Bacteria's N64/GBA combined portable - Nintendo 64 Advance

[bacteria]

Starting side 3 of the case now. Happy so far, and getting quite quick now.

Earlier this morning, I spray painted a 1cm thick off-cut of the plastic, then when it dried, bent and flexed it about back and forward, until I got a little too zealous and the end snapped off. I did this to see how the spray paint held up on the plastic - it seems to stick well and not flake or lift. This is very encouraging. I just put a second coat on it; when I get around to it in the next couple of days I will try some hot glue on it to see how it reacts. I am hoping the spray paint doesn't miscolour or react to the hot glue - assuming it doesn't I will have exactly what I hoped I would!

Anyway, back to my dremel!


Finished 3rd side now. Will resume project again tomorrow (out of time today).

[bacteria]

Finished the cutting. Had to give the carpet floor a good vaccum!!

Cleaned the perspex under water and gave it a good dry with a cloth.

As per usual, my camera never quite captures straight lines! Oh well, as it isn't worth paying for a new camera, it will do!!



The screen will be mounted underneath the perspex, which will give the screen very good protection and also give a completely smooth finish to the top of the case. To do this I cut out a piece of card with a craft knife (for accuracy), exactly to size, cut out some holes near the corners and sides and pushed some blu-tak through the holes to secure the card to the plastic (reverse side of the plastic). I did this so that when I spray paint the plastic, I don't get any on the screen area. The screen will be mounted by double-sided tape, and once in the right place, lightly hot glued in place to make sure it doesn't break free. Before I can do this, the PSone mobo has to be secured properly, and level, on the mounting board; and I also need to raise the area on that mounting board to ensure I can secure the perspex to more places than just the PSone screen (job to follow, not yet).





All the sides are perfectly straight, the sides are all exactly the same distance apart, the screen is exactly in horizontal centre and the top of the screen is exactly straight to the top of the case. The card will cover the PSone screen by about 1mm on each side, so as to cover the edges but not lose screen area.

Before I can do the above, and then install the buttons, D-pad and joystick in place, I will need to secure the perimeter of the case to the perspex and make all the necessary holes and gradients. I also need to develop and complete the right and left shoulder button areas. It will be hard to do this work later, it is far easier to do this prior to installing the controls!

Anyway, before all this, I need to ensure the plastic is clear of any debris and give it some coats of spray paint and let them dry.

I tested the spray paint on a piece of scrap perspex, gave it a couple of coats, let it dry. Finish looks wonderful. I then applied and rubbed in, some hot glue, no issues at all with the surface. As this is therefore fine with two coats of spray paint, I will give my sheet three or four, to be safe.

Once the spray paint is applied and nice and dry, I will post a pic, after erasing the black outlines (my guide I used to show me where the screen goes).

[bacteria]

Just put on first coat, looks fine so far. I won't know how good it is (hopefully) until it has had a few coats, dries, and the card cutout is removed. I am hoping I get a clean edge to the paint. If all else fails, I know I can cut this area out, but this isn't my first choice.

This is a nervous part of the project. I spent something like 12-13 hours dremeling the holes and edges in the plastic, another hour or so for preparation and designing the case design; and after all this work, the final look of my case will be determined by a piece of card and some swoosh strokes of spray paint!

Coat two of the paint will go on in a few minutes time. I am off to work again fairly soon, so won't get much more done today however will resume with this project again tomorrow morning. I have the morning to devote to this project, before my afternoon nap (not because I am getting older but because I working night shift tomorrow)

[dudex77]

This is a nervous part of the project. I spent something like 12-13 hours dremeling the holes and edges in the plastic, another hour or so for preparation and designing the case design; and after all this work, the final look of my case will be determined by a piece of card and some swoosh strokes of spray paint!

Jesus copulate Christ that is harcore! I dont think anyone else has ever spent that much time dremeling holes and edges. Do you have OCD or something?

[Kyo]

OCD is an awesome disease, isn't it? Well, anyway. Nice work there, bacteria. Since I ordered a dremel the other day, I am actually considering plexiglas as a case-material. Looking forward to the finished case!

[bacteria]

dudex77 - as it happens, I do have OCD, amoungst other things; although this work is more of a case of making this project as good as I can.

Kyo - yes, get some of this stuff, it is great! I just ordered two more sheets for my next potential project, whenever I get around to finishing this one.

I will need to use a variety of techniques to finish this case, as will unfold...

[ShockSlayer]

Your next project should be a gamecube/nds!! Now that, would kick @$$!
Is plexiglass even close to acrylic?

SS

[Kyo]

That's the same thing, isn't it?

[sammy]

Your next project should be a gamecube/nds!! Now that, would kick @$$!
Is plexiglass even close to acrylic?

SS

Or a Wii/DS that would be awesome. Playing Wii, gamecube, ds/GBA AND the whole virtual console library

[So Many Kinds of Bagels]

Bacteria, just saying, this thread is the N64 section. Your creation is and will be magnificent. My hat goes off to you.

[nightwheel]

Your next project should be a gamecube/nds!! Now that, would kick @$$!
Is plexiglass even close to acrylic?

