Introduction: Portable XBMC Lunch Box
I wanted a portable XBMC system. I want to take this in my trailer camping, to hotels, friends house etc. Basically this is a Raspberry Pi running XMBC, powered USB hub, 2.5" USB SATA enclosure with a 250GB laptop drive. This case needed to be all self enclosed. I can carry all the cables and accessories.
Parts List:
- Mini lunch box $10 http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Galaxy-Embossed-Ca...
- 6 panel keystone panel $1 http://www.cablingplus.com/products/ic107f06bk-bla...
- Low voltage device ring $2.50 http://www.amazon.com/Arlington-LV1-1CS-Voltage-Mo...
- HDMI keystone jack $11 http://www.cablingplus.com/products/ic107hdmbk-bla...
- USB keystone jack $2.50 http://www.cablingplus.com/products/ic107uaawh-whi...
- Power barrel plug keystone jack $7 http://www.pimfg.com/Product-Detail/P-KS-POWER
- Cat5 keystone jack $2.50 http://www.cablingplus.com/products/ic1078e5bk-icc...
- RCA keystone jack $3 http://www.cablingplus.com/products/icc-ic107r8gbk...
- They do have yellow. Some reason not on their site. Call them.
- 3.5 mm Phono keystone jack $3.50 http://www.cablingplus.com/products/ic107sapbk-bla...
- 2.4Ghz Mini Wireless Keyboard w/ Touchpad $16 http://www.amazon.com/FE01-BL-Wireless-Keyboard-Mo...
- 2x Plastic DVD covers $2
- 4x Stand offs $1
- 2x Ball point pens $1
- 4x 3" bolts w/ nuts $3
- Raspberry Pi Model B $35 http://www.newark.com/raspberry-pi/raspbrry-modb-5...
- SD card 16GB 40x $10 http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Class-Memory-SF16UY-TQ...
- Edimax USB wifi dongle $10 http://www.amazon.com/Edimax-EW-7811Un-Wireless-Ad...
- 7port USB powerd hub $14 http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=103&cp_id=10...
- 5v / 2.1A power supply (iPad charger) $10 http://www.amazon.com/Replacement-Power-Adapter-Ch...
- 2.1mm Barrel plug
- 4 port USB hub (non powered) $5 http://www.amazon.com/Targus-ACH74US-Ultra-Mini-4-...
- Mine seems a bit expensive. Any cheap one will do.
- 2.5" HD 250GB $45 http://www.amazon.com/Blue-250-Mobile-Hard-Drive/d...
Cables
- HDMI 3' flat cable $7.50 http://www.amazon.com/Aurum-Flat-Ethernet-Supports...
- Phono to RCA Red/White
- RCA Video Cable
- USB cables with various ends to hack together for custom cables
* For some reason my USB hub quit driving my hard drive. I tested everything and swapped it out. I used a 4 port hub with a 2.6A power supply. This seems to power the hard drive fine. This new hub had vertical ports. I unsoldered the ports and directly soldered wires in their place. This lowered the profile.
Step 1: Prep the Lunch Box
I used a mini lunch box. The dimensions are approximately 7-5/8" x 6" x 2-3/4"H
Cut metal and install keystone panel
- Determine where to put the keystone panel.
- Mark jack panel with sharpie marker
- Dremel out the rectangle
- Press in the keystone panel
- Mark holes for screws
- Drill holes
- Remove screws and extra plastic from low voltage device ring
- Place low voltage ring inside and screw faceplate to ring
- This is to make a securely sandwich the metal. Cables tend to tug.
- Screw panel into ring
Attach keyboard
- Velcro the keyboard to the back of the lunch box
Step 2: Build Triple Stack for Pi and Hub
I went though several orientations of the Pi and hub. This required that I have an easy way to change configurations and move the devices until I got the perfect orientation. I used plastic DVD covers. The width and length of the DVD cover worked well with the mini lunch box. I may redo this with acrylic now that I have the desired pattern.
Prep the DVD covers
- Trim clear plastic cover (what holds the paper)
- Split DVD case along seams
- Cut the DVD cover to length. Ideal is to snugly press against the low voltage device ring.
Mount components
- Screw standoffs on the Pi and Hub
- Orient Pi and Hub on their respective DVD plastic
- Mark stud location
- Exacto a X on the stud location
- Press stud in the X
* This will securely hold the component yet allow you to easily more the mount point if needed. Figuring out exactly where the Pi and Hub go and how they are oriented can be determined by the amount of space the cables take and your desired cable path.
Assemble the stack
- Measure the depth of the lunchbox. Mine would fit 3" bolts.
