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This will be mounted to a 3D printed case that will have extra room (2x bigger than this PCB) for other accessories and cables, therefore will need to be secured to the back. I see there are holes, but I'm not sure if those are mounting holes that are safe to use metal screws. I am new at this, so please correct me if I have the wrong terminology or if this shouldn't be done.

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JRE
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Jacob Miller
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2 Answers2

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The mounting holes are marked with a screw symbol, as shown below:

The exposed solder pads indicate that the holes are meant to be connected to the chassis electrically.

3D printed case will not give you electrical connection, which may or may not have effect on the performance of the board.

Armandas
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  • If it has a negative effect, is it permanent? If I unscrew it, will it undo the negative effect? @Armandas – Jacob Miller Feb 17 '22 at 01:24
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    @JacobMiller It's unlikely that it will be permanent. The most likely effect would be some noise in your audio or increased electrical noise emissions that could inject noise into nearby devices. I would recommend connecting at least one of the mounting points to ground. – Armandas Feb 17 '22 at 01:52
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    Thanks! How would I add grounding? – Jacob Miller Feb 17 '22 at 01:56
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    @JacobMiller If you have any cables coming into the box that you know are grounded, you could take it from there. The ground may also come from one of the connectors, like VGA, HDMI or RCA. If you use one of those connectors with a grounded equipment, you'll be fine. – Armandas Feb 17 '22 at 02:23
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    In case you have problems, you can also try to line the interior of this box with tin foil or something similar, in order to shield it. The tin foil will then make contact with the solder pads on the bottom of the board. Make sure to use hex risers, or elevated mount points to avoid the whole underside of the board touching the tin foil. – Vladimir Cravero Feb 17 '22 at 12:40
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The holes have little screw symbols next to them. That means they're mounting holes. In general, if a hole has these exposed solder-covered pads around it, it means it's a mounting hole for a metal screw. The solder acts as a "cushion" for the screw.

Jonathan S.
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