasters.
We have had to produce patches to make the defective BE14000 work with an EEPROM, but of course with every kernel you have to redo all the work to get it running and to set the proper power because they havenât bothered to find a solution.
I invite you to look at the temperatures of my main case â Banana Pi R4 8 GB RAM. The image is mine and I even put the Banana Pi logo as a nod, but I can assure you the image is not from the Banana team and neither is the case: everything was made by me, including the patches, which are included in the image. They did not come from this official forum; I had to make them myself.
If anyone from the Banana team has temperatures or work like this, I invite them to publish it.
Stop with the pointless threads and worry about your customers. If it werenât for people outside Banana, this development board would have stayed just that.
Itâs only a suggestion: not everything is about money, but respect is earned, not bought.
I will wait for my case and I will not open my mouth again; I will continue working for the Banana Pi R4 community.
Two years ago I didnât buy a development board, I bought a router as advertised by the Sinovoip BPI team leader in their AliExpress store â I still have the image that says ârouter OpenWrtâ; it doesnât mention âdevelopment board.â
What I bought and what I have in my possession is indeed a development board: Banana Pi BPI-R4Pro Router Board MediaTek MT7988A.
And I repeat: I will continue spending my money here because I do what I want with it. What I donât expect are answers from the Banana team or effective solutions from them.
They still donât listen to customers. Itâs a shame â a good product (and it really is good) â that they have no answers for their customers, only garbage threads with no responses.
Have a good weekend.
!