Bacteria's project - PSone portable: IntoPlay finished: PICS

[bacteria]

Bacteria that looks sweet! so it's a flip screen? can't wait to see the finished product!

No, the CD will be at the rear of the casing, no space anyway for a flip screen even if I wanted one. Making this (and the N64 to follow) as snug as I can make it. I will however make a recess for the CD so it doesn't spin on the top of the case; may be able to make a pop-up tray of my own, not sure yet.

Pleased you like the case so far: I know sonic4freedom, you were talking about cases a while back; will you be interested in buying mine when I am in a position to sell them??

Update:

Measured position of the screen hole in relation to the case, taking into consideration the board size of the PSone screen; 54mm each horizontal side, vertical 20mm from bottom (start of curve), used ruler to also check visually it looked centered. I then traced the screen (visible section) onto the casing with CD writing pen (it can be rubbed out BTW to remove the pen marks with a pencil eraser).





The hole will be cut out firstly with a drill bit, then sanding drum, then engraving tool bits for the corners; lastly filed to make the edges straight and the corners true. Similar process to how I have done it previously.

After that (out of time today though), I will get the holes for the two joysticks, 4 controller buttons, start button, analog button, select button and d-pad cut out; then one of the shoulder button sets (there are two sets, L1, L2, R1, R2).

The idea then is to place the components in place, then I can see how big the backing casing needs to be, so I can make a mold for it; prepare it, make the CD reader unit hole; then work out the placing of the screw holes to secure the two sections together, then onto spray painting before assembly!

[sonic4freedom]

Yeah i am! but i got to get another console before i can buy. i do a lot of frankeincasing. On topic: i see the design, i think this is going to be the best looking PS1 Portable to date

[bacteria]

Thanks!

This certainly is small; not only will I have to trim a bit off the PSone screen mobo, but as you see in the pic below, it just fits inside case, once the controller and memory ports are hacked off (memory card will be relocated); might just need to trim off a couple of millimeters from the grounding in the corners too (nothing drastic).

[Valium]

Why does the case look a lot bigger than it actually is?

[bacteria]

Why does the case look a lot bigger than it actually is?

Depends on the size of your monitor I guess. Mine is only 17" (I will be getting a far bigger one at Xmas) and the photo of the case is about 90% its actual size. Dimensions at thickest part of the case (ie base of the case): 218mm x 135mm only. Copy my pic above, print it onto paper 218mm x 135mm and you will see the final size - although bear in mind that that is the thickest part, it slopes to 214mm x 115mm at the top of the case.

There is only 54mm from the edge of the visible screen area to the side of the case, and only 46mm in real terms from the edge of the actual screen assembly and the edge of the case. That is the same size as the 4 button pad on a PSone controller (hence why my design is circled in the middle). Hard to see how this can be made smaller.

Main issue I will have is thickness. Aiming at 47mm or thereabouts, after all, the CD assembly unit is rather thick in itself, and I need to house two batteries in there too.

[bacteria]

Another day, another update!

I like to have control buttons flat, which means the controllers need to be flat; most however are curved.

I need to use two controllers for this project (as normal); one for the controller board and the other to hack to bits for the small mobo areas for the d-pad and button areas, to then wire to the undamaged controller board.

I am using an original PSone controller as the main board, and a third party one for the case mounting.

The button area is flat on this third party controller, and so are the buttons:



Whereas on the official one, they are curved slightly - not much, but enough to have to use bondo in the system case to accommodate the curve - fine if you are happy with this, personally I prefer to use a flat area so as to keep life a little easier.



This is the third party controller:



Guts removed, used a small drill bit to cut out the button area.



The idea is to mount this behind the system casing; this means the buttons will be less high, so to compensate, I used an electric sander to grind the plastic down a bit. The only disadvantage in using this method is that you have to cut holes for the buttons precisely in the right places on the system case.



..to..



If I need to trim more plastic, I will have to sand the inside of the system case, however I should be fine.

Talking of the system case, time to cut out the screen window. Firstly, use a small drill bit and cut a couple of millimeters from the finished size.



Pop out window, then use a sanding drum to cut close to the lines.



Use a file to get the sides straight; then a foam sanding block to finish.



Then, using the button control cutout, position it (just away from the edge of the PSone screen underneath); mark the hole cutouts with a CD writing pen, drill first holes.



Then use the other two sanding tools (in pic) to get holes "just right". First one done in pic, three more to go...



More project work tomorrow - will finish the other three holes, then do the D-pad, joystick holes, Start, Select buttons.

[sonic4freedom]

Can't wait to see the next pics!! your very good at this.
based on your skills what other portables would you consider starting...

