Sign in Subscribe

The Recovery Kit Nano

The Recovery Kit Nano

While I work to round out the details of the Recovery Kit Ultra, I thought it would be a great time to share the smaller "desk buddy" that is the Recovery Kit Nano. The nano has a humorously small 5" screen from the company who brings you the many variants of the Raspberry Pi. This small 5" screen with a tremendous bezel is really left to act more as a showpiece on your desk, but it does so with a surprising amount in common with the Raspberry Pi Recovery Kit, the Recovery Kit Mini, and even the Recovery Kit 2! The variations don't stop there, as I'll get to in a bit.

Ease of Assembly

The Recovery Kit Nano and its slightly-larger sibling the Mini are a result of my efforts to make the RK line easier and cheaper to build. With inflation and tariffs it's been a tough go for some other builds, so I tried to have something fun yet really easy to build. The good news is that this build can be assembled with just some hand tools and needs no soldering. You may need to use some crimpers and heat shrink tool on the more complex one, but the simple variant I will share below only has a few parts and can assemble in a few minutes.

Simple to Use

These are after all, still Raspberry Pi computers enclosed in Pelican cases, so what you use them for is really up to you- but only one special item is needed, and that is to rotate the screen since it's assumed by the Pi team it will be used in portrait mode. Simply add this to the end of your /boot/firmware/cmdline.txt file:

video=DSI-1:720x1280M@60,rotate=270

Aside from that mod, this is just after all a cool little Pi computer to sit on your desk or in your lab. The screen is pretty small but sharp, and not something I would suggest you use for a desktop UI. For a console it's pretty small but usable, and you can always change your OS's console font size if you like.

Simple to Modify

The simple build was left to be as easy to modify as possible, with three centered dimples on the back of the 3D printed frame- this is to help you center your drill bit and have it be centered on the face for whatever you may choose to add.

Additionally, all the parts can be removed and re-used for another project without breaking any of this build. Feel free to borrow the screen for your next idea, reuse the toggle switch or USB connector you name it.

Simple Build of Materials

If you cannot print this yourself, I am doing a limited run which can be purchased for the tactical version, premium matte black PLA only:

A few final notes to round out this post- the "Tactical" build looks a little cooler, but adds significantly to the cost. If you're not sure how to use the Raspberry Pi pin headers or IO, that build may not be for you.

The Amazon links offer no additional cost to you and support my projects directly, and while helpful the McMaster Carr links are not sponsored in any way, but tend to be more reliable months and years after this build has been published.

Comments ()