Bacteria's making a new casing that's "modder friendly"

[bacteria]

My old iNto64 was made as compact as was reasonable to make, however, assembling the guts into the system was not straightforward and required a fair bit of skill to achieve. That's the main reason I stopped selling the cases as I wanted to do something more modder friendly.

I will be offering to sell case halves when project done, will be making a single video showing the whole build process including making the portable, and yes, will be offering to sell a small number of completed systems over the months coming for a very fair price. As this system will be far faster to assemble, the cost will be very reasonable - will price it up when made the first system.

The goals of this project are:

* Make a vacuum forming case that's easy to hold and looks pretty
The case i'm making is a large format style GBA original as that looks nice and is ideal for this project. The front is flat for buttons and screen to lay properly, the back will be shaped so the sides are 35mm thick and the middle around 55mm thick. Easy to hold.

* Easy to mod for anyone who can do basic modding and basic soldering
This project will not require board trimming or cutting so therefore easy to assemble, no complex wiring (although the controller will need some wiring if using a memory or rumble pack).

* A case for N64 and SNES
It'll need two case moulds made for the backing probably, unless can make just one, but this will be done.

* Good specifications
System will be fine for using 3 sets of the cheap Canon BP-911 Li-ion cells, giving 6 amps which should power the portable for around 4.5 to 5 hours. An expansion pack or jumper pack can be used, and for the controller a rumble and/or memory pack (both if a dual card).

I rather like this look, so using it, and will be incorporating scaled up shoulder buttons, etc.



A PSone screen looks fine in this too, proportionate to the scaled up GBA screen:



Made the case front out of MDF (wasn't easy), the backs will be made from clay:



Holding (not easy to take a pic at an awkward angle), lol:



All will fit nicely, good joystick from a MakoPad / SuperPad 64; you can use smaller ones of course; space for fan, all fits nicely; so without board trimming, about as good a size as it gets:

[jinn]

If the price is right sign me up for a kit

[Jbroderway]

I'm down. I want a finished one though.

[MrPopo]

I'd buy that for a dollar!

[CRTGAMER]

Looks like another great Mod, tempted also to buy one.
Looking forward to the finished product.

Pics too please, hate slugging thru videos in my old iMac CRT.

I take it the N64 PCB and controller parts will pop in with minimal soldering?
I imagine the controller PCB may have to be cut to fit both sides of the portable.

[alienjesus]

Clay and MDF sounds uncomfortably heavy.

[MrPopo]

Oh, Bac, a thought occured to me. I know that you prefer to have the carts flush with the case like a Gameboy, which requires relocating the cart slot. You mentioned that the goal is to make this fairly mod-friendly; have you come up with a better solution for relocating a cart slot than the standard shitton of wires individually soldered?

[bacteria]

jinn - ok!

Jbroaderway - I intend to make a small number for sale.

MrPopo - lol

Yes, game cart flush to the system, ie horizontal. No is the simple answer, it is a case of soldering 48 wires to the cart slot pins from the motherboard; however this is simple for anyone who can solder at fairly basic level.

This project is i'd define as easy>medium difficulty, rather than medium>hard level, as normally there is a need to reduce boards down and rewire stuff, which isn't easy and can be prone to frying boards; also fitting things into a case, is using my case it'll be mapped out what to do to get the same results.

CRTGAMER - Sure, i'll take pics as well as lots of mini clips in one finished video. Yes, the N64 motherboard will of course need the ports cut off to get to just the board, that is hardly difficult, its a Dremel or similar and a pair of pliers. It will need minimal soldering - to the video and audio and power lines, and of course the controller; but not difficult, we're not talking about cutting up the motherboard and soldering to small capacitors or traces.

alienjesus - *facepalm*! lol.

The MDF and clay are to make the moulds for the vacuum forming of the plastic to make the case halves!

[alienjesus]

jinn - ok!

Jbroaderway - I intend to make a small number for sale.

MrPopo - lol

Yes, game cart flush to the system, ie horizontal. No is the simple answer, it is a case of soldering 48 wires to the cart slot pins from the motherboard; however this is simple for anyone who can solder at fairly basic level.

This project is i'd define as easy>medium difficulty, rather than medium>hard level, as normally there is a need to reduce boards down and rewire stuff, which isn't easy and can be prone to frying boards; also fitting things into a case, is using my case it'll be mapped out what to do to get the same results.

CRTGAMER - Sure, i'll take pics as well as lots of mini clips in one finished video. Yes, the N64 motherboard will of course need the ports cut off to get to just the board, that is hardly difficult, its a Dremel or similar and a pair of pliers. It will need minimal soldering - to the video and audio and power lines, and of course the controller; but not difficult, we're not talking about cutting up the motherboard and soldering to small capacitors or traces.

alienjesus - *facepalm*! lol.

The MDF and clay are to make the moulds for the vacuum forming of the plastic to make the case halves!

Haha, I realised that a little while after posting and tried to delete it. I coudlnt figure out hwo though, so rather than leave a post which just says something like edit: nevermind, i thought I'd let people enjoy my stupidity

[bacteria]

lol

Tomorrow i'll make a start on the case backing. I want to make the case backing suitable for N64, SNES or NES variants, however if people make NES portables with this, the game cart will stick out a bit, whereas with the N64 and SNES the game cart will be concealed behind.