nes/snes portable - finished page 14

Includes but not limited to: SNES, Genesis, Sega CD, PlayStation 1, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, Game Gear and I guess the Virtual Boy.

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ghosstt
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Post by ghosstt » Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:52 am

Thanks so much! You've inspired me to start a portable this summer!

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Post by lovablechevy » Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:38 pm

ghosstt wrote:Thanks so much! You've inspired me to start a portable this summer!
awesome! this forum can always use more wip projects! make sure to post a kind of work log so we can all see how you progress! have you decided what system you are going to work with?
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ghosstt
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Post by ghosstt » Fri Mar 28, 2008 6:41 pm

Ready for this??







Retro Duo :oops:

Not trying to copy you, or Life Of Brian ( who said he was going to do one too, yes?) But it seems great. And since the ZN-41 case is perfect for it and such, its seems like a perfect fit.. I feel bad though, it will look similar to yours and Brian's.

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Life of Brian
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Post by Life of Brian » Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:04 pm

I don't see anything wrong with it. :D

I basically copied G-force's idea when he made the PlayMad. If I didn't want anyone copying what I did then I wouldn't have posted pictures of how I made it, right? I don't think Ben minds people making portables like the ones in his book, either.
Last edited by Life of Brian on Sat Mar 29, 2008 6:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by lovablechevy » Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:20 pm

i don't mind at all either! after all, imitation is the highest form of flattery!

however, i have to tell you, it's proving to be kinda difficult using the zn-40 case... ergh...
they call me the Queen of Bondo, though maybe i should be called the Queen of Epoxy Putty

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current project - code name: blue mushroom!

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Post by lovablechevy » Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:33 am

I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT! I DID IT!

ok, sorry about that. i'm just too excited right now!

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super mario rpg

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up close

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adventures of musashi

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up close

woo hoo!!!!!!

there's some things i still need to do. there is a short somewhere amongst my led mod. i had to tap the lower right corner around the volume buttons before they turned on. and when trying to press the volume buttons, the leds kept flickering on and off. sorry the pics are a bit blurry. i wasn't using the flash and my hands aren't steady enough to take good pics that way.

i still need to wire up the speakers. i just don't feel like doing that right now.

so here's a question. how do i get it so that the screen powers on with the retro duo...? or would it be easier to just have a switch for the screen and a switch for the retro duo...?
Last edited by lovablechevy on Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
they call me the Queen of Bondo, though maybe i should be called the Queen of Epoxy Putty

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current project - code name: blue mushroom!

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G-force
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Post by G-force » Sat Mar 29, 2008 6:00 am

I had the same thing happen to my LED's. I think it's just from them overheating when they get soldered. I replaced the LED and it worked fine.

Great looking portable! Is it just me, or is the zn-40 the new tackle box of cases? (lets see how many of you remember those days :P )

The screen might be one of those that powers up when you add 5v to a certain line, its in the screen sticky. Just have the 5v power from the regulator from one of the systems go to that.

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Post by Life of Brian » Sat Mar 29, 2008 6:38 am

She could do that, but I noticed that switching regulator from Dimension Engineering in the pictures. Using that will be a lot more power efficient than taking 5v from one of the 7805's off the back of the screen.

What you need to do is (assuming your batteries aren't over 9v) is wire up the screen directly to batteries, wire up the switching regulator to the batteries, and wire the Retro Duo to the switching regulator. Connect all the grounds together, but put a switch in between the batteries' ground and everything else's ground. That way, it will all turn on and off at the same time. Make sense?

Your enthusiasm made me smile. Way to go!

Yes, G-force, I remember the tackle box days (*shudder*). They certainly are great for beginners, but with companies like polycase around there's no reason to not try for better.

Edit: I just noticed the Cheat Commandos! Awesome! I have a Homestar shirt that's one of my favorites.
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Post by ghosstt » Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:41 am

Great Work! This is gonna be amazing. How are the cart slots going to be located? NES vertical along the back, with snes at a 90 degree angle above it? I was thinking maybe something like this would be cool:


_____ <---snes
|
|
|<---- back of the case
|
|
|
_____ <---- Nes

You wouldn't be able to have two in at once (which it recommends against anyway), but you would be able to have a really flush back.

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Post by lovablechevy » Sat Mar 29, 2008 3:03 pm

so now my leds seem to work great... and i didn't really do anything. i decided to just have two switches, that way, if i'm in the middle of playing a game that either doesn't save or i'm not close to a save point, i can just pause and turn the screen off. save the battery! so i added the switch in, and now the leds seem to work perfect. *shrugs*

G-force: i remember seeing all those tackle box cases... ugh... i've never really understood why you would go through the trouble of making a portable and not make it look nice...

Life of Brian: yeah, i love homestar. those cheat commandos just arrived in the mail along with all 5 strong bad email dvds and the 3 everything else dvds... hehe! read about a 50% off sale a few days ago on another forum.

ghosstt: your diagram wouldn't really work that great. the retro duos hold games firmly, but the cartridges still wiggle around. especially the nes games. with that design, you wouldn't be able to have cart slot covers that go over any part of the game. not to mention that the nes games are taller than the zn-40 case itself. i'm having the nes carts slide down the back of the case and i'll have the snes carts slide inside the case. this is probably going to be the most difficult part of all of it. i think the snes carts are going to have to stick up higher than the nes carts do because of the batteries... but we shall see.

i'm beginning to think i should have finished my case before even beginning the electronics. cuz hours of sanding are just not sounding fun at all........ but i can't do anything more electronically until i finish the case... ugh...

*trudges off to work on case more*
they call me the Queen of Bondo, though maybe i should be called the Queen of Epoxy Putty

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current project - code name: blue mushroom!

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Post by Neildo_64 » Sat Mar 29, 2008 4:05 pm

Tackle boxes....lol. The ZN-40 has been getting quite popular. I am also using the same case. I am working on an N64p though, so I expect it to look a little different. Polycase is taking all sorts of money from the benheck forums. :lol:

Your progress looks great so far. I cant wait to see the finished portable! Great bondo work, too! (I know how tedious that is...:? )
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Post by Kyo » Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:14 am

are those blue LEDs? it looks kind of blue-ish

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Post by lovablechevy » Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:36 am

Kyo wrote:are those blue LEDs? it looks kind of blue-ish
no, that's just from not using a flash. they are definitely white. plus the pics of super mario rpg just have a lot of blue in that part of the game.

maybe these will help.

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starfox

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dragon warrior iii
they call me the Queen of Bondo, though maybe i should be called the Queen of Epoxy Putty

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Post by Kyo » Sun Mar 30, 2008 9:36 am

Oh yes, that looks much better!

Good work so far, keep it up (I really want one of those combo systems)

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Post by lovablechevy » Sun Mar 30, 2008 5:24 pm

ok, the batteries have stopped working. i get power when i plug it into the wall. i thought maybe the batteries were just dead or something, so i charged them. but after disconnecting the charger, it still won't turn on. i plug the charger back in, flip the switches, it turns on. i leave the system on and unplug the charger, it turns off immediately. any ideas? or is this just probably a lose connection somewhere? here's exactly how i have my batteries wired up.

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*shrugs*

i'm gonna go tinker with it some more...
they call me the Queen of Bondo, though maybe i should be called the Queen of Epoxy Putty

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current project - code name: blue mushroom!

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