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

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 3:20 am

I have some time today (only a couple of hours) for this project, will have a fair bit of time tomorrow and Wednesday to devote to it.

I cut, filed and sanded one of the corners. It feels completely smooth on all sides, and integrated. I am not bothered about the "wood look" because it will be painted. The important thing is to get it as smooth as possible. Any tiny areas which will need filling, will be. Rather than fine crack polyfiller, I thought I might use "no more nails" which I used when building my cabinets; it fills small cracks well and smoothly, ready for painting.

Pic of the corner, reinforced with a corner piece cut from mounting board secured with hot glue. On the edges, I sealed the wood to the wood with UHU general purpose glue - strong bond with wood.

And a pic of the front of it:

It takes quite a while to get it nice and smooth; this one piece took me about and hour and a quarter to finish.

I now have the other side to complete, then I can start to work out what needs to go where on the top piece before cutting it.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 4:46 am

Changed my mind at the hardware store.

I bought the fine filler. It is designed to fill gaps up to 2mm thick (mine are certainly under 1mm!) and give a glass-smooth finish.

I also bought a small "tester" pot of paint. A slight off-white, called "Gentle fawn". It should give a whisper of colour and compliment the case colour.

This project is costing a fair bit of money to complete anyway, so another Â£5 won't make a lot of financial difference, but will get the job done nicely.

hammertime1994 · Post by **hammertime1994** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 5:04 am

hammertime94 · Post by **hammertime94** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 5:07 am

Your case is going to be the coolest wood case ever! Good job. Your project makes me want to finally get started with mine even more.

Oh yeah, that guy ^ is me I thought I had forgotten the password, but apparently I didn't I accidentally logged in on him instead

. I typed this message out and then realized it and changed it to "cool" and logged out.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 6:07 am

hammertime94 aka hammertime1994 - thanks!

The case can't be described as a wood case as such, it will be roughly about 80% plastic (perspex and acetate), 15% wood 5% mounting board. A "combo" (combination).

I didn't decide to use the plastic on the sides or it would have looked like a box and been a bit sharp on the edges and corners; whereas the wood is easy to shape as needed and has smooth and shaped edges and sides.

I have prepared the other side of the case, just about to hot glue it in place and then finish off the other corner bit - when done, I will post another pic.

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 7:18 am

Ok, off for my afternoon kip before my night duty at work.

Back and front view below. Pic also shows two files I used, the longer one is great for filing against other edges (eg getting the join straight to the neighbouring piece) and the smaller one is good for more delicate filing:

Side views:

I am very happy with the quality so far and how well it works together, the fine crack polyfiller, sand and paint will make it look really nice!

I keep getting a few stray strands of hot glue on the plastic, easy enough to remove, but a pain!

The wood is nicely smoothed, level and in line. Once I have worked out precisely where the buttons, joystick, D-pad and speakers in the system will go, I will put more triangles in place to make the plastic and wood joint as strong as possible, before applying the fine crack polyfiller to smooth over any gaps (otherwise it may crack). I will do this when the top side of the case is on (next job) and after I have made the shoulder button contacts (from scratch, using a home-made method....will look nice...).

Happy to answer any queries, but no more project advancement until tomorrow now.

Kyo · Post by **Kyo** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 10:16 am

Lookin' good!

It makes me consider wood for my sides myself... but probably not. Very good job!

c_mon · Post by **c_mon** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 10:45 am

Woaw...! This is one of the longest threads ever. A very good progress bacteria. I think there's not much time left to the end.

What about '64Boy Sandwich' as a name?

Motoman · Post by **Motoman** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 3:15 pm

c_mon wrote:

What about '64Boy Sandwich' as a name?

What about..."If Jesus made an N64 portable coupled with a GBA this is what it would look like"

This is absolutely brilliant bacteria, the case is sooo sleek and stylish, and its obvious your giving 110% effort throughout the whole project. Words can't describe how much I'm looking forward to the finished project. Good luck.

minkster · Post by **minkster** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 3:44 pm

Nintendo 64 Advance- short, simple and to the point

c_mon · Post by **c_mon** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 4:25 pm

Perhaps bacteria already tought of a name. Have you bacteria?

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 4:54 pm

c_mon wrote:Perhaps bacteria already tought of a name. Have you bacteria?

I hadn't considered a name yet. minkster's suggestion is a good one (I might go with that one); anyone got any alternatives?

c_mon - Ah, still lots of work left and lots of pics to follow; however progress will start to quicken soon.

kyo - Go on, use wood sides, nice to work with!

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 6:24 pm

very good looking bacteria.
I've been checking this thread out, not really posting in it, but the time you are taking and work going into this are great. It'll be great to see another fine looking N64p. It looks extremely sturdy also

hammertime94 · Post by **hammertime94** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 7:12 pm

Your thread will be very helpful when all of the stuff comes in for mine!

bacteria · Post by **bacteria** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 2:49 am

Turbo Tax 1.0 - Thanks for the comments. This is a very involving project, but is very enjoyable.

It is sturdy and will be far sturdier still, when I reinforce the sides more and also build struts between the front and back covers.

I haven't done anything like this before, so each step is new for me. Quite a challenge therefore!

hammertime94 - Great, that is one of the reasons I have been doing such a comprehensive guide; in the hope others gain assistance from it.