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

[bacteria]

This site has been down for a few days, so here's an update on the project:

Ok, cut the holes out from the case. Leaving the on/off switches, volume control buttons until later when work out their best positions - ie when the cart slot holder is in place, which is the next job.

Soon be at the stage to get this with a final sand and then paint. Cutting all these holes took a while; it will be interesting to see how long I take making a second case, obviously this first one takes the longest, I want to make a template to save time for future ones and maybe halve the preparation time with any luck.



I will document this work on my second case in a different and easy to follow format, this thread is on-going progress after all, as it happens and without too much structure.

Good progress in a short time:

Used a reject case top to form a template which I can then make future cases, so I know where to cut the holes / mark them out for people.



Previously, i've spent literally days on spray painting, getting a bit of a spit from the canister and having to re-sand yet again, finding some parts need about 1/4mm filling so having to prepare the hole thing, allowing hours before coats, etc, etc. Then when you think it's perfect, finding a small imperfection, trying to resolve it and most of the time making more work as a result.

NO MORE! This time i've used a mini paint roller with wall paint (after sanding the casing of course to roughen the surface for the paint to adhere), and got a really good result just from one coat; and fast, the entire case was painted in about 2 minutes. Need to apply one more coat certainly, maybe two as max more, will then varnish. The effect from a roller isn't perfectly smooth of course however gives a light texture which not only looks nice but also hides any tiny imperfections there may be really effectively.

Pic after one coat:



Went to B&Q this morning and got a medium sized tin of this paint for half price, so enough to paint many cases with it - i'll be the default colour for people and painted for no extra charge, if the buyer wants the case painted, as long as it's this colour. The colour is a beige, so neutral, will look nice against the black surround when that is spray painted a deep black.

Have three coats of paint on the case now, looks very nice. Trick is to keep a small amount of paint on the roller once the roller has taken all the paint it can; if you have a surplus of paint on the roller then the roller doesn't roll, so you need enough for new paint to be applied and also the roller to roll; that also gives a nice ripple effect on your case.

Assuming my old pot of paint varnish is still ok, going to use that instead of spray paint varnish; it gives a really tough finish to paint. I'm also going to spray paint the screen front section so that is ready when I need it. With a fair wind, i'm hoping tomorrow to be able to handle the case, remove any surplus paint from the button holes, complete the buttons and install them and also secure the black screen section to the case front. After that, need to install the shoulder buttons and then start work on the case backing.

Ok, back of case is painted and varnished. Front of case is painted and varnished, and dry. Buttons have been completed, set onto a slightly larger piece at the back to keep them in place inside the casing. The black screen front section is painted and varnished as are the shoulder buttons.



Tomorrow will start assembly.

[bacteria]

Got the buttons in place today, tried epoxy but it doesn't want to stick HIPS (plasticard) so useless and didn't want to use hot glue if could help it - Poly-Weld works fine on plastic beads and plasticard but doesn't like perspex. Anyway, Poly-Weld was fine for this application. The backing piece (perspex) is screwed in various places to the casing posts; one of the shoulder buttons is installed although needs the rubber topped tact button to be placed to finish it off. Got the d-pad to do next.



I think it looks nice so far! The black screen surround is still drying so can't put that in place yet, however, it comes to around 4mm from the blue button (the "A" button).

[bacteria]

Installed the d-pad



Put in the sides for the game cart holder, used Poly-Weld to hold it in place and will use hot glue to keep it there.



I should have left painting the case backing until I had done this, so will now have to fill in any gaps between the pieces and then paint the case backing again! The insides will be painted black.

This is only placed into position at the moment for illustration.



I've decided to only make this one casing for myself at this stage due to the level of work needed, as the d-pad and control buttons are secured into place by screws on a plate, I can easily re-assemble them quickly, so what i'll do is to make it a "live" video, to explain what is done and why whilst doing it. This will be useful for people just buying the case halves and building the unit up themselves. I've not been able to make an assembly video before as have tended to glue things into place before; so this will be a rather interesting video.

I'm learning a lot as going along, and also making templates so can make completed cases for people far quicker, to keep the price reasonable, however no point spending time making up spares, they'll be made to order.

Redoing the black screen surround as it was glossy and will look better using a roller as per the casing.

