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

[ejamer]

Just chiming in: the photos and step-by-step descriptions are incredible. Thanks for sharing.

[GamerMON]

I'd buy that for a dollar!

[bacteria]

lol!

Well, tweaked the casing backing mould as much as can and also a bit here and there on the case front mould too, it's as good as I think can be made by eye and hand.

Made a set of moulds today, the halves meet quite well and when the "teeth" are put inside to join the two parts together i'm confident the halves will meet quite exactly.

I'd measured the height of the tallest part (middle) as 68mm tall before, made some changes here and there and have now reduced to 59mm tall. The sides are also lower, in the middle on the sides, maxing at about 25mm or thereabouts. I've worked out a method to get it all in the casing that way, easily; although it means the "easy version" will be fine for 2 packs of (unopened) Canon BP-911 cells, however I see no reason the system can't take 3 or even 4 packs as maximum if the batteries are separated to squeeze into the spaces inside the casing.

The negative of this is that there is no way I can get a SNES and N64 in the same casing now, so will be separate systems. As the sides are shallower now, I can't fit in the large MakoPad type joysticks now, will have to use a GameCube one. However, having shallower sides makes the casing really nice and comfortable to hold, so is a major plus.

One other thing, rather relevant, is that as the case backing is made from a clay mould, there are small imperfections from the vacuum forming, also i'm getting this on some of the backing:



The backing mould is thick, which is probably the cause.

The one in the pic below has three bumps, my others had one!

These parts can be cut and sanded down, and any dips remaining patched with bondo to be fine; however the way to get the sanding done properly means having the "teeth" in place to secure and strengthen the two case halves when together. What that means in reality, is as this project is designed to be as simple as a portable can be, i'll need to do all this work on each case set to sell - stopping short of painting the casing and making the holes in it, and the screen area; which will leave some personalisations for the customer to do as wanted. Not making the case halves "ready to use" will defeat the purpose of this project, as modding case halves as described in this post is not for the inexperienced.

What this means is quite simply cost. The raw materials including wastage etc will mean about £18 per case pair, including a piece of 2mm thick plasticard for the cart slot and 1mm piece for the "GBA style" window section; on top of that will be time, around 2-3 hours of labour to prepare the case halves from scratch including the vacuum forming process. That means to be sensible i'll need to charge the equivalent of £20-£25 for that, so I envisage having to charge £42 for a case set, plus postage. That's not unrealistic if you consider you only have to personalize the case and paint it, and put the guts into the system as the case is ready to use; makes an easy project. You'd spend that money on a console game that only lasts a few days to play, whereas a (nearly) pre-made case would be good value for money. I'd be happy to sell only a dozen case sets anyway.

Thoughts?

So, pics of how it will fit inside (revised)

layer 1



layer 2 - motherboard will actually face downwards instead



layer 3

[CRTGAMER]

Looking great! Will there be a cutout in the back to change game carts?

[bacteria]

A window and hole will be cut out the back so the game cart can be removed and inserted easily, yes.

[bacteria]

So, here's the paper cutout from the GBA onto the case front, gave me the position to cut out the hole for the screen.



As you see, the PSone screen is quite a good match for the GBA screen, scaled up.



The idea is to sit the screen section onto a piece of black 1mm thick plexicard (styrene) and through the casing so the black surround sits the screen underneath. Keeping to the same design, as in the black piece, makes the system look smaller than is, and of course gives the "GBA original" look.

Stage before a sand - getting the "teeth" alternating between the two case halves so when closed, both case halves close against each other and provide each other with strength. It also means when the case is sanded, the two halves will meet as good as they can.

For the "teeth", used some strips of styrene lying around, and hot glue to stick them in place. Before doing so, lightly sand the plastic strips and also the casing edges so the glue can stick to the surfaces properly.

I'm going to use some small screws to keep the casing together, probably 6 in total.

Pic before closing casing up:



After sanding is done, i'll make the shoulder buttons and d-pad moulds, to be proportionate to the GBA ones, and vacuum form them prior to installing in the case.

[bacteria]

Bumps removed and sanded flat. Looks very nice.

Thought i'd use epoxy to secure some styrene scraps onto the case in the areas where the bumps were removed and left gaps; however epoxy didn't want to stick well (?), tried UHU, that was useless; didn't want to use hot glue so used Poly-Weld which in my experience works great on hard plastics but is very picky about what it works on - got a really strong bond in seconds with that stuff! Joint isn't as strong as with using a thick glue of course but perfectly up to the job. I needed this to stop the gap from flexing so could use filler in the crack without it moving/parting.

Quoting a couple of hours labour before was a bit optimistic as it turned out. The case is ready for hole cutting and painting now though, after making the shoulder buttons with vacuum forming. Decided to retain the d-pad from the MakoPad as it is slightly smaller than a scaled up GBA however close enough.

The work needed to make a case from scratch:

* make the vacuum formed cases, this takes a reasonable amount of time
* cut out rough outline around case, then mark out cutting lines, cut-out the case to the required heights

* sand the case bases so smooth and flat
* install the "teeth" and make them meet as close as can do
* sand the edges to meet properly and seamlessly
* drill holes to secure screws to hold the case halves together (using the "teeth")

* cut out window for the space the screen will go though
* make the screen top (1mm thick styrene)
* cut out shoulder button holes and install them
* make holes for the buttons and controls and game cart. Make cart slot holder
* paint and varnish, paint colour can be from a selection of choices

I think the best plan is to offer three services on the case for anyone who wants to buy one:

1) for the existing modder -medium level - just the case halves with lines (first block illustrated above)
2) for the existing modder - "have a go" level - prepare the case itself (first and second block illustrated above)
3) for the entry level modder - all above done

Obviously the prices will be different for each level above as will make a difference to labour and time needed. It does mean though that a new modder can get the same results if they want as they can if they want have a completed case ready for adding their electronics into without any case making work. To get to that stage to produce a case needs quite a lot of work, several hours. Each one will be made to order of course.

I'm going to make two cases for my own use, one for N64 and one for SNES, so in my video when done, will cover both and their builds. I can time the time it takes to make a case from scratch next time and then know what it takes, for the pricing options.

This has become quite a large project; however my ribbon for the PS2 hasn't arrived yet from ebay so no issues!

[bacteria]

Here's a pic of the casing so far, with the black surround prepared and laid on top of the case.



Will paint the case though, got a paint sample that's a medium dull orange which will look nice!

[bacteria]

Drilled some holes in my existing vacuum forming table for the shoulder button. Basically cut out a piece of 1mm thick scrap plasticard (styrene), stapled it to some strips of pine, then screwed some screws into the pine at the corner joints of the frame; and made two legs to hold the frame when it comes out of the oven, to press to the table and make the seal.

Result:



I can now make the holes in the case for the shoulder buttons!

[bacteria]

Small update on my bacuum forming case (lol)



One of the shoulder button holes made and as you see, the vacuum formed shoulder button looks nice! Got the other one to do yet.