- Measure the spacers needed between each stack
- Cut ball point pen tupe to length
- Mark and drill holes for bolts
- Thread bolts through holes and screw nut on top
Velcro HD
I wanted the hard drive removable so I could copy new data to it.
- Add large strip of velcro to top of stack and HD enclosure
Step 3: Custom Cables
The lunch box is oriented. The keystone panel is installed. The component stack is cut to fit and slipped in. Now we have to make lots of custom cables.
Cables attached to the Powered USB Hub
#1 USB Mini - USB A
- This is to connect the Pi to the Hub
#2 USB A - USB A
- This is to connect the hub to the external USB keystone jack
#3 Double USB A - USB A
- This is power and data for the USB SATA HD enclosure
- This was the one included with the drive enclosure
#4 USB A - USB micro
- This is to power the Pi
#5 Power to USB Hub
- Soldered on 5V and Ground to board (my son broke the barrel plug)
- Wired into barrel keystone jack
Cables attached to the Raspberry Pi
#6 Video RCA to keystone jack
#7 Audio Phono to keystone jack
#8 HDMI to keystone jack
#9 Network to keystone jack
Power brick cables
#10 USB A - 5v power barrel
- Solder the black (Ground) and red (5v) USB wires to the barrel plug
- I chose an iPad charger because it was the smallest 2.1 charger I had. The plug folds up.
Step 4: Setup Rasbmc and the Pi
- Download and install Rasbmc on the SD card http://www.raspbmc.com/
- Plug in Edimax USB wifi card to Pi
- Setup XBMC
- Add profile for local content off HD
- Add profile for networked content from home server
- Final customizations per your preferences
Step 5: Extras
Since there is only 1 external USB port I added a 4 port USB hub (non powered)
You can also plug in other external HD's for further extendability.
The 2.4Ghz keyboard USB dongle does a better job if its plugged in outside the metal lunch box. I may experiment with other keyboards. I also use my Android phone / Tablet and Yatse Remote https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.... to control the media center.

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1 Person Made This Project!
- asteadman made it!
22 Comments
7 years ago on Introduction
I used the same lunchbox for my Pi project!
https://www.instructables.com/id/Lunch-Box-Computer-with-Raspberry-Pi/
8 years ago on Introduction
I hate to ask a stupid question but what exactly does this thing do?
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
This goes along with my question... What is a XBMC? Show screenshots of it doing something.
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
X Box Media Center. Think of it as portable HTPC. Home Theatre Personal Computer.
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
Its so that you can easily watch films from your hardrive... you could just plug your hardrive straight into the tv if it has a usb slot but some tv's wont register it, or play some of the films, and the files aren't displayed very nicely.. so this pro's got a rasberry pi with XBMC on - this is just a software which includes a very attractive interface for viewing your film collection with all the coverwork etc. I think that's what it is anyway. i'd love to make one with a mini projector in!
8 years ago on Introduction
Forgot to add the SD card to the part list, but of curse anyone using a raspberry knows you need an sd card.
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
thanks. I got it added. I dont think raspbmc is very picky about SD.
8 years ago
Awesome build! This gave me some killer ideas for a portable Windows version!
8 years ago on Introduction
You could totally put a battery in there and add an external LCD and you have a portable media player/streambox/emulator...
Awesome work!
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
I thought about that. A larger lunch box would have enough room. This mini is just a bit too tight for all that stuff. Almost every I would take this has a TV so I'm not worried about that.
8 years ago on Introduction
How do you see what you are doing with the keyboard? Does it display something on the TV? Sorry for the noob question.
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
The SD card is installed with a linux operating system and XBMC media center running on top of that. The Pi boots directly into XBMC.
http://xbmc.org/about/
8 years ago on Introduction
it's new and nice thinking
8 years ago
Are you able to connect a wireless card to it so it can pick up a wifi signal instead?
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
There is an Edimax Wireless N dongle in there. It works fine. But I prefer to plug in when available. You can't beat wired for streaming. However from the HD its not necessary.
8 years ago
Umm ok I am not a super tech guy, could you explain what this actualy is?
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
With this media center I can take my media to many places with or without internet. I can show off the awesomness of XBMC without any setup. I hated the pain of throwing all my cables, laptop, harddrive, etc in a bag. This is all self contained with everything I will need. I like the Raspberry Pi but its form factor is a squid with the cables.
8 years ago
Nice build. Thanks for posting.
8 years ago
excellent build! I hope you submitted to other tech pubs as well!!
8 years ago
use openelec and the amber skin it speeds up xbmc on the pi quite a bit ive build literally dozens of rpi htpcs i love the little buggers