Gamecuboid - Worklog For My Portable Gamecube

[zack]

I've hooked the custom regulator to my gamecube, and it works! Actually it took a couple attempts because the first time my wires were too small. There were video issues. I really wish I had taken a picture of the TV screen before re-wiring with larger wires, but it's too late for that now. You can see my messy first wiring attempt in the first photo. The wires felt a bit hot, and the image quality had random color bricks and pixelated spots that messed up the whole image. But after re-wiring, as shown in the second photo, it works just fine. The regulator gets pretty hot, though. Somewhere around 200° F, if I'm reading my infrared thermometer correctly. It's at least enough to not feel good if you touch it. So far I have been testing it with a 12v 3amp power supply, but I plan on testing with different voltages or batteries next.

Oh, and I have bridged the 12v line and the 5v line of the gamecube, and so far there are no sound issues. The gamecube's disc drive is detached, and until I wire up the Wiikey Fusion, it can not play games. Therefore, I'm only judging the sound quality by the start-up sound, before it gives me a standard error due to the lack of a disc drive or equivalent. Not sure if sound issues will be noticeable once I test some games out with it.

By the way, thanks for the encouragement and compliments on my work thus far. I've been soldering since I was 8 or 9, so I've had practice. I also pick up a lot from my uncle, and he's the kind of guy that builds everything the way it should be. If I were building this with him, it probably would have looked 10x better with detachable plugs on the regulator and everything!

Anyways, here's those pics.

Pic #1 These wires were too small, and I had weird video issues. Sorry, I should have taken a photo of that before re-wiring.

Pic #2 After re-wiring (Pardon the weird blotchy lighting)

 

[zack]

So it's been awhile since my last update. I'm not even going to apologize for that, because too many people on the internet apologize for late posting and we all know that I was just being lazy for no reason. I guess work has been a bit slow anyways, but the Gamecuboid does have a few new things going for it. As you can see, I got some fans attached to it. Those are original fans from the gamecube too. I'm not sure if I want to keep them though, as they take up a lot of room vertically and I might want to find something smaller/thinner. It really doesn't need two, but only having one would be a waste of space. I also removed both memory card slots. Slot B is removed permanently, but I will relocate slot A to somewhere that will take up less space. Another difference since my last update is that the AV out port has been removed, and I have attached a temporary composite wire for testing the video as I work on the gamecube. Soon I will also attach an audio cable for testing.

Next step is figuring out what kind of case I'm using, because it would make designing much easier once I can start figuring out what will fit where, what needs to be smaller, where everything will go, etc.. Perhaps I will head over to the Case topic and see if I can find any websites with samples to try out. I also want to get that Wiikey Fusion wired soon, so maybe I can do that and find a good case next week when I do some more work at my uncle's lab.
Until then, wish me luck on not frying anything. Yea that would stink...

 

[zack]

Recently I got this nice ZN-40 case in the mail as a free sample. It will probably be the case I use for my portable, however it is quite thin and it will be a challenge to make everything fit. That's why I've also ordered the ZN-45 case, which will be the exact same thing but thicker. It should be here in a few days or so. First I will try to make the ZN-40 work, but the ZN-45 is my backup in case it is too small.

Now that I've gotten the case, it will make things much easier to plan how my portable will all come together. I can start designing where things will fit, the dimensions certain parts have to be, and things like that. Most likely I will see my uncle again this weekend so we can work more on those things. I haven't been updating as much, but once I start working with this case, expect more progress soon.

 

[SonyQrio]

That regulator looks delicious and edible. Great work!

It looks like this portable is going to be a bit on the big side, but that's alright. Please make the case really nice.

 

[public-pervert]

You're doing a clean work, man!
This certainly will be a nice portable!

 

[Joeyjoe9876]

if you're using a wiikey fusion it shouldn't be hard at all to fit a gamecube inside of the ZN-40.

