A few weeks ago I built a Shield XL from Denki Oto (link). The Shield XL is a variation of the norns shield by monome (link) but with a few changes. It's a powerful little desktop box that I quickly found a home for in my performance setup (for example, my performance at Envelop on 5/25/2025 and Dolphins Aliens Angels on 6/21/2025). A popular modification for the Shield XL is to attach a PiSugar circuit board and battery to make the unit fully portable. After our travels for performing at Dolphins Aliens Angels, I decided I wanted to do the modification - as it was the last piece of gear in my setup that required a power transformer.
CrazyEmperor893, a user on the Denki-Oto Discord, provided the files for 3D printing a case. Then a lad on the Dirtywave m8 Discord, jeremy, offered to print and ship the case to me. After getting a few bits of additional hardware at the urging of 'Emperor, I was ready to modify the Shield XL.
The additional bits of hardware suggested are as follows:
- M2.5 threaded inserts - these are a breeze to install. I just lightly set them in their positions in the case, turned my not-great Weller soldering iron to about half-temperature and inserted the tip into the inserts and applied very light pressure. They sunk into the plastic like a hot knife into butter.
- A kit of M2.5 standoffs - what you'll really want from here are the 11mm standoffs with 6mm long screws on one end as well as the M2.5 screws included. You'll be replacing the 11mm stand-offs from the original Shield XL kit with these 11mm stand-offs, driving the screws through the top of the Raspberry Pi board, through the M2.5 mounting holes of the PiSugar and into the threaded inserts mentioned above.
- JST PH 2.0 Male to Female Power Connectors - the header on the PiSugar model I used (PiSugar 3 Plus) is too damn tall to fit as-is, so I had to de-solder the power header and directly wire a compatible replacement. I first tried using a desoldering gun to remove the header but found the physical restrictions to prove difficult so I ended up using my not-great Weller soldering iron to apply heat to each leg, wiggling it until it came free. Don't force it - you don't want to damage the pad. However, the pads are very long and easy to solder to.
The two areas I struggled with most during the mod were as follows:
- The power button featured with the print was, in my case, identical in size to the hole it needed to occupy. This made it very difficult to situate, as it's meant to be loose but flush - using the Raspberry Pi and PiSugar to hold it in position. I ended up using a Dremel with a sanding bit to sand down the button a small amount. This took a few careful and deliberate sanding passes but eventually came out great.
- Since the standoffs need to go through the holes on the Rapsberry Pi and then thread through the PiSugar and finally into the threaded inserts, I found the order of operations to get them to thread properly in the inserts to be challenging. Eventually I settled on the following:
- Place the PiSugar in position in the bottom of the case.
- Place the Raspberry Pi on top of the PiSugar.
- Screw a M2.5 screw into one of the 11mm standoffs.
- Place the threaded insert into one of the holes of the Raspberry Pi and use a screwdriver to drive the screw, thus driving the 11mm standoff, into the PiSugar and threaded insert below. I found this order of operations to more reliably provide a full threading through the PiSugar and into the threaded insert than starting the 11mm standoff pre-screwed through the Rapsberry Pi into the PiSugar and then trying to complete the screwing into the insert.
All said and done, it's a pretty easy modification to a Shield XL and a very worthy one. I'm very pleased to say that I now have a fully portable and battery powered setup. Have noisemakers, will travel.
Thank you to Denki Oto, CrazyEmperor893 and jeremy for making this possible.