SS

Or a Wii/DS that would be awesome. Playing Wii, gamecube, ds/GBA AND the whole virtual console library

That would be awsome. But, I have a idea that would pwn most of your ideas guys. But im keeping it hush hush becuase i want to be the first person to do it . And I don't have the systems to make it either .

[bacteria]

Thanks for the comments guys!

Got back late from work tonight, took off the card protector for the screen area, and was very pleased with what I saw. It is virtually perfect. I had a little spray paint back-splutter - I put the plastic straight onto newspapers and gave a few coats, then suspended the plastic over the cap of the spray paint can and did more coats - not the best of ideas as it turned out (I got a thin mist of paint on parts of the underside from back-splutter), however this was easily removed with an eraser. This perspex keeps on impressing me!!

Anyway, result is really nice, I will post pics in a few hours when I have cleaned it up, after some needed sleep.

[bacteria]

To show the finished product, I put it onto a piece of coloured A4 paper, no point trying to show a white painted object on a white background. Size of the sheet is 257 x 176mm, allowing for the sides (when built) it will end up 269 x 188mm (approx 10.5 x 5 inches). This is a good size for such a system.



I just placed it then on the PSone screen and booted up a game. I must say, it looks fantastic! Yes, I know, G&W Advance again, but my M3 Flashcard from Canada still hasn't come (2.5 weeks now...).



Just for a change, a bigger pic (only 800 pixels wide):



The screen hole is the perfect size. I know this because you don't see any silver colour from the edge of the PSone screen. The GBA Transverter has an issue, well reported, that it seems to right-shift an image a bit; as above, a bit of a gap on the right side, a little missed off on the left side. There is nothing I can do about this as it is a hardware design fault; however this isn't an issue and barely noticeable in games. Naturally, an N64 game will be full screen, this "issue" is purely with the GBA

Very happy so far. It has exceeded my original expectations. The screen looks fabulous through the clear plastic, very nice indeed. I think it true to say that this is about the best result possible working by hand, I don't believe I could have done any better.

Ok, onto next stage. Apart from extending some wires for the buttons the electronics is done, but the case, and mounting the system into the case requires a lot of work yet. I can't start to connect the controls into the perspex until the sides and shoulder buttons are finished, otherwise it will be far harder to do later.

Tasks remaining (in no particular order as such):

* Make buttons the right height, mount them onto the tact switches.
* Secure the tact switches in place with hot glue; after possibly making a surround for each one.
* Secure and mount the home-made buttons in place.
* Install and secure the joystick and D-pad.
* Make and design the side shoulder buttons.
* Make the sides of the case, raise areas as necessary, make all the required holes for switches, cart, etc; and finish in reverse-spray painted thin acetate.
* Rear of case, incorporate my project logo; make them in sections (3 probably) removable by screws for any repairs if needed in the future. Spray paint, maybe in a light grey for contrast.
* Mount speakers and speaker grills (speaker grills are likely to be spray painted, not necessarily in white).
* Install speakers each in their own enclosed spaces for best sound quality.

I need to ensure everything is airtight, so the airflow is maximised. I am sure there will be a few other tasks to do, which elude me at the moment.

[bacteria]

Your next project should be a gamecube/nds!! Now that, would kick @$$!

Actually, I have a sub project lined up; frontlighting a GBA I have lying about, just for fun. I bought it for £2 from a carboot sale, so i'm not bothered if I succeed or not. I have some ultra bright LED's on standby!

I have a DS, but actually dislike the touchscreen system and find it a pain to use; I prefer single screen games without touchscreen - so for me, GBA games are great; mind you playing GBA games on a DS is also painful and awkward! (I'm not a DS fan, although it does have some very good games).

My next project will be GP2x related. The GP2x has the advantage that it plays very good emulations of NES, Megadrive, MAME, NeoGeo and others. It is also a robust mobo, and quite small. Its downsides are its control system, lack of D-pad (mine will contain BOTH the joystick and D-pad), button positioning, bad battery life, poor sound quality and small screen (only 3.5" LCD). I can fix all these issues; however there is no point (and no project) until the (soon to be released?) software fix comes out to fix the tv out issues - until the video output is resolved the resultant image is not worth the effort of a project at the moment. The GP2x outputs via S-video (or composite if you use a converter); using the PSone screen hack to make it take S-video, this is possible.

[bacteria]

Quick update:

Just bought the light grey spray paint. This is the same type I used for the white. I figured the light grey will contrast nicely with white.



My M3 Flashcard from Divineo.com arrived; although I had to pick it up and pay Customs Tax on it. I not only had to pay £4.90 for tax, but Customs are now charging £8.00 for "Import tax into the European Union". Crikey; means my gadget has cost me about £55 instead of about £42! Oh well, had no choice.

I couldn't get the SD card version, out of stock/don't make them anymore; had to get a mini SD version - fortunately I had a couple of these lying about. Mini SD cards seem to be a bit more temprimental than normal SD cards.



It is front loading as you notice (the groove at the top), which is far better for this project. I am pleased it arrived ok.