CC64 - N64 Portable

[Josh Moddz]

Hello everyone and welcome to the project worklog for the CC64, my first N64 portable!

The goals of this project are as follows:

1. Learn as much as possible about modding the N64.
2. Pick a mod that is well documented so I have as much information as possible for my first N64 project.
3. Pick a design that is favorable and fits my needs.
4. Customize the project to my liking.

Because these are my goals, I have chosen to model my first N64 mod after Hailrazer's Kamikaze 64 Clone. Because I am cloning the clone, CC64 stands for the "Clone Clone 64".

I realize that this project will not be the smallest or the most original, but I want it to be functional and include some of my personal touches.

So without further delay, here are the desired specs:

- Frankencased Datamax Kidz Delight (the one I found is the blue touch screen model)
- PSOne Screen
- Hori Mini Pad (found a red one on eBay for a reasonable price)
- Original N64 Buttons (love the look of the Nintendo A, B, C, and Start buttons)
- No D-Pad (never used it)
- PSOne L, R, and Dual Z Triggers
- Built-in Expansion Pack (attempting board bending)
- Memory Card / Rumble Pack Slot
- Vertical Cartridge Slot
- 5000 mAh Lithium-ion Batteries
- Charging Jack (no need for me to run the system off wall power)
- Headphone Jack
- Low Battery Indicator
- Copper heat sinks, a 5V fan, and custom air vents to keep the system cool

Stay tuned and happy modding!

 

[Josh Moddz]

Let the case making begin!

These are the items I will be using for the case:

First, I removed all the screws, separated the plastic, and took out all of the electronic components and buttons.

I then had to ABS cement the cover on the Datamax so I had more plastic to work with.

After that, I cut all the excess plastic from the bottom case and ABS cemented on the battery covers.

As you can see, I had to ABS cement an extra piece of plastic in place at the bottom to fill in the gap.

I then cut the center out of the PSOne screen.

Here's an idea of what I will do when it all dries.

 

[Spiicyice]

Looks good! I always liked those cases, where did you find it? I can never find any...

 

[watsug]

This look like it's going to be a real quality portable! Good luck

 

[Josh Moddz]

@ Spiicyice I found the Datamax on eBay and basically only paid shipping for it since it was broken.

I gave the case two days to dry and now it's back to the frankencasing.

I traced around the PSOne screen with a marker and then cut out the space with my Dremel.

I used duct tape to align the display and then applied ABS cement to join the pieces together.

I had to lay the ABS cement on pretty thick on the inside of the top case.

I then sanded down the bottom case using 60 grit sandpaper.

 

[Josh Moddz]

Two more days of drying time, and I'm back into the frankencasing.

I sanded down the top case using 60 grit sandpaper.

I'm going to have to make sure that the case halves join together properly and seamlessly.

I used hardset filler to fill in the large gaps and sanded the case halves with 60 grit.

I used flex filler to fill in the smaller gaps and again sanded with 60 grit.

I then filled and sanded the case halves to match as best as possible. A little more work is required to get it just right.

These are the controllers I am using for the case:

Before making any cuts, I made sure that my joystick board would fit into the case where I wanted it to go.

I then used my Dremel to cut out the button holes and triggers, used a marker to trace around the joystick, and ABS cemented the trigger pieces together.

When the ABS cement dries, I will make more precise cuts and add the button holes and triggers into the case.

 

[public-pervert]

Good work there! Keep it up!

 

[Josh Moddz]

@ public-pervert Thank you!

More work on the case done.

I cut out the spaces for the the button holes and used duct tape to hold them in place.

I then ABS cemented the button holes into place.

I used duct tape to align the triggers and hold them in place.
When cutting the space for the triggers, I accidentally cut off way too much (as you can see).
Not a problem, I just added a piece of plastic in that space to fill in the gap.

I then ABS cemented the triggers into place.

This is how it looks so far:

 

[Spiicyice]

Great progress!

 

[Josh Moddz]

Back at it!

I filled and sanded the case using 60 to 400 grit.

I got the case halves to match up almost perfectly by filling and sanding.

During my attempts to drill the speaker holes, the case caved in a bit where the original Datamax buttons were (gasp!).
After the profanity ceased, I traced the speakers with a marker on the plastic backing for the PSOne screen and drilled the speaker holes there.
I then cut the pieces out with my Dremel and ABS cemented them in place.

 

[Josh Moddz]

The speaker grills are all dry, and the spacing inside the case is coming along nicely.

I filled in the rest of the gaps on the top case and sanded it with 60 grit sandpaper.
I wanted the low battery indicator to be easily visible while you're playing, so I chose to place it to the left of the display below the joystick.
I then sanded the top case using 60 to 800 grit sandpaper.

