Bacteria's making a new casing that's "modder friendly"

My old iNto64 was made as compact as was reasonable to make, however, assembling the guts into the system was not straightforward and required a fair bit of skill to achieve. That's the main reason I stopped selling the cases as I wanted to do something more modder friendly.

I will be offering to sell case halves when project done, will be making a single video showing the whole build process including making the portable, and yes, will be offering to sell a small number of completed systems over the months coming for a very fair price. As this system will be far faster to assemble, the cost will be very reasonable - will price it up when made the first system.

The goals of this project are:

* Make a vacuum forming case that's easy to hold and looks pretty
The case i'm making is a large format style GBA original as that looks nice and is ideal for this project. The front is flat for buttons and screen to lay properly, the back will be shaped so the sides are 35mm thick and the middle around 55mm thick. Easy to hold.

* Easy to mod for anyone who can do basic modding and basic soldering
This project will not require board trimming or cutting so therefore easy to assemble, no complex wiring (although the controller will need some wiring if using a memory or rumble pack).

* A case for N64 and SNES
It'll need two case moulds made for the backing probably, unless can make just one, but this will be done.

* Good specifications
System will be fine for using 3 sets of the cheap Canon BP-911 Li-ion cells, giving 6 amps which should power the portable for around 4.5 to 5 hours. An expansion pack or jumper pack can be used, and for the controller a rumble and/or memory pack (both if a dual card).

I rather like this look, so using it, and will be incorporating scaled up shoulder buttons, etc.



A PSone screen looks fine in this too, proportionate to the scaled up GBA screen:



Made the case front out of MDF (wasn't easy), the backs will be made from clay:



Holding (not easy to take a pic at an awkward angle), lol:



All will fit nicely, good joystick from a MakoPad / SuperPad 64; you can use smaller ones of course; space for fan, all fits nicely; so without board trimming, about as good a size as it gets:

 

Here is the basic setup - one more cell against the game cart, ie 3 per side, mirrored so 6 in total = 6 amps at 7.4v. Making it so the larger joystick (it is a good one) fits, or of course your could use a GameCube one if you prefer.

The yellow part represents a gap of 10mm for the controller board and memory/rumble pack section (ie a spacer in the pic).

33mm thick on sides, 60mm thick in middle section.

 

Looking good. I'll be following this project to see how it turns out.

 

Rather than wasting a lot of clay for the mould, and loads of extra time for it to dry, used some old N64 game cart cases stuck down onto thick card. The game boards are removed as I need those for my Alpha Omega project, the empty game cases would have been thrown away anyway.



Using this type of clay, from what I read, this is the best type of clay, even though it is expensive; it contains paper so is less liable to shrink on drying and also less likely to crack, than the usual air-dry clay with plastic strands.



Looks like crap at the moment but bear in mind this is before sanding it down to be smooth and shaped.



It will take a couple of days to dry out enough to use my electric sander on.

Taken a few guesses with the making of this case backing, regards angles of slopes, size, position, etc; hoping not to have to waste too many sheets of styrene before get finished product, the sheets cost £4 each after all (A3 sized).

 

I'm just thinking. If you use clay, won't it make theconsole pretty heavy?

 

The clay is just for making a mould for vacuum forming a case out of.

 

Ok, managed to make a case backing that will work for not only N64 but also SNES, RetroDuo (ie SNES and NES), MegaDrive (although the MegaDrive 1 and 2 boards are too large so it would need to be a clone console instead). This is ideal, looking at my gaming collection, I have a lot of N64 games but appear to have even more SNES; so it's nice to have ability to use the larger SNES carts in the same casing.

Update time:

Stuck the two case halves together with some sticky pads, which can be easily separated. This allowed me to hold the whole structure and put my electric sander to the perimeter to get them straight and the same size and shape. Then proceeded to do more electric sanding and also sanding by hand. The result as you see in the 2nd picture looks really nice. The two case halves will be less high than this, you need overlap when making moulds, the final case halves will be about 15-20% less high than looks like in the pics for that reason.



Result:



I am very happy with the case backing mould. It looks symmetrical to the eye and is nicely shaped and curved. I'll do pics from different angles of the result after vacuum forming. Postman arrived today but I was out, will collect the A3 plasticard (styrene HIPS) on Friday, and make a vacuum forming table soon after, so can make a casing. Got a small 100ml pot of paint for the casing, going to be two tone, black shoulder buttons (need to make the moulds for them too BTW), and the main case colour, a dull orange, will look nice!

