About time for another update! I had some time this morning for the project.
I cut out the piece for the bottom of the case, which will hide all those unsightly wires!
I figured the best place for a power-in plug for external power was at the bottom towards the rear, when playing a game, if the power-in plug is on the top or side of the case it would be unsightly and would get in the way, at the base it won't be seen, and also the cable is not going to move about anything as much as if it went anywhere else. I dremelled the PSone power in plug to remove the excess, then used lots of hot glue to secure it in place over the hole I made for it.
When inserting an N64 cart, I might whack it in a bit hard sometimes, so I made two backstops so the N64 mobo is connected to the rear of the case. I thought this a wise precaution, in the same way as I made backstops on the other side of the N64 case.
When the case rear was secured on via the screws, I hot glued a small piece of wood to one of these backstops to ensure the N64 mobo is securely held in place.
There were tiny gaps between the case from the "D" shaped wood I used for the case sides and the mid sections, so I cut out two shaped pieces and glued them in place (on the case, not the mid section) with normal glue. This helps to keep the case quite airtight.
View from rear of case:
Run out of time again today, the next job will be to secure in the battery for the GBA mobo (using the small single cell 3v photo battery). I had intended to replace the two watch batteries for the N64 memory card with one of these 3v photo batteries too, but testing with the multimeter the two watch batteries output 3v, so fine, and I don't want to tempt fate by changing them!! After this, I can then make the two sloping sides and the base of the case (on top of pic!) in one piece and secure that in place.
I got some more dust on the PSone screen, managed to get compressed air to deal with this, with the straw attachment; saved me having to dismantle the case again!
If, from using the fan for the N64, I get occasional dust on the PSone screen, I intend to make a couple of small holes (about 3mm diameter) in a couple of places in the wood on the side rear (where my fingers hold the system), so I can insert the compressed air tube down to the sides of the PSone screen, give it a squirt, remove; job done, small piece of sticky tape replaced to maintain its level of being air tight. Don't know if I need to do this, if I can do it from the top of the case as I am at the moment, that is fine. I can't seal the PSone screen in place and make it airtight, otherwise I can't remove it later if I need to.
I have made the case very sturdy and strong. It dismantles quite easily (I have had to do this a few times) and reassembles easily and reliably. I am pleased with the work so far. A lot of work has gone into the design and construction.
The weak points of the design I have done are the homemade buttons (not the shoulder buttons, they are fine), I know that. They won't last forever, especially as I (daftly) backed their spacers with mounting board instead of plastic. I wanted to make them easy to remove, however in doing so they may, after time, split. At least I covered the card with hot glue; that may be sufficient. If I get a problem with the buttons, I will replace them with plastic backed homemade ones, which will definitely not come off and be heavy duty versions. I won't do this at the moment, no need to, all is fine as it is, just forward thinking.
Once I have the rest of the wood in place, I can proceed to make it look pretty. Project will then be finished. Don't worry though, lots more pics to post before then!