The fan I am using for this project is a 5V 35mm x 10mm Sunon that I got from Digi-Key.

I used Photoshop to draw out the dimensions of the fan and to design my fan holes.

I used my Photoshop design as a stencil and drilled the fan holes into the bottom case below the right triggers.
I also cut out the space for the memory card slot, on/off switch, power indicator light, headphone jack, and charging jack.
I then sanded the bottom case using 60 to 800 grit.

I hit the case halves with a coat of primer, used 400 to 800 grit to get rid of the imperfections, then applied a second coat of primer.

When the primer was dry, I hit the case halves with a matte black base coat and used 2000 grit to get rid of any imperfections.
This is what the case looked like after a second base coat:

I then finished off the case with a couple gloss clear coats.

Now it's time to get the electronics working!

 

[ttsgeb]

That's some great frankencasing.

 

[Monstercrunch]

Very Nice !!
I like your triggers, seem very comfortable

 

[Noah]

Dang that is one sexy case. Do your hands get in the way of the fan intake at all?

 

[Life of Brian]

Oh, nice! I love those vent holes

 

[Josh Moddz]

Thanks all!

@Noah Surprisingly no. I tested it out and my fingers don't really cover it at all. I'm going to be sucking cool air in so you won't feel air blowing on your hands either.

 

[Josh Moddz]

My low battery indicator is a variation of the "Uh-Oh" Battery Level Indicator made by SparkFun.
The link below is the product page which includes a schematic.
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/11087

At the heart of the circuit is a TL431ACLPG shunt regulator diode, which is kind of like a zener diode with a reference.

You can get samples of the TL431 for free from On Semiconductor.
http://www.onsemi.com/

In this circuit, the TL431 is acts a switch that controls the flow of current.

Below is the schematic I made using CircuitLab.

As you can see, I have a 7.4 V battery going to a 5k ohm trim pot acting as an adjustable voltage divider.
Vout from the voltage divider goes to Vref on the TL431. If Vref is below 2.57 V, the TL431 shuts off the current's direct path to ground.
Instead, the current has no other choice but to flow through the LED making it light up to tell you it is time to charge the battery.
The 330 ohm resistor is there to limit the current going to the LED so it doesn't fizzle out.

I added the two diodes in the circuit because I am using a red LED and I needed to increase the forward voltage so that the light would stay completely off and not dimly lit when the battery is charged.

If you know how voltage dividers work, you know that Vout = Vin * (R2 / (R1 + R2)).

Because we are using a 5k ohm trim pot, R1 + R2 = 5000 ohms.

Knowing that the TL431 needs at least 2.57 V to open the direct path to ground, the formula to calibrate the circuit is 2.57 V = Vin * (R2 / 5000 ohms) where Vin is the voltage at which you want the LED to turn on.

In this case I need to calibrate the circuit to turn the LED on at 7.1 V, so I have to adjust the trim pot so that R2 = 1.81k ohms.

I believe the PSOne screen shuts off around 6.9 V so this gives you enough time to wrap up your game.

I built and tested the circuit on my breadboard and it all works swimmingly.

I then soldered it together on some perf board and added two JST connectors for the battery input and the 7.4 V output to the system.

I used a blinking red LED for the indicator light.

 

[Josh Moddz]

Ok, let's get this thing working!

After taking apart the N64 console, I removed the on/off switch, reset button, controller ports, video port, and power jack from the motherboard.

I then wired up two 3.7 V Lithium-ion batteries in series to a protection circuit.

I soldered a 100uf capacitor and 1.8k ohm resistor to a TI PTH08080WAH regulator and hooked it up to the battery circuit using my breadboard.
I then tested the outputs using a multimeter to make sure I was getting 7.4 V and 3.3 V.

I put in a switch and wired everything up to the motherboard and low and IGNORE when I turned the system on the LED illuminated.

I then wired the composite video out to an RCA connector and connected the ground to the strip on the side of the board.

I then connected the system to my test LCD and powered it on to find Mario telling me to plug in a controller.

Now for some cart slot relocation!

 

[Josh Moddz]

Made a lot of progress on the motherboard.

I removed the cartridge slot and relocated it using 26 AWG wire.

I then used L brackets, nuts, and bolts to mount the cartridge slot vertically on the motherboard so it's nice and sturdy.

I wired everything up and the system tested successfully!

For the expansion pack, I used Bacteria's board bending technique.

I added some hot glue in the gap where cut was made for extra durability, and added some copper heat sinks.

I put in Donkey Kong 64 to test the expansion pack and everything works great and sits flush!

 

[Spiicyice]

Looks like you will finish this up pretty soon!