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

nightwheel · Post by **nightwheel** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 4:36 pm

Whoa, painting the back of the plastic creates a kind of recessed in look. Due to the wood trim around the side. Great Job bacteria. And by the way what does naff mean?

Kyo · Post by **Kyo** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 4:47 pm

That's slighty more brilliant than usual brilliant. I can only wonder how you keep coming up with this great stuff.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 12:30 am

nightwheel - "naff" is UK slang meaning "lacking fashionable stylishness and appearing boring, tasteless, or unattractive" in other words, tacky.

Kyo - Thanks!

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 10:39 am

Small update, only had a few minutes today. I will have most of tomorrow morning, Wednesday and Thursday mornings for this project, so will have many more updates to post in due course.

As before, the switch surround will be hidden behind painted acetate. I wanted to use a bigger switch (main on/off switch for the system), however I don't have the space in the cavity available, so used an identical switch as being used in the rest of the project.

After securing the switch in place with lots of hot glue, decided I needed to trim another 1mm from the wood so the switch operated cleanly in both directions; so I used my dremel engraver tool for this job.

The switch works well and is discreet in this position. The top left of the console has this main on/off switch, on the top right of the console is the N64/GBA switch. I did this as these switches will be accessed more than the PSone volume and contrast controls, so needed to be in a more prominent place.

On both sets of switches, I may cover the plastic switch with wood to make it look nice, or may not, haven't decided yet.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 3:30 am

I am in the process at the moment of installing the controls into the case. So far, I have installed the A and B buttons, I am about to put in the four other buttons, I will then install the speakers. I am anticipating putting on the D-pad and joystick during main assembly. It was a good idea earlier this morning I tested my rig on a game - Mario Tennis - I would have installed the joystick the wrong way around otherwise! I thought I allowed about 1mm gap between the edge of the joystick to the PSone screen, as it is now rotated, it is more like about 5mm, which is far better.

Progress is a bit slow, I had to snip the wires from the A and B buttons and mark them so I can reconnect them later. I have to do the same with the others too (under the PSone screen). The A button was a bit big, I had to reduce its size by quite a bit to get it to fit in the case ok and not get in the way of the PSone screen when it is attached.

The next time I can turn on my system is when everything is connected, as the button contacts are stripped so I can easily re-solder them to the buttons on the case.

It is interesting now I have installed the A and B buttons and I can test the buttons via the case (using my multimeter of course). The C buttons have the slight tact switch click when you press them, the A and B buttons (homemade ones) only need pressing about a millimeter for contact; there is no feedback; however this doesn't matter as of course you get feedback from the game when you press these buttons, so is ok.

I will post a pic of the front and rear of the case when the four buttons are in and the speakers connected, in the meantime, you can see progress so far (this is a WIP after all):

Once all this is done, I will need to concentrate on the shoulder buttons and bottom and top extensions.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 5:03 am

No more time today, so posted a pic of progress so far. I gave the speakers a light spray paint (I don't like to see the chrome on the speaker cone), thenI secured the speakers in place with a little hot glue, then sealed in the gaps all around the speakers with BluTak (putty basically). Cut out base of a ploystyrene cup and sealed this in place with more BluTak. The height of the cups is under the top level of the case (so I can put a base on it ok). I had to cut part of the cut off the one completed as I forgot to solder the wires to the speakers first (doh), so hot glued it back on to maintain a seal.

I did this as if the speaker cones are enclosed, they give better bass sound so giving a better audio experience when playing a game.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:48 am

Finished second speaker mount and hot glued in two of the red buttons under the PSone screen - GBA Select and N64 slo-mo. I originally wanted the four buttons (left to right) to be: Start, GBA Select, N64 slo-mo, GBA Menu; however the space near the speaker is a bit cramped, so had to change layout to: Start, GBA Select, GBA Menu, N64 slo-mo.

The NES buttons are recessed, so I hot glued a piece of mounting board the same size as the base of the buttons and then hot glued them to the tact switches, as before.

In the pic I haven't put in the Start and GBA Menu buttons as I think I they can be secured in place without having to do this. On the pic below, I cut out two strips of mounting board the same size and the aforementioned buttons, so I know where they will be when secured in place.

Making the shoulder buttons:

Used some UHU glue (standard glue) to stick a strip of tin foil in place, then poked a hole through the foil through the hole I drilled earlier (for the wires).

I then used a craft knife and divided the foil in half, as I need one button to act as an independent switch for the GBA and N64 systems, the contacts can't be shared.

