This is the Atem Mini Jacket. It is a custom case I built for the Atem Mini and I just had to share it with you guys! Watch the video below and read the build guide to learn more.
UPDATE: I may or may not be selling an updated versions of this case soon… Sign up for email updates here.
Table of Contents
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Parts Needed
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Tools Needed
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3D Prints or Cutouts
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Preparing Case Parts
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Installing Corner Supports
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Case Cutouts and Holes
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Power Wiring
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Mounting Monitor
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HDMI Wiring
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Putting it all together
1. Parts Needed
Here is a full list of parts needed to build the Atem Mini Jacket.
- Atem Mini, Pro or ISO Switcher on Amazon (Paid Link) or B&H (Paid Link)
- Pelican 1170 Case on Amazon (Paid Link) or B&H (Paid Link)
- Custom 3D Printed Parts
- Feelworld T7 HDMI Monitor on Amazon (Paid Link) or B&H (Paid Link)
- 12v Power Supply on Amazon (Paid Link)
- DC Jack on Amazon (Paid Link)
- Round Switches on Amazon (Paid Link)
- Extra Wire on Amazon (Paid Link)
- HDMI Coupler on Amazon (Paid Link)
- HDMI Ribbon Cable on Amazon (Paid Link)
- Angled DC Cable on Amazon (Paid Link)
- Brass Insert Kit on Amazon (Paid Link)
- Metric Bolt Kit on Amazon (Paid Link)
- Tripod Screws on Amazon (Paid Link)
- 1FT HDMI Cable on Amazon (Paid Link)
- 1.5FT HDMI Cable on Amazon (Paid Link)
- 3.5mm Female to Female Adapter on Amazon (Paid Link)
- Optional Cheese Plate on Amazon (Paid Link)
2. Tools Needed
Here is a list of recommended tools. Keep in mind these are for building the case with 3D printed parts. If you will be cutting out the frame using wood or other materials you will need a way to make cuts.
- Soldering Iron
- Solder
- Glue Gun
- Saw – I used this one from Amazon (Paid Link)
- Allan Keys/Screw drivers
- Drill
- Stepper Drill Bits – I used this set on Amazon (Paid Link)
- Standard Drill bits
- Cable Ties
3. 3D Prints and Cutouts
To mount the Atem Mini inside of the case we need a frame that will hold it in place. This frame can be made by hand or by using some 3d printed parts.
If you’re gong with the handmade option, you will need to download this template for the top plate and cut it out using wood, PVC or some other material. Below you can see what this cutout looks like.
That top plate or face plate as I call it, should drop right into the pelican 1170 case and rest on the little supports that go around the inside of the case (image below).
I would recommend you also cut small pieces or wood to support this plate as it won’t be very secure on its own. This build is going to focus on using 3D printed parts, but with a little elbow grease you could definitely build something similar without a 3D printer or without purchasing 3D printed parts online.
If you have a 3D printer, you could obviously use that for the parts. Full details on downloading and printing the parts can be found on this Thingiverse page. If you don’t have a 3D printer, there are services that can print parts for you like Shapeways.
For those curious, I printed all parts in PETG plastic using my Prusa i3 MK3 printer. You could use PLA plastic, but be aware that could warp overtime in high temperatures like in a car on a hot summer day.
4. Preparing Case Parts
For this build log, I’ll be using 3D printed parts. Here are all the parts you’ll need to print or have printed to follow along:
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4 Corner Supports
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1 Left and 1 Right Face Plate
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1 Center Face Plate
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2 Clamps
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1 Long monitor mount
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1 Short monitor mount
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HDMI Coupler Mount
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HDMI Coupler Mount with Holes
The first step to putting everything together is to prep the 3d printed parts.
To connect these parts together, we will be using M4 screws but first we need to add threads to some of the 3d printed parts. To do this, I have designed the parts to have holes for brass inserts. Using a soldering iron you can heat up these inserts and push them into the parts.
These brass inserts come in a pack with different sizes so here is a diagram showing which brass insert size to use with each hole in the parts.
At this point you can do a test fit with the parts to make sure you printed parts will work.
Here is a diagram showing which screws should be used with each thread of the frame.
First, we can mount the corner supports to the left and right face plates. The threads on the corner supports are not centered so make sure you use the current support on each corner. The thread on the supports should be oriented toward the center of the case. Next, connect the left and right top plates with the center face plate screw on the center plate and insert the entire frame into the case. I designed the corner mounts to have a little wiggly room so you may need to loosen them to fit the case and then tighten once in place.
