jjhammerstein - Yes, it's the angle!

themadhacker - Absolutely, if you don't take your time you make mistakes. I will be posting pics and video at the end of course.

evilteddy - Yes, I have put all into this portable. My abilities have come on massively over the months. My aim is to make the best PSone portable here and the best one I can make.

collinE - I will be re-writing the entire guide once the project is done and will post it all on my site. There were a few things I had to re-do mid flow, a few things I would do slightly differently; and also make it more condensed and in sections. Please bear in mind I had to work everything out from ground up, all someone else has to do if they want to follow my guide to make their own system is to connect A > B and follow the guide and pics, a bit like building a working model of an aircraft or train or whatever - someone else spent massive time working everything out so someone just follows a set of instructions to get potentially a similar result.


When I have the system finished after testing done and completed (Monday hopefully?) I will post the results without final pics and videos here, with progress details. My intention then will be to re-make the guide from ground up, post on my site, then make the video(s) and pics and upload it in News here for maximum impact. When the video gets posted on YouTube via other sites, readers will be encouraged to look at my site (I will upgrade my site big style) and encourage them to post comments onto the BenHeck forum; that way the servers here won't get hammered (my site is unlimited too, so should be fine) and it will hopefully bring new people to this site too. Best of both worlds.

sorry

LBK - Yes, the only way to fix a hole is to fill it in. Hopefully you didn't get past the painting stage; if you have, consider making the hole a "feature" by using bondo to fix the hole, sand just that bit, then paint over it with say a small circle, then have other similar painted circles elsewhere. Will make your system have a "dalmatian" look (like the dog's spots) but will be unique! If you haven't painted it yet, no issue as I am sure you will paint the case anyway...

Tested system today, turned system on, video and audio great, but buttons and controls didn't work. Rats. Opened up the bonnet, so as to speak, discovered a wire from the controller board to the PSone console had detached. Soldered that back on.

Showing this pic as it shows how easy, due to my design, it is to make repairs. Used a cut-up foam sanding block to keep the board elevated.



Put back the electrical tape over the controller board of course afterwards!

Tried again, same thing. Rats.

Discovered quickly that I had made one STUPID error - I had soldered the controller wires, and the memory card wires to port 2 and not port 1 so of course it wouldn't work!

Rewired:



Now, here's a funny thing, I had to this point avoided opening Ben's book to reference anything for this project, preferring to work everything out myself; but thought before I realised I connected the controller to the wrong port I should check the book. Looked at page 356 and 357.

I used an official PSone controller to wire to as there is no point making a guide using an obscure and hard to get hold of controller, as the pinout will be different - keep it standard, keep it simple; everyone can get hold of an official PSone controller even if they don't have one.

Ben's controller connected 9 wires from the controller to the PSone console, mine has 8 wires; so the wiring was a lot different to Ben's book. I noticed in a non-standard controller I opened up that it only used 6 wires, although the board was bigger with more components on it. I don't know therefore if Ben used a non-standard controller in his project or what the issue is - I have an NTSC PSone console which I got on e-bay on an auction I won an NTSC screen in; the controller looks the same UK and USA.

Bottom line is the easy method to ensure success is to use the same wires to connect to the controller as in the controller; then strip wires from the controller remaining and test which wire connects to which connection on the console board. I did this method, worked - has to - as long as A>A and B>B you have success.


Talking of success, after migrating my wiring from port 2 to port 1 turned system on and this time the controls and system worked fine. Tested on Break-Out; which meant I used the d-pad, two of the four action buttons and the select and start buttons - all work fine, buttons don't catch, feels really nice. Different games use different controls, ie some use d-pad others joystick, some use shoulder buttons some don't, etc - so it means testing on a few games to make sure all works perfectly.

In saying that, I used 50% of the controls on this one game and all worked perfectly; which means I can have sufficient confidence to close the system up and get on with the guide and consider this project complete. I will test other games in the next days of course to be completely sure, but think to all ends and purposes the project is complete (once I fix in the rumble motors anyway).

I will now finish things off - put in the rumble motors, cover the system in electrical tape inside to stop shorts, make the recesses as needed so the sides close and then screw the system shut. In the afternoon I plan to get the oven going and make some cases. I will double check using the two case halves that all is still fine with the molds still; then I can check my documents to be included in the kit, make up the kit boxes, then when done let Stephen0205 know all is ready to do business, so he can progress on his project. I need about 6 case top and bottoms for my own projects forthcoming, I will make another 12 sets initially to make 12 kits for sale. If they sell I will make more. I have quite a few sheets of plasticard for the vacuum forming however I may need to buy more sheets as you always have wastage. After the kits are made and ready and boxed, I will remake my guide for my site and also make videos and pics of my system ready for "official" launch!

