~Gamecube Fusion(s)~ Worklog

Ashen

GameCube Révolutionary
So yea, I've had a ton of people asking me if I plan on making a worklog for my portables. I didn't really intend to until they were done but meh. I'm bored at the moment so I might as well.

These are my first portables. I have however been lurking here and there >.> a LONG time. Long enough that I remember the OLD Benheck forums and when the master himself published his worklogs of the first VCSp's. So yea, I have pretty much been planing a portable unit for over 10 years now. The Gamecube for over 3 ( check my post history on Benheck and you will see that in early 2008 I made my first post. Asking if it was possible to replace the GC's DD :/ ).

Just so everyone is aware, I hate, hate, hate the "portable naming" thing, I think its SUPER CHEESY (but to each their own). Gamecube Fusion is just to good to pass up though. Firstly because it's a tribute to Metroid (MAKO!!), which is awesome in itself. Secondly because the units will contain Wiikey Fusions for loading games, a project which I was/am (as most people probably already know) heavily involved in and which I am quite proud of because up until this point countless people have tried but been unsuccessful in replacing the GC's DD. Thirdly, I just think it sounds awesome.

Anyway, I plan to produce 2 units to start with. One for myself and one for Emu_kidid. After the first 2 are done another 2 units will be produced using the same design but will contain Wii DVD drive's. I will be putting these up for sale. After that, we'll see how it goes ;)

Gamecube Fusion Features:

5" 4::3: Screens ( these: http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=38307 )
Built in non removable memcard for slot A
Built in SD Gecko in slot B for loading homebrew/emulators
Switchable TV out
Wiikey Fusion DD replacement
Four Controller ports w/switchable player 1 between built in and external controllers
Built in rumble via iPhone buzzer motor @ 1.9v
Custom Vacuum Formed Cases
5000mah "hailraizer" Lipo Batterys (still a toss up between 11.1v and 7.4v)
Superslimmed GC motherboards
Modified "0 heat" GC heatsinks. (I say 0 heat because the design of the units is so that the fan intake air is blown directly down the heatsink and out of the unit. No hot air from the fan/heatsink will be blown inside the case)
I'll add more as I think of them, I know thats not everything >:)

PICS!:

Slimmed Mobo's
DSCN0568.jpg

Wired up and working:
DSCN0636.jpg

Slimmed heatsink/fan (its about 3/8" thick), teeny tiny rumble motor beside it:
DSCN0635.jpg

Prototype Cases:
Front:
DSCN0629.jpg

Back:
The shoulder buttons will be the only parts of the case frankencased in.
DSCN0632.jpg

Vac Former Table I Built for around 5$:
DSCN0628.jpg

DSCN0630.jpg

DSCN0631.jpg

Not part of these units but here is a Slimmed Wii Drive:
DSCN0562.jpg


Thats really all I have for now, I'm working heavily on getting the cases perfected at this point. I'll keep this first post updated when I have more.
 
Awesome.

I really dig the whole mounting things to cardboard approach for testing, I'm probably going to start doing that.

SS
 
This looks amazing so far. Really diggin that case especially. Keep up the good work man.
 
Thx guys :D

SS, the cardboard thing really does make testing so much nicer. Being able to move ALL the stuff around at once to make more space for some other part of the project is great. Plus when I'm @ work or w/e I can put the stuff away so my kids don't get ahold of it and destroy it. >: )

Bush, those are the final MB cuts for these units and its probably the smallest you can SAFELY make the MB without worrying about frying stuff long term. As Tchay and Zenloc have shown, the protrusion on the right side of my cut boards that is the memcard and controller input circuitry I have left attached can be removed completely on certain boards or done with some rewiring on other boards. As of right now no one knows the effects on long term usage cutting all that extra crap off will produce. I'd rather not risk it at this point.
 
This is roughly where I made my cuts, please don't use this pic as a guide though its not entirely accurate.

cut-gc-mobo-small.jpg
 
Little Teaser of roughly what the final product will look like. The Case's will be painted in the end of course. Right now everything is just taped in there, still A LOT of work to do.

DSCN0639.jpg


I have to say that I kind of underestimated the amount of work that goes into case making. Cutting up the electronics and rewiring things is the easy part XD
 
Lovely. I would drop the yellow C-stick if I were you, though. It clashes with everything else.
 
That looks absolutely amazing :D
It reminds me of a PSP.

Also, what exactly is the "hailraizer method?" I've seen it referred to multiple times, but I never saw it explained.
 
How impressive !
I'd like to make a portable GC too, and what you have done is the greatest thing i've seen !
Could you make a "how to" guide for making the mobo slimmer?
I'm also wondering how everybody can wire the boards after cutting the connectors, it seems quite impossible to solder wires on the layers... :confused:
You're job on the case is REALLY amazing !
Sorry for bad english but I'm french :rolleyes:
Good luck ;)
 
Thanks everyone for the nice comments :D
NTerror7 said:
Also, what exactly is the "hailraizer method?" I've seen it referred to multiple times, but I never saw it explained.
Here: http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=34576
kill00man said:
How impressive !
Could you make a "how to" guide for making the mobo slimmer?
I'm also wondering how everybody can wire the boards after cutting the connectors, it seems quite impossible to solder wires on the layers... :confused:
Eventually when I have some free time I will end up making a guide to board trimming if someone else doesn't do it before me. The thing about this is, every different revision gamecube motherboard is at least a tiny bit different. So even with a general cutting guide you will end up having to follow some traces on the board for yourself.

It is possible to solder directly to the small components on the GC motherboard. Capacitors/resistors/transistors/filters and even traces that have the protective covering scraped off them. Some of it is VERY tedious though I will say. The inner layers of the GC motherboard seem to all be the same. So we can make do with the layer scans Zenloc and Tchay discovered to know where to relocate voltages to easily. Like I said, someday sooner or later a guide WILL be made ;)
 
Little update on the status of my first 2 portables. Sadly it looks like I'm not going to have enough room in my cases to incorporate some of the features I wanted and were requested. Namely 4 player support and T.V. out support. There is just not enough space. I'll have to refine my design for the next batch if I want to incorporate these features.

Anyway. I'm still churning away on the cases. The good thing is I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel now. I have all of the front holes cut for the buttons and the L/R buttons epoxied in. I only have the double Z buttons, Speaker Holes, SD card slots and a few other little things to cut yet and I can start Painting. Yay!

I've also been forced to go with a 7.4v battery setup using Zenlocs custom reg because of space constraints. This isn't really a bad thing but will result in roughly 2hrs battery life. 1 hour less than I was shooting for.

On to some new pics!

Both cases mostly cut:
DSCN0647.jpg

A little closer up view of button retainers and L button setup:
DSCN0648.jpg

Sizing things up (stuffs just kind of laying in there for the pic):
DSCN0649.jpg
 
The way that everything is fitting in is wonderful ! :awesome:
How thick is it ?
There won't be a disc drive on those two ones?
 
This looks absolutely amazing. I'm am really handicapped when it comes to mods of this caliber. When you post a final guide, I'll take a look at it, but I'd pay at least $200 for one, maybe a bit more if you were willing to part with one of your later models. This goes for anyone making one. Amazing job nonetheless. Which case is that based off of, psp?
 
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