Five parts, no screws, no soldering if you buy the Pi with a header. This is the complete list with the exact variants that work, realistic prices from European shops, the three mistakes we see in support mails, and an honest word on when the kit is the better deal.
| Part | Which exactly | Typical price |
|---|---|---|
| Raspberry Pi Zero v1.3 | The version without WiFi and Bluetooth. The Zero W and Zero 2 W also run SeedSigner, but then you own a signing device with a radio. Buy it with the 40-pin header already soldered (“Zero WH” style, or ask the shop) unless you want to solder 40 pins yourself. | 15–22 € |
| Waveshare 1.3″ LCD HAT | 240 × 240 pixels, ST7789 controller, with joystick and three buttons. It is the one the SeedSigner image is built for. Other displays, including the 1.44″ and the 2″ variants, do not work without a different build. | 14–20 € |
| Pi camera, OV5647 | The 5-megapixel “Camera Module v1” or a compatible OV5647 board; the cheap clones work. It must come with the narrow Zero ribbon cable (22-pin to 15-pin), the standard wide cable does not fit the Zero. | 8–15 € |
| microSD card | 4 GB or larger, any brand. It only holds the operating system. | 4–8 € |
| OpenPill case | The standard printed case: body and lid in PLA, closed by fit, no screws. The joystick of the display board gets a knob: either a brass M2.5 heat-set insert screwed onto the stem, or the flexible TPU button. Print it yourself from the public STL files or buy it printed; ours comes with both knob options. The camera sits in a cut-out in the body. | from 11.50 € |
Prices are what we see at Welectron, BerryBase, Reichelt and Pimoroni in autumn 2026, without shipping. They swing with stock; with patience you buy below the range, in a shortage above it.
Add it up and you land between 60 and 80 € for the parts, before shipping. The catch is the shipping: the Pi, the display and the camera rarely come from the same shop, so plan on two or three parcels at 4 to 6 € each. If you already own a 3D printer, the case costs you a few grams of filament and an evening.
Our DIY kit is from 85.00 € and contains all five parts in one box, with the header already soldered and the case in your colour combination. It is not cheaper than the cheapest possible self-sourced build; it saves the three parcels, the compatibility research and the risk of the wrong ribbon cable.
1 · Wrong ribbon cable. The Pi Zero has a smaller camera connector than the big Pis. If the cable in the camera box is 15-pin on both ends, you need the 22-to-15 Zero adapter cable. Symptom: black camera screen, device otherwise fine.
2 · Wrong display. Waveshare makes a dozen small HATs. The 1.3″ 240 × 240 with ST7789 is the one. The 1.44″ (128 × 128, ST7735) looks almost the same in the shop photo and shows nothing but a white screen.
3 · Flashing the wrong image. The release page has images for several Pi models. The Pi Zero and Zero W need the pi0 build; the Zero 2 W needs its own. A wrong image boots to a rainbow square or not at all.
Source it yourself if you already have a Pi Zero in a drawer, own a printer, or simply want to know every single part by name. That is a good reason; it is how the SeedSigner project intends it.
Take the kit if you want the right five parts in one parcel, the header soldered, the case with both joystick knobs, and a camera board that fits it. You still flash the software yourself, you still assemble it yourself; nothing about the trust model changes.
Take an assembled device if the last two sections sounded like work. The electronics are the same; we just do the thirty minutes and test camera, display and buttons before shipping.
Yes, with the matching image from the release page, and it boots noticeably faster. It has WiFi and Bluetooth on board though. The SeedSigner image does not enable them, but a signing device without any radio is the cleaner choice, which is why we build with the v1.3.
Yes. The OpenPill files are public; PLA or PETG, 0.2 mm layers, no supports needed for body and lid. For the joystick knob print the button in TPU or use an M2.5 brass heat-set insert screwed onto the stem. If you only need the case, we sell it printed in one or two colours with both knob options included.
Yes. QR codes are the only way data gets into a SeedSigner: the unsigned transaction, your xpub request, a SeedQR. Without the camera you can create a seed and read it off the screen, and that is it.
DIY kit with the header already soldered and the OpenPill case in your colours. Or just the case, if you have the rest.