[bacteria]

Project update (to bring things up to date):

The screen surround is to be raised as a separate piece after all, so with that in mind, I drilled many holes through the case to use hot glue to secure the screen front through the case, the hot glue basically providing a sealed plug.



Used a spare screen surround to ensure the black plate was central to the screen, then got onto the hot glue!



On the shoulder buttons, this is how they are attached; hole through the middle, plastic rod through it, the rod has a screw through it for strength.



The flat part is Poly-Welded to the case on the flat side



Game cart holder completed, hot glued the backing piece to a strip of thin wood.



So, more pics:

The case backing, complete with game cart inserted



Case insides - only thing needed are the tact switches for the shoulder buttons



Screen inserted into place (just pops into place and stays there); screen board in place - as you see, screen board fits in nicely and no trimming needed.



Front view



Got my wife to take this photo - as you see, it's very easy indeed to get to all the buttons, joystick, shoulder buttons; it really is comfy to hold.



Not put in "Z" button yet.


Getting this case to this state has taken a massive amount of time and I know I can make them much faster, and also improve on a couple of areas too. I've learnt a lot from making this case which will help me make the next batch, better.

I want to get back to my Alpha Omega project and do some more work on that before getting back to this N64 project. I need a break as otherwise the N64 project will become little fun for me.

When I get back to this, i'll make some more cases, see how quickly I can make them this time around, then get onto the electronics side of the project. I'll also document in a better way making the case from the case halves to the finished casing too.

So, I will be back on this in the next weeks, need a break from it in the meantime (ie back to Alpha Omega project in interim), rest assured when this N64 project is done i'll be making great videos (my best N64 videos ever); will be selling the case halves and completed cases and also taking a small number of commissions for completed systems too. All in good time. I'm not going to hurry this, quality first.

[alienjesus]

The case looks great, but the buttons seem a bit awkwardly placed to me, the way you have your thumb in that pic doesnt look comfy to me. I wonder if it'd be worth trying a saturn style 6 button layout in future, it looks like you have enough space, and it'd mean all the buttons could sit comfortably in the centre of the console on the right hand side. Just a thought though.

[MrPopo]

In general it looks pretty sexy, though I would have considered angling the A & B buttons in the other direction to better suit the natural tilt of the thumb. But that's certainly something that needs to be done with whatever you're comfortable with.

Speaking of A & B, though, I think you have them flipped from how they are on the standard N64 controller. That'll REALLY screw with muscle memory.

[bacteria]

All button holes are in exactly the right places for my hands; after all, went to a lot of trouble to make sure of it!

Blue is "A" button, green is "B" button, A button is used a lot more than B and therefore makes sense to have it in that position.

Thing is, you buy a PSP and people moan about button placement and hand cramp, use an official Nintendo N64 controller and the "triwing" in practice is a pain to hold, etc - the thing about modding something is someone always thinks "that should go there instead". Certainly. Buy my casing when done, minus button holes (there will be various options available of course) and you can make holes anywhere you want and as large or small as you need!

[MrPopo]

Blue is "A" button, green is "B" button, A button is used a lot more than B and therefore makes sense to have it in that position.

While this is true, now you're competing with muscle memory. Those who are used to playing the N64 have a sense of where the A and B are in relation to each other. That was the biggest complaint with the Mega Man Anniversary Collection on the Gamecube: your shot was the big button under the joint of your thumb while jump was under the tip, which was a reverse of how it was on the NES. But if this makes more sense for you then you should do it.

the thing about modding something is someone always thinks "that should go there instead". Certainly. Buy my casing when done, minus button holes (there will be various options available of course) and you can make holes anywhere you want and as large or small as you need!

Oh, most definitely you want to do them in a way that works for you.

[alienjesus]

the thing about modding something is someone always thinks "that should go there instead". Certainly. Buy my casing when done, minus button holes (there will be various options available of course) and you can make holes anywhere you want and as large or small as you need!

Oh, most definitely you want to do them in a way that works for you.

Whilst I certainly agree that you cant make everyone happy, I do think you'll be making most users unhappy by reversing the positions of the A and B buttons. I played through Metroid on Gamecube recently, which has the buttons reversed from the normal set-up, and even while fighting Mother Brain after playing the game for 4 or 5 hours, I kept hitting shoot when I meant to hit Jump.

Still, I'm not trying to rain on your parade, the shell looks very nice.