 

[zack]

Thanks for the compliments/support guys. I know my portable will not be the smallest, but my main goal is to put functionality over size. It will also be nicely made above all other things. Me and my uncle are both not one to make messy projects, so I won't be going crazy with the hotglue and trimming or messing with a bunch of spaghetti wire. In the end, it should be a nice machine that works well, regardless of size. (I also don't want to try anything too crazy on my first portable).

 

[zack]

if you're using a wiikey fusion it shouldn't be hard at all to fit a gamecube inside of the ZN-40.

From what I've heard, it's quite a challenge and no one's ever done it, even with a wiikey. I could be wrong though. If things wont fit, one possibility is to cut a hole on the back of the case for the fans and heatsink to stick out of. Either way, it looks like the fit will be very close.

 

[zack]

I have a problem that I wanted to update on. The screen I'm using sits at a weird angle in comparison with its controller board, like this.

See how the ribbon cable is so short that it forces the controller board to sit crookedly? This is an issue I did not notice before buying the screen. So I will have to sort that out soon, perhaps with some sort of ribbon cable extension. It's a standard 40-pin ribbon cable, after all.

 

[Joeyjoe9876]

Here's a pic of my nearly omgwtf cut board on top of an zn-40 (scarlet snes)

obviously you wouldn't need to trim a board as much as that to fit it, but if I wanted to I could fit one quite easily with lots of room to spare. even with minimal trimming you could easily fit a cube in there

 

[zack]

Here's a pic of my nearly omgwtf cut board on top of an zn-40 (scarlet snes)

obviously you wouldn't need to trim a board as much as that to fit it, but if I wanted to I could fit one quite easily with lots of room to spare. even with minimal trimming you could easily fit a cube in there

It's the height that I'm worried about... Even without any trimming at all, a gamecube board fits just perfectly. But with my screen, and the heatsink still intact, it's close.

 

[superben51]

Nope. People have done it before.... SS for example.

 

[zack]

Just a quick update/picture of how my portable Gamecube currently looks. As you might be able to tell, the case is thicker. I got my ZN-45 case in the mail, so that's what I'll be using instead of the ZN-40. The ZN-40 is do-able for a portable Gamecube, but for me it's too thin. This will make things easier and simple, as I do not want to push things too far on my first portable.
You might also notice those pieces of paper set on each side of the motherboard. Those are some actual-size cutouts of some batteries I'm considering. They fit just perfectly if I position the motherboard in the middle, then two stacks of two 11.1v 2200mah batteries on each side. This would provide 11.1v and 8800mah. (check them out HERE if you want) I've been lazy so there's not much progress, but I would really like to wire up that Wiikey Fusion very soon.

Also, to anyone reading this but not replying, during my experience so far, I've found it much easier to understand portablizing when you talk to someone about it in person/chat. It can be hard to learn everything just by reading the forums, so don't hesitate to send me a message or friend request on facebook if you have any questions. Of course I don't have much experience in the full portablizing process yet, but I don't mind helping as much as I can.

http://www.facebook.com/zackeryhale

 

[juankamq]

i just send a friend request, juan carlos moreno. i think the same as you, people learn by mistakes and experimenting, not just reading info.
PD:
you are doing it great man, very clean!

 

[MoRZiLLo]

Yeah!!! Fits entirely without trimm. Only removed the conectors.

Good work man!
And Thanks for the link of batteries!!!

 

[superben51]

I would highly recommend trimming it even just the gold stuff around the board. Would allow for unplanned extra space needed.

 

[zack]

I would highly recommend trimming it even just the gold stuff around the board. Would allow for unplanned extra space needed.

It's highly likely that I will trim the board just a little, because I am not sure if the batteries will fit anyways. They would need just barely a little more room so trimming the gold parts is a good idea. My uncle said he had a tool called a nibbler which is used for cutting circuit boards. Anyone heard of that? Do you think it would work well for this?

 

[EpIcSnIpErZ23]

Updates?

 

[unicycler17]

Don't ask for updates the day after he gave an update.

 

[EpIcSnIpErZ23]

Don't ask for updates the day after he gave an update.

Sorry