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I have a couple of simple projects that use a handful of GPIO pins, a few resistors, and some sensors and LEDs.

What's a good way to package up stuff like that? Is there a premade solderable HAT-like board design allowing some components to be soldered on? Is there a case tall enough to hold a RPi along with such a board?

How about accommodating connectors for external gadgets like temperature sensors?

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    I have some references on stackable HATs you might be interested: raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/104705/…. I am not using HATS which are expensive and not flexible. I use proto boards and stack them into multi-story, 25cm high "towers". Commented Nov 18, 2019 at 12:56
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    Search online for "prototye PCB". They are cheap, plentiful, easy to use, and can be cut (eg., with a hacksaw) into whatever footprint you want. You can get these in Pi Hat format too, I believe. Commented Nov 18, 2019 at 13:09
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    You could give this type of free hand soldering a try: electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/55236/… Commented Nov 19, 2019 at 4:17
  • Stackable HATs are a bit too small to do maintenance. So I usually stack proto boards as towers: (1) imgur.com/gallery/Zy91wjC, (2) raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/104538/…. Commented Nov 20, 2019 at 6:39

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I find that strip-board or perf-board will fill the gap between bread-board and a PCB (although PCBs can be relatively cheap using pooled services).

Some stripboards will have a special area on one end where you can attach a suitable dual row GPIO header (note that if you're not stacking them then you may not need a full size header, only one big enough to cover the pins you need), like this one from Roth:

enter image description here

Going from breadboard to stripboard is easier but perfboard can be neater and more compact, in my opinion. Also, doing double-sided builds is a challenge which ever one you choose.

BCRobotics appear to have a Raspberry Pi specific board that might be of interest but I've not used it.

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  • BCRobotics looks good quality, so I am going to add to my reference list. Commented Nov 19, 2019 at 0:23
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Is there a premade solderable HAT-like board

Yes, tons of these are on sale. A quick search using words like "prototype" and "DIY" revealed there's a board called "ModMyPi", and there are certainly others:

enter image description here

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    Thanks. Sad to say the particular board in your response is discontinued. But there are, as you say, plenty of others. Commented Nov 19, 2019 at 14:07
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If you do not mind some soldering, this is an inexpensive approach:

long 40-pin stachable headers: 20 for $18 https://www.ebay.com/itm/281394575257

6x8cm plated souble-sided proto board 20 for $14 https://www.ebay.com/itm/123934353296

Works out to $1.60 per hat.

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