Got final sanding to do on it, last bits to get really smooth.

 

Ok, updates - thought i'd share progress. Turns out that although there was a little crease in a small part of the case, the case half is usable otherwise. So, here's what i've done today:

After my first sheet was damaged due to my vacuum table being too small, broke it apart (to keep the vacuum cleaner hose attachment part and stand) and made a new larger section for the top. Ugly doesn't matter, it's a functional table:



With the sides on, just some cardboard type material stuck in place with paper tape, the strength of the struts are MDF as is the table top.



Here is the one good case half I made, smooth huh? No sanding needed.



Now the fun bit - made the cart slot area large enough to take a SNES cartridge (PAL and NTSC) and also N64, pic is N64 cart - layer 1 of system (needs cart slot shelf made of course); fan will also go in the space:



Layer 2 - batteries and controller board. Note, the batteries do not need opening up. Enough space for about 4 cell packs, ie 8 amps. Controller board will need memory and/or rumble pack wired to it if needed (one of the only "tricky" parts to this project (that says something).



Layer 3 - N64 board and expansion pack. No board trimming needed, although cart slot relocation needed (easy).



Layer 4 - screen board - doesn't have to be a PSone screen, can be any other that isn't overly thick, within reason:



Side view:



Top piece of course covers that section.

As you see very simple stuff.

Looks nice, good to hold, no interference on the sides; the middle handhold sections are curved so even a Makopad large joystick can be installed ok (they are 31mm thick). The handhold area will be about 33mm thick in the middle and about 24mm or thereabouts on the edges.

 

Oops, forgot to update this thread - time for "catchup":

Hot glued the plumbing fixture into the hole at the base of the vacuum table.



This is what the frame looks like when has the plastic sheet inside, and the string tied to keep the frames tightly holding the plastic sheet.



These struts ensure that when the sheet is lowered it will have the frame outside the table top, so the air can be sucked out airtight.



Wasted another sheet, the suction wasn't enough; covered the edges with duct tape to make it airtight; and added plumbing pieces to allow two vacuum cleaners to work instead of one. The result was suction so strong that it sucked the plastic inside the holes after it came out of the oven, so much that on some holes it broke the plastic in the hole!





Result - did the front section too:



There are things to do:

* the plastic on the top left gets pulled a bit in the top corner, which is annoying (why does this happen?)
* the front section needs a couple of edges trimmed down a bit
* the front part doesn't look quite symetrical, will need to look at that too
* the slope on the left isn't quite as much as on the right, will need to rectify; pretty good but not good enough


Well, tweaked the casing backing mould as much as can and also a bit here and there on the case front mould too, it's as good as I think can be made by eye and hand.

Made a set of moulds today, the halves meet quite well and when the "teeth" are put inside to join the two parts together i'm confident the halves will meet quite exactly.

I'd measured the height of the tallest part (middle) as 68mm tall before, made some changes here and there and have now reduced to 59mm tall. The sides are also lower, in the middle on the sides, maxing at about 25mm or thereabouts. I've worked out a method to get it all in the casing that way, easily; although it means the "easy version" will be fine for 2 packs of (unopened) Canon BP-911 cells, however I see no reason the system can't take 3 or even 4 packs as maximum if the batteries are separated to squeeze into the spaces inside the casing.

The negative of this is that there is no way I can get a SNES and N64 in the same casing now, so will be separate systems. As the sides are shallower now, I can't fit in the large MakoPad type joysticks now, will have to use a GameCube one. However, having shallower sides makes the casing really nice and comfortable to hold, so is a major plus.

One other thing, rather relevant, is that as the case backing is made from a clay mould, there are small imperfections from the vacuum forming, also i'm getting this on some of the backing:



The backing mould is thick, which is probably the cause.

The one in the pic below has three bumps, my others had one!

These parts can be cut and sanded down, and any dips remaining patched with bondo to be fine; however the way to get the sanding done properly means having the "teeth" in place to secure and strengthen the two case halves when together. What that means in reality, is as this project is designed to be as simple as a portable can be, i'll need to do all this work on each case set to sell - stopping short of painting the casing and making the holes in it, and the screen area; which will leave some personalisations for the customer to do as wanted. Not making the case halves "ready to use" will defeat the purpose of this project, as modding case halves as described in this post is not for the inexperienced.