[bacteria]

After this PlayStation, i will do another N64 and a Retro Duo (SNES) - as all three will fit in my casing (different backs). I then intend to sell some cases...

After that, probably try a GameCube on my widescreen JoyTech screen; then back onto my Multi system most probably to do Amstrad GX4000, Jaguar, Saturn, etc.

[exploding.monkey]

this is really incredible stuff, and also, where do you get mega putty or whatever its called?

[bacteria]

Mighty Putty - got via e-bay.

Got two tubes, not opened them up yet to use. I may not even need to use any filler on this project due to the custom cases and also not mounting the controller parts inside the case rather making the holes in the case instead. The back of the case will be made to have a recess for the CD to rotate in and not get in the way. I may need to use the putty though for the N64 and Retro Duo for the cart slot section; although may be able to engineer it so putty is not needed there either...

I am hoping the two case sections just press together nicely and will be just screwed in place. I will need to develop an idea to make this happen (watch this space).

Ok, two hours of modding time to play with; let's get to work!!

[bacteria]

Gave base of case sand to make sure it is completely flat. Rotated the system case on a sheet of sanding paper on something flat (in this case, a panel from an old computer case, flat and metal after all).



Ok, it has taken be nearly 2 hours in total to get the holes made.

It is vital that the holes are made in exactly the right positions because the holes need to match up with the holes in the controller button section. Even half a millimeter wrong will mean either the buttons don't have free movement or you have large holes around the hole areas or you need to use fuller and try to correct errors.

I used the following techniques:

i) Drill initial hole with a drill bit.
ii) Use a small circular grinding tool, gently cut out hole to about 1/2mm from the edge.
iii) Use a wider grinding tool and manually shave the remaining hole with it by hand. Every few gentle sanding strokes, constantly checking the part of the hole I need to work on (position), and also comparing the hole to a button to know what part needs sanding to make the hole fit (circular).

Ended up, after a lot of work, with four perfect holes, buttons move freely but not loosely, fit perfectly into the controller part; ready to glue-weld the controller part to the system case later.

For illustration purposes, put an old PSone screen into the case, so you can see it is close to the edge of the PSone screen surround but has enough space.



As all the parts are loose, I had to hold system elevated to take a pic, to give an idea of progress so far; hence pic is slightly blurry. PSone screen is an old one, will use as a spare if need to, in meantime, using it as a template for my projects!



At least now you can start to "see my vision"!

D-pad next! Won't have any more updates today as off to work soon, but more project time tomorrow! I am toying with using a normal d-pad or the PSone d-pad; you will see which I chose when done!

After the d-pad, time to do the joystick holes (both). I have several hours more of cutting to get holes finished for everything.

Just wondering, although I bought metallic black spraypaint (and primer and sealer), the white looks quite nice and as long as I carry on as I have done, I may not need filler; in which case painting is optional!

[collinE]

If I need to trim more plastic, I will have to sand the inside of the system case, however I should be fine.

I thought about doing this a while back rather than have to go through the lengthy bondo process. I'm nervous about doing things I've never seen the results for so I'm glad to see it work so well! I'll have to do this in the future.

[bacteria]

ColinE - My logic is normally to use the parts from a controller and cut enough hole in the system case to take them, then you spend a while putting in filler and then sanding the area down, more filler, more sanding; all in the effort to get the surface completely smooth. Ok, but my thoughts are to not do this, use the controller parts (especially as buttons like the PSone uses have symbols and words so you don't want them rotating on the case, looks bad) but put them under the system case. The plastic case is just under 2mm thick, so of course, if you can trim off nearly 2mm from the thickness of the controller surround then the overall thickness is about the same. More work cutting out the holes, but your case remains completely flat.

[exploding.monkey]

No, the CD will be at the rear of the casing, no space anyway for a flip screen even if I wanted one.

are flip screens better?[/quote]

[bacteria]

Like everything else in portablizing work, you can make many choices for making systems.

Having a flip-top compartment with the screen on the top and the CD tray underneath is the other option of course, but raises its own problems, especially as you need to have the PSone screen mobo on top of the flip-top compartment. Ben did this I believe in his hand-made Psone system. It also accounts for the large mid section. As mentioned before, you can use an original PS1 case and do the same effect, but have a much larger case.



It does make the system a fair bit larger and compromises the looks (as above pic) to have flip-top section. The CNC version he made uses a 3" TV screen and not a larger PSone screen, I think the CD spun at the rear.

Personally, I want a small system with a modern look (compare mine to Ben's one). I am going all out to make a classy casing this time. Making the system the size of mine means the CD needs to be at the back, although it will be recessed and I intend to have it hidden in its own CD tray lid. I need to make a custom section for this as the length of the system is only a few millimeters bigger than a CD.