Mac Mini M4 Under Desk Enclosure Hands-Free Power On
Description
When creating my dream minimalistic workspace, I wanted to hide my mac mini under my standing desk in a compact enclosure. Whilst there are some off the shelf and 3d printable solutions available for this, they all seem to overlook the M4 Mac Mini's main quirk... The awkward power button. As I wanted to mount the Mac towards the back of the desk's underside, this would require me to crawl underneath my desk every time I wanted to press the power button... Not ideal!
To solve that issue, my design incorporates a mount for an SG90 micro servo. This connects to an Arduino-based microcontroller to actuate the Mac's power button.
In this setup, the Arduino is attached to the main power bar beneath the desk via a 5v micro usb adapter plug. It actuates the servo on power-up before returning to it's home position and entering a deep sleep mode to conserve power. In the future I'm going to have everything turned on via a smart plug, but the posibilities are endless as to how you can make this fit your application.
Please note that it is not advisable to power the servo off of the Arduino's 5v pin like I have done here, as this can cause damage. The way that the code is configured (servo.detach() and putting the device into deep sleep mode) seem to make it stable, but before I did these things, the Arduino's voltage regulator got so hot that it almost set fire to my desk mat... Going forward I will be powering the servo separately, so take this as a proof of concept only!
Link to Video:
https://youtube.com/shorts/Rv3NV-A3V9o
Included Files:
- Enclosure
- Enclosure Lid
- Enclosure Clasp
- Servo pusher
Other Hardware Used:
- x2 DIN 912 M3 x 30 Bolts
- x2 M3 Nuts
- x2 DIN 912 M2 x 12 Bolts
- x2 M2 Nuts
- x4 3mm Wide Countersunk Screws
- SG90 Micro Servo (180º with limit)
Link to Servo used: