July 21, 2025
Description
Hello This is a Case for The Chuwi Hi12 Tablet-Mainboard to use it as a Mini Computer, together with instructions how to make it work that way.
I had an old Chuwi Hi12 from 2015 lying around. It was fine at first but then came the updates from hell and it got a bit weak. Too crappy to use as a Windows tablet, touch was frustrating with the laggy Windows 10, attachable keyboard buggy etc, so i decided to salvage the screen which was beautiful and the same as in the surface pro 3 if I am correct.
I took it apart, found exactly one seller who offered the control board for the screen and so the rest of the tablet landed in a box for a year.
as I dont like to throw away almost-perfectly working components i decided to make a case for the Mainboard with its tiny little Z8350 Atom CPU. I also added some components and features, like an on switch and an usb hub that find place in the housing. For better cooling i went overkill and put an old pentium CPU-heatsink on the board and the 45x10 Fan on top.
I added a passive cooled top lid and different USB variants to the files, use the one that suits your liking.
If you need help or Info, write me a Message.
You need:
1x 8mm screwable stainless steel momentary Switch from Ali
1x square USB-C socket from Ali (the one with the screwholes on the side), USB-C Cable
1x 50x50x15 Heatsink (could be wider)
1x heatpad
1x 45x45x10 12v Fan (runs slower on 5v but quiet, this is not an AMD FX)
4x Tiny screws if you like to screw the board in place and a hot needle to make the holes.
1x 5v 2, better 3A Phone Charger (use the one you charged the Tablet with)
-Hotglue
-Soldering material and wires
-A Dollar Store USB-Hub. i got mine a while back and it was one of those chinese fantasy named ones so you have to get creative with the CAD file or take the Model i made without side-USB
-A shot of Jägermeister or whatever makes your hands steady
Assembly Instruction:
Just connect the leads of your power-supply-USB-socket with the Ex-Battery contacts, usually labelled as (+) and (-), don't use the old charge-port.
On the underside of the Board are 4 contacts in a row near the edge that are connected to a terminal of some ribbon-cable, might have been camera or the pogo connector for the keyboard. those are G(DATA+) W(Data-) R(5v+) B(GND) when you have the board in front of you with the contacts pointing down.
You can also connect the fan to 5v+/- here.
With the 4 USB Contacts pointing down, on the right are 5 contacts. These 5 Contacts are for the volume rockers and the on/off-button. From top to bottom the layout is as follows:
1.PowerSW +/-
2.Volume down
3.Volume up
4.Volume +/- 5.PowerSW +/-
Connect Your wires going to the on/off with the first contact and the last one on the right.
Glue the WiFi antenna foil with the wire pointing outward to the housing or experiment with the direction once you have the machine running.
Congratulations, you got yourself a woefully underpowered Mini PC!
I recommend disabling VP9 compression via an Addon if you want to watch Youtube via this Beast of a machine.
License:
Creative Commons — Attribution
FlueRian
