Work in progress: polycase + FC Twin + PSOne lcd

grahf · Post by **grahf** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 10:39 pm

Just thought i'd show you guys what im working on. This is my second SNES portable. This one is using a Polycase AG-85: http://www.polycase.com/item/ag-85.html
Thanks to GForces playmad thread for helping me find Polycase. This is using the FC Twin with nes portion removed. I relocated the cart slot 90degrees, by using the back row of pins (bent 90deg) soldered directly to the board. For the front row I soldered in solid thick jumper wires.

I kept -most- of the power board, since it was a convienent way to mount everything. Also, the psone lcd doesnt like the FCTwins rgb signal even if its terminated to ground like originally done on this thing. So, I just kept the CXA1645 and pulled RGB off of the outputs. Many people use this chip (as well as the CXA1145) as RGB clamps, so the picture is incredible.

I have a few things left to do such as finish mounting the LCD into the front half of the casing, and finish mounting the dpad. It was INCREDIBLY hard to get this LCD to fit. I had to recess it about 10mm, and spend a hell of a lot of time squeezing the dpad and buttons into the space allowed. This will have internal batteries, and im expecting about 2-3 hours of battery life from my tests.

Quick recap of parts list:
Polycase AG-85 (5" x 7.5" x 1.7")
FC Twin
PSOne LCD
Dimension Engineering switchign regulators
Original snes pad for Dpad
Cheapo snes pad for buttons

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 11:03 pm

Awesome! If you manage to fit everything in that case and all comes out well, then I'll give you a standing ovation! What a cool SNESp!

May I ask what the color of this portable will be or is that a secondary detail to be decided after everything else is figured out?

I saw that case at Polycase a long while ago and wondered if it would work nicely for a portable. How do the dimensions of it feel when holding it?

johnbjuice · Post by **johnbjuice** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 11:03 pm

Nice!!!

It looks pretty slick! Small, pretty good battery life...I like it!

grahf · Post by **grahf** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 11:15 pm

Everything will fit for sure, with just about zero room to spare. Its just a matter of getting the rest of the stuff mounted, and the cosmetics done. It feels great in your hands. Its obviously not going to fit in most pockets, but considering the screen size and internal batteries I dont think it could be any smaller. There will be 3 cells on each side of the case in the back housing.

I originally planned to leave the plastic unpainted, thats why I ordered a grey case. But as you can see i later opted to graft the original dpad in, so painting it is a must now. Dont know what color yet.

And johnbjuice, I just saw your avitar. I hooked up an external controller temporarily and have been playing Earthbound. Just wanted to do a real-life test of battery life before I LED mod the screen.

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:11 am

I assume the two extra buttons on the right-hand side are the start and select buttons? I like it - I'm really impressed by your setup and unique design!

Feel free to post millions more pictures!

Rellizate · Post by **Rellizate** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:25 am

Wow nice, the buttons are a bit stange though...

ATOMICMAN · Post by **ATOMICMAN** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:30 am

could be r and l...

ShockSlayer · Post by **ShockSlayer** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:02 pm

Whats with the buttons? Otherwise so far, so 1337!

grahf · Post by **grahf** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:09 pm

The two buttons are R and L. It looks a little strange, but it feels well in your hands. Green and yellow are X and B, and blue and red are Y and A. I took the buttons and layout from a cheapo "Doc's Hightech" snes pad. I still have to add start & select, and will put them below the dpad.

ShockSlayer · Post by **ShockSlayer** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:14 pm

Well, that cleared up a lot!

But, still, Nice work sofar!

SS

sammy · Post by **sammy** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 1:12 pm

Is see that you relocated the cart slot. Was it the same as relocating a normal snes cart slot?

grahf · Post by **grahf** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:11 pm

sammy wrote:Is see that you relocated the cart slot. Was it the same as relocating a normal snes cart slot?

It was a LOT easier. I desoldered the slot, and then bent the back row of pins 45 degrees. So the entire back row is soldered directly to the board like stock. For the front row of pins I used 10-15mm~ pieces of solid strand jumper wires. It works really well since the cart slot is already at the edge of the board. Its rock solid.

ShockSlayer · Post by **ShockSlayer** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:14 pm

If it was that easy, if I sent you an fc twin would you do it for me?

SS

grahf · Post by **grahf** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 6:18 pm

Well it was easy, but REAL time consuming. Not half as much as a full relocation, but it still takes a while. Get back to me after I finish this project when i have more time.

If you want to try it yourself, It would be a LOT easier if you buy a replacement cart slot from ebay. Then you can just snip the pins to remove the old one. Then you dont have to worry about the pins coming out of place while trying to desolder the slot.

Post by **Triton** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 6:27 pm

could you post a pic of the other side of the board? ive been wanting one for an idea i have that my snes mini wont fit in without massive modification and i want to see if this would be more suitable! anyone interested in a trade?