The frame should sit nicely into the case and the top plates should rest on the supports that are build into the sides of the pelican case.
Now we can insert the Atem mini and add the two side clamps which will hold it in place.
If everything fits, we can proceed with modding the case.
5. Installing Corner Supports
We will be drilling several holes and cutting out the rear of the case, but before we do, I would recommend gluing the corner supports in first. This will keep us from accidentally drilling holes in the wrong spot.
You can use any glue but I opted for hot glue as it was plenty strong for my setup and removable if need be.
That said epoxy would also work well.
When gluing these posts in place, make sure you orient the threads toward the center of the case. Don’t worry too much if the supports aren’t perfectly glued in place as I’ve designed them to work even when mounted a little high or slightly off to one side by a millimeter or two. Since I used hot glue, I could always remove a support and glue again if needed.
Once glued, it is a good idea to do another test fit just to be safe. The screw kit I recommended comes with washers and you will probably need to add 2 between the face plates and the supports as the supports were designed a little low. I did this in case the supports were glue a little too high. If everything works, I’d recommend adding more glue around the supports to really hold them in place.
6. Case Cutouts and Holes
No we can start cutting and drilling into our case. First cut out a large rentable in the back of the case. You can use any cutting tools or dremels for this, but I found the cleanest way was to use a small hand saw mentioned in the tools list above. I drilled a hole large enough to fit the saw blade and got to work. Cut from the button of the case up to the lip of the case and from the far left vertical support to the far right vertical support. Below is an image showing what needs cut out.
You should be able to do another test fit and have full access to all of the Atem Mini’s jacks on the rear. The gap below to Atem will be used for cables and airflow. Once you’re happy with the cutouts you can use sandpaper to clean up the rough edges.
Now its time to drill a few holes! First, drill two holes on the front of the case for the power buttons. One on the left of the pressure valve and one on the right.
Now we can drill a hole for the power input on the back of the case. Make sure you don’t drill into the corner support on the inside of the case.
If you want a headphone jack in the case, drill a whole on the right side of the case for the 3.5mm female to female adapter. I would recommend you make this a tight fit as we don’t want this adapter to fall out over time. Once you finish the build, you can run a simple 3.5mm male to male cable from the monitor’s headphone jack to this adapter.
Just to be safe, I added glue to the inside of this adapter to keep it in place.
7. Power Wiring
With the bottom of the case cut out, we can now work on the wiring. Our final goal is one power jack that supplies power to our Atem mini and monitor with switches for each.
First, install the two switches on the front of the case and the power jack on the back of the case.
I added some hot glue on the inside of the case around the switches to make sure they don’t shift over time.
Here is a diagram showing the final wiring:
To connect everything together, you will need two angled DC cables. One for the Atem and one for the monitor. Both devices have a 5.5mm x 2.1mm DC power jack. I used cables I already had laying around but you could buy two of these cables on Angled DC Cable on Amazon (Paid Link). It would also be a good idea to grab some extra black and red wiring from Extra Wire on Amazon (Paid Link) to make sure you have enough for the project. I’d also recommend shrink wrap (Amazon Paid Link) or electrical tape so that you can cover up your soldered joints and keep things from shorting out.
Strip back the wires to expose the conductors and make sure you don’t mix up the negative and positive wires inside. Every cable is different, but the angled DC cables I used had a bare wire and a white wire. The bare wire is negative/ground and the white wire was positive in my case.
We will start with the negative wires as that is the easiest. Simply connect the negative wire from each DC cable to the negative terminal on the power jack (image below). Use some extra wire if needed. Your DC cable may not be long enough.
For the positive wires, things are a little more complicated but I have faith in you! Here is a diagram showing what we are going for.
First, connect the positive terminal of the power input jack (see the blow up image of the power jack above) to one of the two pins on each of the switches. You should now have something like this:
Next, connect the other pin on each switch to it’s device. So one switch goes to the Atem Mini plug and the other to the Monitor plug. The final positive wiring should look like this:
And again, here is the final wiring including both positive and negative runs:
Before hooking up power to your new wiring, it is a good idea to test the voltage, continuity and make sure the positive and negative wires aren’t touching at any point. A cheap multimeter like this one on Amazon (Paid Link) can do this for you.
