Guess what's coming in the mail to me? (Done! Video page 5!)

[eurddrue]

WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?

He got it custom made from some website, he has a link to it in one of his earlier posts.

[SonyPortableizer]

How did you go about making the files to send in? They just say add file
and how do you go about making sure they know how to make the curves on it work out well, and aligned?

[mikeyg]

What website did you get this from? How much did it cost? When can we see the rest of this case?

[neverused]

Case designed by me (heavily inspired by Ben Heckendorn's designs), case cut by Pololu.

[mikeyg]

Oh. Whoops.

[Life of Brian]

Sneak peek number 2!



There are a few design flaws (and mistakes) which are inevitable in a prototype, but overall this case is shaping up nicely Plus, I'm not going to tell you what's not perfectly perfect about this case

[ShockSlayer]

.....[Obligatory OMG SUPAR EPIC here.]

SS

[Rixer 1337]

I'll give you a hint - it was cut with lasers

Is this all you had to send them for them to cut? or did you have to include more specific measurements?

This portable is going to turn out awesome!

[Life of Brian]

I sent them a PDF that was drawn exactly to scale, with stroke lines that were only .002 inches thick. The picture I posted is what they sent back to me with their price quote. I drew the case design in Inkscape, a free vector art program which I highly suggest you take a look at. I also recommend getting a vernier caliper from your local hardware store to make really precise measurements - it's totally worth it! It's so wonderful to get a case in which everything... just fits!

Pololu's website has tons of information about what's needed in your design to make sure it comes out right. Start reading!

[Rixer 1337]

I just realized how hard it is to draw these kind of things. I now have an even higher appreciation for your project.

[khaag]

Out of curiosity, what did the quote come back as?

[Life of Brian]

Well, I obviously didn't get around to working on this portable soon enough to enter it into the competition. I did not work on it for a long while because there were a few design flaws that I've had to solve that will definitely be fixed with the next case I have cut for me.

Some long overdue pictures:





Laser-engraved button labels are awesome:






This is an underside shot of the front plate. The screen riser section is held on with four screws:




The AEI Comp screen fits just right:


There is a video adjustment board that comes with the screen, but it defaults to a pretty nice setting without it so I'm not even going to bother recreating it like Rekarp does with his stuff.


It's alive! And running off of 5 volts!


The screen conveniently has power input and ground labeled:


As for where to wire video, I just used my multimeter and found where to input it on the screen's main board:


I've decided to use a Retro Duo instead of an FC Twin. It's so much easier to hack and use.


I'm just mounting the board by gluing a few nuts in place. Is it just me or does this look like a anxious robot face?


I need to get some shorter screws...


You can see from this picture how the screw bites into the plastic screw hole and creates its own threads:


So, yeah - about those design flaws. I kinda forgot to take into account the size of the screws' heads when designing the case. I've had to *gasp* mutilate this case in a few places to get everything to fit right.


Yeah... Oops.


There were also a couple of screw holes misplaced on the back plate. I don't even know how that happened - I swear I double checked everything before ordering. Anyway, that's what prototypes are for, right?

So, my current progress involves rewiring the cartridge slot and adding things like headphone and AV out jacks, power switch, speakers, and so on.



My redesign process involves making the case slightly bigger to make room for the screw heads and fixing other design flaws that I've come across, which I won't go into too much detail about here. Coincidentally, making it slightly larger allows me to also use an SNES mini if I wanted to. I'd just have to round a couple of corners and it fits just fine. I'm thinking about offering two different models - one that is 3/4" thick and runs off of 4 AA's, but the cartridge sticks out the top about 1/4" to 1/2" to make room for the AA batteries, and another model that has the cartridge flush with the top of the case like this one and runs off of lithium polymer batteries. I'm still figuring out if I need to make the case 1/4" thicker or not for that. The way I see it, if I offer a couple of options like that to Joe Consumer, then they can decide for themselves if they want to pay the extra amount for the LiPo batteries and charger.

[mako321]

so you mean you're running mass-ish production on this stuff? I'll take one1 see if you can beat shockslayer's n64 cart rewiring time it's impossible

[Life of Brian]

so you mean you're running mass-ish production on this stuff?

Ideally I'd like to make a few a month for some extra income. I'd rather spend arduous hours on something like this that I love doing than working at some boring retail store (which is where I spend the rest of my time. Stupid full-time job and bills and responsibilities... grumble grumble...) So, if I keep my full-time job and make these on the side that should help things out a bit. Having the case made for me cuts the time it takes to make a portable down considerably.

[ShockSlayer]

Don't remember if anyone has asked or not, but have you considered looking into having polycase do a case for you?

SS