What this means is quite simply cost. The raw materials including wastage etc will mean about £18 per case pair, including a piece of 2mm thick plasticard for the cart slot and 1mm piece for the "GBA style" window section; on top of that will be time, around 2-3 hours of labour to prepare the case halves from scratch including the vacuum forming process. That means to be sensible i'll need to charge the equivalent of £20-£25 for that, so I envisage having to charge £42 for a case set, plus postage. That's not unrealistic if you consider you only have to personalize the case and paint it, and put the guts into the system as the case is ready to use; makes an easy project. You'd spend that money on a console game that only lasts a few days to play, whereas a (nearly) pre-made case would be good value for money. I'd be happy to sell only a dozen case sets anyway.

Thoughts?

So, pics of how it will fit inside (revised)

layer 1



layer 2 - motherboard will actually face downwards instead



layer 3




So, here's the paper cutout from the GBA onto the case front, gave me the position to cut out the hole for the screen.



As you see, the PSone screen is quite a good match for the GBA screen, scaled up.



The idea is to sit the screen section onto a piece of black 1mm thick plexicard (styrene) and through the casing so the black surround sits the screen underneath. Keeping to the same design, as in the black piece, makes the system look smaller than is, and of course gives the "GBA original" look.

Stage before a sand - getting the "teeth" alternating between the two case halves so when closed, both case halves close against each other and provide each other with strength. It also means when the case is sanded, the two halves will meet as good as they can.

For the "teeth", used some strips of styrene lying around, and hot glue to stick them in place. Before doing so, lightly sand the plastic strips and also the casing edges so the glue can stick to the surfaces properly.

I'm going to use some small screws to keep the casing together, probably 6 in total.

Pic before closing casing up:



After sanding is done, i'll make the shoulder buttons and d-pad moulds, to be proportionate to the GBA ones, and vacuum form them prior to installing in the case.


Bumps removed and sanded flat. Looks very nice.

Thought i'd use epoxy to secure some styrene scraps onto the case in the areas where the bumps were removed and left gaps; however epoxy didn't want to stick well (?), tried UHU, that was useless; didn't want to use hot glue so used Poly-Weld which in my experience works great on hard plastics but is very picky about what it works on - got a really strong bond in seconds with that stuff! Joint isn't as strong as with using a thick glue of course but perfectly up to the job. I needed this to stop the gap from flexing so could use filler in the crack without it moving/parting.

Quoting a couple of hours labour before was a bit optimistic as it turned out. The case is ready for hole cutting and painting now though, after making the shoulder buttons with vacuum forming. Decided to retain the d-pad from the MakoPad as it is slightly smaller than a scaled up GBA however close enough.

The work needed to make a case from scratch:

* make the vacuum formed cases, this takes a reasonable amount of time
* cut out rough outline around case, then mark out cutting lines, cut-out the case to the required heights

* sand the case bases so smooth and flat
* install the "teeth" and make them meet as close as can do
* sand the edges to meet properly and seamlessly
* drill holes to secure screws to hold the case halves together (using the "teeth")

* cut out window for the space the screen will go though
* make the screen top (1mm thick styrene)
* cut out shoulder button holes and install them
* make holes for the buttons and controls and game cart. Make cart slot holder
* paint and varnish, paint colour can be from a selection of choices

I think the best plan is to offer three services on the case for anyone who wants to buy one:

1) for the existing modder -medium level - just the case halves with lines (first block illustrated above)
2) for the existing modder - "have a go" level - prepare the case itself (first and second block illustrated above)
3) for the entry level modder - all above done

Obviously the prices will be different for each level above as will make a difference to labour and time needed. It does mean though that a new modder can get the same results if they want as they can if they want have a completed case ready for adding their electronics into without any case making work. To get to that stage to produce a case needs quite a lot of work, several hours. Each one will be made to order of course.

I'm going to make two cases for my own use, one for N64 and one for SNES, so in my video when done, will cover both and their builds. I can time the time it takes to make a case from scratch next time and then know what it takes, for the pricing options.

This has become quite a large project; however my ribbon for the PS2 hasn't arrived yet from ebay so no issues!


Here's a pic of the casing so far, with the black surround prepared and laid on top of the case.



Will paint the case though, got a paint sample that's a medium dull orange which will look nice!


