ZN-40 SNES, coming right up sir! (7/31/08: DONE!)

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 4:43 pm

Hmm, I'll crack open my N64 and my GameCube tonight and I'll get back to you guys on that one.

jperryss · Post by **jperryss** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 6:14 pm

Purty!

dragonball345 · Post by **dragonball345** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 12:50 pm

Bear in mind I will probably flatten them out and have side by side or just do away with the regulator for gamecube and make my own. p.s. thx. and prject is looking snazzy.

Neildo_64 · Post by **Neildo_64** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 4:23 pm

Actually, Im using this case for a PN64. It fits fine. The height is perfect. the tricky part is the expansion/jumper pack slot and the heatsinks taking up room. Once everything is in it, it will be a tight fit with little extra room.

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 6:23 pm

Awww, dey're brudders...

Looks cleaner, no? I need advice for really good clear coat to protect the white paint job. The paint job isn't finished yet (still a few more coats and a lot more sanding to go), but I just wanted to compare the two. The patched hole on the back doesn't look pretty from this angle, does it? This portion will be inside the case and under the SNES mobo when I'm finished so it will be like that hole never existed.

Okay, so I lied - I haven't checked to see if an N64 or a GameCube would fit in the ZN-40 case yet. I'll get to that... eventually. Just check out the dimensions on www.polycase.com for yourself or simply take neildo's word on it. I'm going to go play me some Super Metroid - it finally arrived in the mail today!

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 11:31 pm

Easy way to find out it an N64 would fit or not:

Dimensions of N64 mobo: 159 x 127mm, although if you needed to you could trim off the board to 143 x 127mm if you need to.

If you use 8mm heatsinks, the absolute minimum you can get for height is 14.5mm (this is the thickness of the N64 mobo, heatsinks on, longer pins on back of mobo trimmed down, power on/off button desoldered, etc). This is what I am aiming for on my project. You also need to allow for a memory card to the controller (or many games won't save) and expansion pack / jumper pack (needs relocation, very fiddly, not done this before with this port), fan (or everything will get too hot).

Brian, hope these dimensions help - above are the minimums you can get away with.

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Fri May 16, 2008 9:41 am

I can't believe this thread worked its way to the second page! Never again!

Disregard the red and green wires - it was easier to leave them attached.

I'll be cleaning up the metal parts next. Very fine sandpaper = brushed aluminum!

This copy of Super Mario has been sitting in my garage for a very long time. I use it to align things when building.

It's got a next-gen Nintendo feel to it, doesn't it?

lovablechevy · Post by **lovablechevy** » Fri May 16, 2008 9:46 am

very nice work! it's looking great!

good to see progress again. just might motivate me to finish the handyduo...

Gordon1 · Post by **Gordon1** » Fri May 16, 2008 11:59 am

just a little note on the n64 fitting in a zn-40. They do fit but you NEED to trim the board.

Neildo_64 · Post by **Neildo_64** » Fri May 16, 2008 1:11 pm

Gordon1 wrote:just a little note on the n64 fitting in a zn-40. They do fit but you NEED to trim the board.

Where do you need to trim the board? I'm making a PN64 with this case and it fits perfect. If you check the dimensions people have for the N64 board and the dimensions on the site for the zn-40 case, it is just barely too big. I figured I would trim my board to fit but when I checked it, the board fits perfectly.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Fri May 16, 2008 2:16 pm

Looks professional. Interestingly enough, Nintendo SNES cartridges look different in the UK (PAL). PAL carts are curved; got this pic off Google images:

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Sat May 17, 2008 8:18 pm

New YouTube video. It's just a test of the cartridge slot relocation.

NixonTech2071 · Post by **NixonTech2071** » Sat May 17, 2008 8:50 pm

Im not a Zealot or anything, but I can tell you that you have gods hands to do portables in a amazing to universally famous way!

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Sat May 24, 2008 6:30 pm

As Triton would say, "picture bumpdate":

Amazing - it all fits. It's like I planned it out or something.

To attach wires to controller boards: Scrape traces like so, smear a little bit of flux on them, and then put a little bit of solder on the traces. Your wires will then stick to where you want them to.

It's important to stay organized and take notes when possible:

How's that for meticulous wiring?

These batteries are amazing. Got them from batteryspace.com.

I stacked everything together and put on the front lid to see if it would all fit, and I still had about 1mm clearance as shown by this picture:

The volume and brightness controls have been relocated to the top of the case:

And last but not least, here's a new Youtube video where I test the controls and make sure the cartridge slot is still good even after shifting things around a lot.

All in all, this represents about 6.5 straight hours of work today.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Sun May 25, 2008 3:01 am

Nice vids - do you have someone holding the camera in the second video for you or use another technique?