How much is one kit?

jjhammerstein - Thanks for asking - I have a good guide but need to make final calculations. All in good time - what I will say is the price will be very reasonable indeed for what you get.

I doubt I will sell many case kits, i'm personally aiming for 14 as that is about break even point, to repay the costs of everything I bought for this project (excluding the screen, console, etc). It will be interesting how many I sell. I think there might be about 3-6 sales from this site, time will tell. Might get a few more sales from the many tens of thousands of hits I will get once this system gets on the 'net.

Anyway:

Removed the rubber around the vibration motor as the rubber won't stick to anything; also, the rubber reduces the effectiveness of the motor. I had initially stuck the motor part onto a piece of perspex before putting into the case, however I couldn't then get it in the case.



These are tested, secured in place with hot glue and no, the motors spinner does not catch on the sides!





I found that I only needed to use two motors, they have very good and acceptable viabration - tested them.

Had to remove the metal plates in the end and just use a little hot glue to keep the joystick in position before it was lowered onto the console mobo. Had no choice, case wouldn't close!



Anyway, case closed (finally), screws applied, system tested, works fine.

----project finished----




Once I have made kits (after checking a few things) and made my guide on my website, I will post final pics and videos for all to see.

What I will say is: final system including everything, is 990g; easy to hold and comfortable to use: 56mm at thickest part (middle) without CD protector applied, 61mm with. Anyone making my system I suggest to make it 3mm thicker, would make life far easier!

Anyway, done!

lol, i had that case idea too, im still working on my psonep, but the disc drive will be on the bottom of the unit, I have already thrown out the psone screen case

I thirst for pictures!

Great job. It's great how you make every one of your worklogs a tutorial as well. All in all, great project, can't wait for finished pictures.

Pictures, Bacteria....PICTURES NOW!

Above all, even if people don't like the case, or don't like anything about this project, I think we can all agree that this is your best casework ever...

Which leaves only room to improve upon what you already know.


BTW: 990 grams = 2.2 pounds. Not to bad at all. Same weight as a 35.5oz can of Nestle Coffee-Mate non-dairy coffee creamer.

will your kit fit a snes mini?

probably, I'd say (but maybe you should rely on bacteria's word here). Not sure what you'd do with the cart slot.

Mario - Thanks, but holding back on showing final pics until everything else is in place. I also want to see if I can use thicker screws to hold the system together. This tutorial will be condensed, made easier to follow by having no diversions/redo's.

HBN - You have to wait for the pics. It will be worth it, I can assure you. This baby looks commercial quality. You will be impressed...

To be honest, I don't see how I can improve on this system, my future systems will look similar too. Can't make it prettier, can't make it slimmer (really, you can't) - 56mm is only 2¼" after all; that includes batteries and CD mechanism, which was about 21mm thick in itself, as I recall.

Could have saved 99g by only using two sets of cells instead of three, but far better to have 50% more battery power than saving 10% of the weight!

mmoshkowich - As long as the board is no larger than a PSone board, then yes (c. 170 x 120mm) - and integrated internal game carts too (I designed this feature into my case design; to take internal SNES and N64 carts. N64 will also take internal game carts too, and Retro Duo. Other systems will work in this case too, BTW.

Although it will fit, I won't be selling the cases to fit these and other systems until I make them myself and everyone can see for themselves. Best policy; however, the case front takes all controls and PSOne screen and mobo and controller board in 21mm thick - the case back is 35-38mm thick, given a SNES cart is 20mm thick (NTSC) and 20mm thick (PAL) and N64 cart is 18mm; you have 15-18mm remaining, less cart insertion and removal (say 3mm total), giving an extra 12-15mm to play with for the N64 and heatsinks (should be able to take expansion pack too without relocation, but trimmed board) or SNES board, which is perfectly ample; and space on the sides for 4 cells (2 x battery packs, 4000mA total). So yes, it will fit internally (I designed it to)

Just a suggestion but I think you should make a selection of vacuum formed cases to accomadate all systems!

that would be ideal, indeed. I know the design for this was made with multiple consoles and controls in mind. If I were to buy a kit and save myself the trouble of actually making one myself, I would want a case dedicated to a specific console.

My case will take a few types of console systems, (normal boards or mini boards or NOAC type: PSone, N64, SNES, NES, Genesis, Dreamcast (?)), so it isn't a one-trick pony; however some systems have large boards. People thought my Multi system looked big and the screen in comparison looked small - it was precisely for the reason that I allowed for larger boards to fit - eg MegaDrive II, Jaguar, Amstrad GX4000, etc. Making dedicated cases to specific consoles is not practical given the huge time outlay and costs involved (after all, i'm running this as a hobby not business), although I may make a bigger case in several months time to take a GX4000 board - way down the line of projects to do.