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

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 2:55 pm

Life of Brian wrote:Wow! You're almost there!

Yes indeedie matey! Only needs 5 small circles of plastic/similar to cut out and stick on the tact switches with hot glue; and a couple of layers of varnish on the case. I should have this all done and dusted tomorrow. Then, back to modding the briefcase!

I have some time tomorrow for project work, then I probably won't have much time until Monday morning.

I like my case, it worked out fine; not perfect, not as perfect as I wanted it to, but still, very happy with it. My wife says you could kill someone with it if you threw it at them (her sense of humour!).

minkster · Post by **minkster** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 5:49 pm

wowzers! this is shaping up quite nicely. I can't wait to see the finished product in all its glory. Heck, you can make a novel out of this thread!

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 3:40 am

Got the first coat on, improved the looks nicely. I hope you are impressed after I put the second coat on and post pics! I like it!

A novel minkster? That's novel (sic). There have been a few twists and turns, man modder dismantles N64 removing its guts, makes own Egor (Egor was the monster, Frankenstein was the scientist for those who didn't know), fries it with electricity; finds a new N64 (corpse) and makes new Egor, a bigger, better one; then dissects old Egor to make a new improved dual system Egor (whahhh, whahhh, rules the world, etc) with different electricity requirements. This new Egor lives happily ever after with the mad modder, after giving lots of torment to the inventor along the way. Both are inseparable!

Humm, sounds a bit like Frankenstein (as opposed to a Frankencase

). I suppose an apt title could be Frankencase, the Second Generation

Actually, I rather like that (and quite apt as well as witty)!! Boy I have a strange imagination sometimes!

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 4:33 am

Coat two of the varnish is now on. Looks sexy!

The paint and varnish have sealed up any minor gaps between where the wood meets, effectively making the case quite airtight. In saying that, I can easily remove the wood to get to the insides if I want to, although I might need to carefully use a craft knife to separate the wood pieces the first time I do this, so the paint doesn't split. I will need to do this the first time I remove the base of the case to get to the GBA flashcart too. Not an issue at all.

The varnish will take several hours to dry completely, in other words, tomorrow. In the meantime, I have to leave it alone.

Final pics of the system tomorrow (the case will be dry then) - it may not be until Monday before I can have a go at making short videos (if my other camera is still up to it, and the batteries haven't died); as well as other pics. Just signed up to YouTube, in case I can get a couple of vids uploaded.

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 8:40 am

I wish more people would post videos of their portables in action on YouTube - it's fun and easy to do. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a video of a working portable is priceless in my opinion.

Congratulations on finishing your project! Way to go!

minkster · Post by **minkster** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 8:25 pm

Congrats bacteria! And I think the solder smoke has gone to your head a little bit

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 2:38 am

The varnish was nice and dry last night, I let my wife have first play on it. I inserted an N64 cart into the system, Banjo Pilot and she had a play on the console for a few minutes. She was very impressed (not bad as she was indifferent before). I then switched it to GBA and played a few games of Galaga and Ms Pacman (Namco Anniversary), whilst I was sat down. The console sits nicely on my legs, console feels really comfortable to use, and natural to use; isn't too heavy and is evenly balanced (unlike the BigBoy Advance which was top heavy). I am really happy with it, in terms of its looks and playability. I need to hold the case differently when playing N64 games (joystick) and GBA (D-pad); feels great either way; just as designed. This was the proof of the pudding, after four months work on this project.

The fan is completely silent now it is inside a case, I get a very light breeze from the fan exhaust, shows it works fine. Sound quality is excellent.

Only a few very minor gripes (nit-picking here):

* Some light from the PSone screen goes into the top of the case, so I can see the supporting struts through the case front; not a problem, looks quite nice actually, like a night-glow; I can solve this if I need to with a layer of BluTak to block out the light leak at some point if I have to remove the case.

* D-pad only works on GBA, this isn't important as I only like to use the joystick on N64 games anyway. No issue.

* I snipped the GBA Menu button wires - only relevant with the M3 Flashcart anyway, and that is if my next one to arrive works ok. I can access the menu easily with four button presses anyway. Again, if I open the case up at some stage for repairs, I can rectify this. Not an issue though.

* I made a small scratch on the inside of the case on the window when I was filing the sides of the case down, can barely see it and not when a game is playing (unnoticeable).

* The screen window is a bit cloudy from when I removed the spray back from the spray paint a while back, not noticeable at all when a game is playing (invisible, so not an issue).

If I had really damaged the screen window I could have made a new window, as it was, I didn't have to.

These are really really tiny points to make, just me being a perfectionalist, that is all. I have made the case really solid, robust, attractive (I think so anyway), comfortable to hold, buttons in easy places to get to, enough space at the rear for my fingers to rest; and quite easy to open to get to the system guts.

I just need to cut out the five small circles and stick them with hot glue onto the tact buttons, then all is done and I can post final pics, and vids (hopefully, if all goes to plan).

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 3:40 pm

Tiny update, only had an hour to use for the project this evening (Monday morning will be a better day for updates).

Cut out five small circles out of the perspex, one being larger than the others (for the "Z" button), the other four are for the PSone controls.

These will make the area around the above tact switches look pretty. I need to sand the edges down a bit more, then spray paint them and lastly hot glue on the tact switches. This is the final part of the case. I put a small ruler next to the circles to give an idea of how small they are, I used the drill bit I used for the rest of the perspex when I was making the case front.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 3:12 am

When the five buttons (cut from perspex, left over from making the case), I put each one onto a thin piece of BluTak on a piece of scrap card. This meant I could not only spray paint the top but also the sides. I thought it might be nice to use some silver-grey paint for a change. If I decide I don't like it, I can always repaint it.

Mounted them in place, four of them for the PSone screen and volume controls.

And the other for the "Z" button. My little finger (pinky) can press the "Z" button very easily - in fact, I may have to make the "Z" button a bit smaller possibly.

Job done.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 3:17 am

Final pics of the system (no cart inserted):

I will try to make some videos, but no promises.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 5:01 am

After a few attempts, I managed to make my first video clip. This vid shows me holding the unit, pressing the A, B and C buttons, then the joystick, D-pad and shoulder buttons. I was having to hold the console in an awkward position, to the side rather than straight on, as the camera needs to be about 3 feet from the object (old camera). No audio facility on the camera and video is 320x240 pixels.

I tried YouTube but wasn't impressed with it and didn't find it that easy to use, so tried PhotoBucket, it seems better!

The purpose of the video is to show the ease of using the A and B buttons with my thumb and the "sweep" of the C buttons in action with my forefinger.

I want to upload vids of the console being turned on and playing N64 and GBA games, however I don't have any more time today; will try it tomorrow.

benol · Post by **benol** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 5:01 am

Woah! That=Win!

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 5:06 am

benol wrote:Woah! That=Win!

(don't understand your comment)!

Pics aren't great (as usual), somehow photos also seem to intensify the smallest crack into looking big. I don't have zoom on my cameras, so this is the best I can do.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 5:22 am

Given that this project is finished (apart from modding a briefcase to house everything for transportation), any chance of having a title of "Portablizer" please (or whatever suitable title is deemed appropriate), for my previous GBA mod and this N64/GBA one?

(if you don't ask, you don't get in this world!).

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:48 am

good stuff bacteria
I'm glad you took your time and did an awesome job with it because it looks great

the fact that it has a GBA in it is also pretty cool