RiscPC Second slice

The RiscPC case was a modular design that allowed the case to grow as the machine was expanded. Acorn produced several different backplanes allowing for 2, 4, 6 or 8 expansion cards to be fitted to the machine. By far the most common two were the 2 and 4 slot variants of the backplane.

The 4 slot backplane showing the layout of the connectors.

The case was developed to use "slices" which were essentially extra layers of the existing case which compromised of a base, slice and lid. To hold these parts of the case together, Acorn devised a screwless system that used "pins" which threaded through mount holes in the case, and turned by 90deg. to lock them into place.

When adding a slice, the process was simple. Remove the lid, remove the case pins,  remove the backplane, add the additional slice, add the larger capacity backplane, place the longer pins into the case, replace the lid.

Acorn also produced feet for the RiscPC case allowing it to be configured as a tower instead of a desktop form factor which can be seen in the image below.

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Acorn RiscPC