I then put thn strips of 1mm foam sticky pads on the tops and sides, to keep the contacts apart (top and bottom)

Next job was to feed wires through the holes and gently lift two opposite parts of the middle sticky pads and pop the bare wires under, so they make contact with the tin foil: blue wires for top, red for bottom.

I am using 6 micron PVC/acetate for the top contacts. I marked out where the gaps between the foil are on the bottom layer so I don't get a piece of foil from the top touching in error. I then used this as a guide and used UHU to put two pieces of tin foil underneath.

Next job was to feed the other contact wires through the hole, stick them to the opposite sides, to sit on the foam pads, in readiness for the top piece going on and making contact with the tin foil from the top piece. I then applied the PVC/acetate strip and pressed it in place.

Tested it, works fine; and the PVC/acetate sheet makes a good flexible layer.

I then hot glued the wires at the rear so they don't work free, then used a little of the small crack Polyfiller, as before, to bridge the gap between the top of the PVC/acetate and the case. Pic also shows most of the buttons in place on the front of the case....

It won't be easy to stop paint cracking when painted onto PVC/acetate, so I stuck on a piece of paper the right size, to cover. I then applied more Polyfiller to finish the job off.

I have run out of time again today; tomorrow I will give the surface a light sand to make the edges smooth and even; it will then be ready, when the other shoulder button is done and the sides are on, to paint.

benol · Post by **benol** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 5:17 am

WOW! That is one damn good looking case. Reminds me of the white DS lite.

nightwheel · Post by **nightwheel** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 8:43 am

How long do you think the shoulder buttons will last under constant use?

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 10:25 am

benol - Thanks, pleased you like it.

nightwheel - No idea how long they will last, they will last for a while, no idea if we are talking hundreds or thousands or multi thousand presses; however if they fail I can replace them if I need to. I did a D-pad with this foam before and they took a big pounding and were still ok months later. The foil will not wear and nothing is rubbing on them.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 1:50 am

Ok, I have about 3 hours this morning for project and maybe an hour or so later.

Decided to change plan slightly; I will get the other shoulder button on (this will take a while), then give the case window a clean and (hopefully) proceed to start assembling this project together, starting with the screen. This is the part of the project which I have been looking forward to - things start to get done!

I will leave the bottom and top sides (building up the middle sections) until other things are connected so I know precisely how high I need to make them.

Post by **Skyone** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 2:13 am

Very nice, but are those scratches on the case?

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 4:10 am

As the edges of the shoulder buttons have foam pads, you need to press more in the middle of the contact (as per the press buttons I did a while back), so I made two tier buttons (mounting board again!), in the centre of the contacts. I put them on the left and right sides and on the diagonal top; as these are the contacts I will be using the most. Contact can still be made from the top, but for looks, didn't put two tier buttons on there.

I applied Polyfiller to make the buttons looks smoother, and to bring the sides in line with the curved surface of the top of the case. When dry, at some point, I will sand the surfaces to make them smooth, prior to painting.

Skyone - No, they are not scratches, but thin strands of hot glue. I have just removed them. The other marks are from dust, etc from lots of dremelling work before. I do have one tiny scratch at the top of the case which is only visible if taking a photo side-on and if you look closely.

Taking photos of a shiny surface, side on, at a tilt, using flash or daylight, although necessary for this documentation of the project, is the worst way to present the product as this intensifies any imperfections, no matter how small. Looking at it normally, you can't see any marks (when clean).

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 4:35 am

Skyone - I just cleaned the plastic using Screen-Clene (for cleaning monitor screens) and gave it a good rub with a cloth. Posting pics just for you

:

It isn't realistic to have it looking entirely perfect, it is home made after all; but I think I have done a good job of the finish so far, especially as it was created and shaped from (circular drill cut) perspex, wood, Polyfiller, hot glue, mounting board, flattened and cut speaker grills, spray paint, normal paint, varnish.

As you may recall, the window had tiny speckles of spray paint from back draft when I did the spray paint; I got rid of it all but it left the surface matt and with minor streaks; the matt surface helps to reduce glare (so positive) and these streaks are invisible when the screen is on, especially when a game is playing. Just me being a perfectionist again!

I am on nights again tonight (and tomorrow too), so will be having a kip after lunch, although I should have an hour or so later. Next job is to start assembly!

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 8:08 am

Wasn't happy with the button presses I made for the shoulder buttons, and they weren't sensitive enough, so I took them off, took off as much of the paper layer underneath, and put another paper layer on top. I had some washers (normally using for spacers for PC motherboards) which seemed ideal, glued two together and put them on the places where they made the best electrical contact with the construction underneath. This looks nicer too.