Drilled some holes in my existing vacuum forming table for the shoulder button. Basically cut out a piece of 1mm thick scrap plasticard (styrene), stapled it to some strips of pine, then screwed some screws into the pine at the corner joints of the frame; and made two legs to hold the frame when it comes out of the oven, to press to the table and make the seal.

Result:



I can now make the holes in the case for the shoulder buttons!

 

Good work mate, I'm loving the attention to detail and the fact you built your own vacuum forming table too!

 

great Job! Looking forward to seeing it complete!

 

Small update on my bacuum forming case (lol)



One of the shoulder button holes made and as you see, the vacuum formed shoulder button looks nice! Got the other one to do yet.

 

Didn't catch this thread till today... Amazing work

Also very impressed with the vacuum forming table! Now that's dedication

 

Both shoulder button holes done.

Cut hole in case back for the game cart; pic showing it being held in place. Thought the curves made it more interesting:



Next job will be to make some larger buttons for the A, B, Start, "C" and make holes in the case front for them. These buttons will be larger than normal, to fit into the GBA style. Not sure if going to vacuum form them, probably will.

After that, time to paint.

 

It looks like I can fit my large MakoPad 64 / SuperPad Plus 64 joystick in place after all.

Here is a rough guide on looks - thinking about using these coins for the vacuum formed buttons as they are about the right size. The button sides can be black (the black 1mm plasticard I use) and a button top made from card (coloured to represent the button colours of course) and stuck on would work fine.

Everything just put in approximately the right places, just for effect. End result will look far nicer of course; this was just to get an idea of placement.

 

Ok, vacuum formed one of the A and B buttons and two of the "C" buttons so far. This at least means I can make the holes in the case now prior to painting it.

Here is one of the buttons cut-out, against two others made and still in their mould. The buttons will raise above the case by around 3-4mm



Will probably just buy a small pot of paint for the green, red, blue and yellow buttons.

 

Good work there mate, the forming table is pretty neat,too. It´s really awesome how much effort you put in the details of your mods, seems like you really have an idea of what you are doing.

I could actually need a forming table myself for making a "portable" 360.
What I did is I took a Jtagged 360, placed 2 Zalman coolers on it, bought a suitcase , asked my Dad to assist me for making a new Case (he builds model airplanes of glass fibre).
We tried to get the Carbon look with painted Glass fibre (you can buy it painted and it´s ways cheaper than carbon, glass is around 7 € for 0.5m² while carbon is somewhere from 20-40 € per 0.5m²), but it didnt work out because of not having a vacuum forming table (yep, you can use them for glass and carbon fibre)...so I will just sand it and paint it.

But whatever, it will also work out this way .


Keep up the good work!

 

It is really easy to make a vacuum forming table, and dead cheap too; use any chipboard, MDF, whatever, as long as it's about 15mm-25mm thick; and if your table is larger than A4 to use two vacuum cleaners instead of one (I learnt that!). The only issue is if you make a mould that's thick, the plastic will be hard to set over the mould without creasing.

 

well the form has a height of around 5 cm (the GPU cooler is pretty slim while the CPU cooler needs some space, DVD drive is external) and is a little larger than A4, but still with glass fibre it should work...though I am not really sure if this is too useful for just one project.
If I am going to do more after finishing this the I may consider it.

I also consider making a thread about it, but idk if this is worth a thread, I mean what I did/I am still going to do is:
-taking a 360 apart
-add a Zalman CNPS7000C-Cu LED (for the CPU) and a
Zalman VF700-Cu LED (for the GPU)
-buying a suitcase
-rip every connection from a dead 360 just to make one small plate with HDMI, VGA, Component HD, Composite, digital Audio Port, 3.5 mm Audio Jack, a switch to switch (lol) between the different Video outputs, the Memory Card Ports, the USB´s, Ethernet Port and an LPT Port (for the external DVD and to update the Jatg if needed) all together on it
-take the Power brick apart and shorten the cable to put it in the Suitcase (so it´s portable but it won´t power on if you dont drag a cable with you all the time )
-get a 20" LCD with 3,5mm Audio to put in the top part of the suitcase
-get a 2.5" HDD to add
-make the custom case
-put everything together, hope it works as it´s supposed to

 

The A, B, C and Start buttons are made (the Start button will be painted red, at the moment it is white in the pic); placed roughly into position. Next job is to cut the holes out for them, and the d-pad.