Put the multimeter into continuity mode (video describing this can be found here) and turn all the switches to the ON position. Check the outside barrel and inside pin on each plug and make sure they are not connected.
If they are not connected, you can check the voltage. Connect your 12v power supply to the DC jack on the back of the case. Next, use your multimeter to check the Atem plug and monitor plug separately. You should be getting around 12v If you see -12v your wiring is backward.
If everything checks out and you can plug in your monitor and Atem mini to make sure everything works. There is nothing like flipping a switch on a DIY project and watching stuff come to life!
Later when you finish the case you can do some cable management to tidy everything up.
8. Mounting the Monitor
To mount the monitor to the inside of the case lid we need two monitor mounts. I’ve designed two different types including a long and short mount (images below) and you will need one of each for the monitor I recommended.
I would recommend you mount the monitor upside down so that the inputs are on the right side of the monitor. Before mounting the monitor, it would be a good idea to turn on image flipping in the menu system. This way everything is right side up when you power up the display. Mount the short monitor mount to the side of the monitor with the buttons. The long monitor mount can be added to the opposite side. I used tripod screws to bolt them together.
Next, hold the monitor with the mounts in the center of the case lid where you would like it mounted. Use a small drill bit (1/8” or so) to drill holes where the screws will go. Once you have all 4 small holes drilled, remove the monitor and use a larger drill bit to make the holes bigger. I used a 5/64” for the final hole size. Finally, bolt the monitor to the lid using M5 bolts and you’re done!
9. HDMI Wiring
With the monitor mounted and our power wiring done, we can start working on our HDMI cables. For a super simple setup, you could run an HDMI cable from the Atem to your monitor and be done. There are two problems with this setup however.
First, you will probably have the HDMI cable hanging out the back of the case which could easily get damaged. Secondly, connecting a second monitor would be tricky as the HDMI out is on the side of the monitor which is hard to get at in this case.
So here is a diagram showing the HDMI connections I went with:
I’m using a HDMI ribbon cable connected to the Atem’s HDMI out. This gives me a really low profile HDMI out that doesn’t protrude from the back of the case. Now I can set the case down without damaging cables.
This cable isn’t very long so I used an HDMI Coupler and a 1 foot HDMI cable to then connect to the HDMI input on the monitor. For the HDMI out, I’m using a 1.5 foot HDMI cable that runs from the monitor through the case to another HDMI coupler.
Now I can use the built in monitor and if I need to run a signal to a second external monitor I can use the new HDMI output on the back of the case. I designed a cutout in the right face plate to allow you to run all of the cables from the lower part of the case up to the monitor. Using zip ties, you can tidy everything up so the case closes without pinching the cables.
The two HDMI couplers inside of the case can be left floating or you can glue them down or use a few 3d printed parts to secure them to the case.
Below you can see the two mounts I designed to hold the couplers. One has holes and can be bolted to the bottom of the case and the other can be simply glued to the case. Both mounts have holes for small screws which are included in the bolt kit.
Here is an image of the inside of my case showing the couplers. The one going to the monitor input is just glued down and the coupler from the monitor output is bolted to the bottom of the case using bolts and nuts from the bolt kit. I just placed the coupler where I wanted it, makes where the holes needed to go and drilled the holes for the bolts.
10. Putting it all together
At this point you can put everything together for the last time:
- Bolt the monitor to the lid of the case
- Connect a 3.5mm male to male cable to the headphone jack on the monitor and to the headphone out on the side of the case
- Do some cable management if needed. Cable ties and tape are your friends!
- Bolt the left and right face plates to the corner supports and use 2 washers in-between the face plates and supports.
- Bolt the center face plate between your left and right plates.
- Run your Atem HDMI and power through the rear of the case
- Run your monitor HDMI cables and power through the little cut out in the right face plate and connect to the monitor.
- Place your Atem Mini in the case and make sure it is centered
- Bolt the two clamps down onto the Atem to hold it in place but DO NOT over tighten!
- Connect the HDMI out and power to the Atem mini
- Connect power to the rear of the case
- Turn it on and you’re done!
If you ever need to remove the Atem it is as simple as disconnecting the cables on the back and removing the two clamps.
Conclusion
I hope you’ve enjoyed this project and if you have any feedback please let me know! I’m no designer/engineer so if you want to improve this project, please feel free to do so. I would love to see what more talented people come up with.
For more projects and videos please check out the Youtube channel and I’ll see you guys in the next video.
