stuckonarock
Member
Aloha!
I stumbled across this site a few months back and became inspired to create a GCp. What started as a "quick" project has now entered it's fourth month lol. I am only working on it here and there so my expectation for completion is by summers end. That is of course if I can stop running into issues...
Here is my progress thus far:
So I had a spare WiiU casing so i figured, why not?
Decided to go with the GC controller layout
inside face
progress
more progress
first coat of primer, still more sanding to do. although I am moving towards vacuum forming so I may put this case in a box for another day.
and for the back case
wanted the GC feel
progress
So the back needs more room. Only thing I had available was a pretty thick tupperware. So i went with it.
First round of filler added
bigger than I anticipated. Bigger is not always better, well, that's what I tell myself anyway...
first coat of primer. still needs work.
That's it for the case so far. I have all the items I need to vacuum form but I'm dragging ass to make a mold. If any one has a ZN45 case they would like to sell please let me know! Polycase wants $30 for shipping for 1 case to me.
More to follow. thanks for looking!
Update:
For the audio I went with an iLuv portable
Headphone jack
It was working fine until I crossed a wire and fried the board
So this time I grabbed an HMDX portable
wiring up,again...
And yes I have an actual helping hands, I just prefer my single homemade one for small boards.
I ended up doing the exact same thing to this board as I did with the iLuv board, crossed a wire
So back to wallyworld and another $9 down the drain. I can report that the new HMDX (2nd one) is working and hopefully will remain working.
Random pics of progress:
rumblers and Ext player ports
Original GC board I was going to use but seeing that the case has so much room I put this one on the side for another time
Here is the board I’m using
also decided since there is so much room in the case I'll just use the original heatsink with a laptop fan
memory card for slot A
charger plug
everything was working great. powered it up the other day and my 5" screen decided it need a white horizontal line.
That sucked
Its a cheap rear view monitor so I ordered another one. here's what was at my door step a couple days later, smashed in the center!
thankfully it works
custom regs. not pretty but works. the 8100 now has a 2nd cap.
that's it for now. Thanks!
update:
Alright guys I'm feeling pretty defeated here
Still no luck with the wasp. Ive rewired it multiple times, going straight to where the DD connector was on the board, I've tried using a MegaV5, MegaV6, I've tried the FFC breakout board, and I've wired straight to the filters to a ffc....all no go. Ive tried two GC boards and 3 wasps. I'm going out of my mind lol. The boards all power on. I can't find shorts, continuity checks in all the right places. One board is a DOL30 and the other a DOL11. Am I missing something here?
Also my audio has decided to include major hum to the mix
I had to use the extra wire fix to get the audio going, but something is wrong. I am ok with slight hum interference, but this is ridiculous
And since I tried another board, my mem card is not recognizing now and I know the wiring is good.
Needless to say, not a good day.
July 16 update:
Rewired audio amp with shielded wire and that did the trick. Thanks!
Also did some poking around with my fluke and found one of my traces for the memory card was lost. Rewired the memory card to the alternate pins and I'm back in action.
I will be tackling the wasp rewire in a bit.
July 19 update:
wasp is now working! I can finally move forward!
I had trouble bridging the MEGAdrive v6 so I ran jumpers.
The monitor is for testing, don't mind the white horizontal lines
July 24 update:
Alright so I've decided to put my first case on the side for now until I can vacuum form the back piece. It has so much epoxy and bondo in it. I tried cleaning it up but figured if I wait to vacuum form it there will be so much more space and the difference in weight will be significant. And of course it will be one piece. So in the meantime...
I began working on my zn45 case
Got the screen area cut out and framed, along with the buttons. Waiting for the first round of epoxy to dry then I will slap on some filler and start sanding.
I've only tackled the front so far. Hoping to find the time this weekend to knock out the rest.
Aug 3 update:
My portable has been sitting on the back burning since my last post...Today I did more sanding to the front piece. I also cut and mounted the GC power port, battery charger port, on/off charge switch, 2nd player port. I drilled the holes for the volume up/down but haven't mounted the tacts. The batteries are in place along with pcb. I also cut out a large vent in the back for the fan. That's it for now...
Some pics for the heck of it.
I was almost done cutting the hole for the p2 port and my dremel slipped.
I stumbled across this site a few months back and became inspired to create a GCp. What started as a "quick" project has now entered it's fourth month lol. I am only working on it here and there so my expectation for completion is by summers end. That is of course if I can stop running into issues...
Here is my progress thus far:
So I had a spare WiiU casing so i figured, why not?

Decided to go with the GC controller layout

inside face

progress

more progress

first coat of primer, still more sanding to do. although I am moving towards vacuum forming so I may put this case in a box for another day.

and for the back case

wanted the GC feel

progress

So the back needs more room. Only thing I had available was a pretty thick tupperware. So i went with it.

First round of filler added

bigger than I anticipated. Bigger is not always better, well, that's what I tell myself anyway...

first coat of primer. still needs work.

That's it for the case so far. I have all the items I need to vacuum form but I'm dragging ass to make a mold. If any one has a ZN45 case they would like to sell please let me know! Polycase wants $30 for shipping for 1 case to me.
More to follow. thanks for looking!
Update:
For the audio I went with an iLuv portable

Headphone jack

It was working fine until I crossed a wire and fried the board


So this time I grabbed an HMDX portable

wiring up,again...

And yes I have an actual helping hands, I just prefer my single homemade one for small boards.

I ended up doing the exact same thing to this board as I did with the iLuv board, crossed a wire

So back to wallyworld and another $9 down the drain. I can report that the new HMDX (2nd one) is working and hopefully will remain working.
Random pics of progress:
rumblers and Ext player ports

Original GC board I was going to use but seeing that the case has so much room I put this one on the side for another time

Here is the board I’m using

also decided since there is so much room in the case I'll just use the original heatsink with a laptop fan

memory card for slot A

charger plug

everything was working great. powered it up the other day and my 5" screen decided it need a white horizontal line.


Its a cheap rear view monitor so I ordered another one. here's what was at my door step a couple days later, smashed in the center!

thankfully it works
custom regs. not pretty but works. the 8100 now has a 2nd cap.



that's it for now. Thanks!
update:
Alright guys I'm feeling pretty defeated here

Still no luck with the wasp. Ive rewired it multiple times, going straight to where the DD connector was on the board, I've tried using a MegaV5, MegaV6, I've tried the FFC breakout board, and I've wired straight to the filters to a ffc....all no go. Ive tried two GC boards and 3 wasps. I'm going out of my mind lol. The boards all power on. I can't find shorts, continuity checks in all the right places. One board is a DOL30 and the other a DOL11. Am I missing something here?
Also my audio has decided to include major hum to the mix


And since I tried another board, my mem card is not recognizing now and I know the wiring is good.
Needless to say, not a good day.
July 16 update:
Rewired audio amp with shielded wire and that did the trick. Thanks!
Also did some poking around with my fluke and found one of my traces for the memory card was lost. Rewired the memory card to the alternate pins and I'm back in action.
I will be tackling the wasp rewire in a bit.

July 19 update:
wasp is now working! I can finally move forward!

I had trouble bridging the MEGAdrive v6 so I ran jumpers.


The monitor is for testing, don't mind the white horizontal lines

July 24 update:
Alright so I've decided to put my first case on the side for now until I can vacuum form the back piece. It has so much epoxy and bondo in it. I tried cleaning it up but figured if I wait to vacuum form it there will be so much more space and the difference in weight will be significant. And of course it will be one piece. So in the meantime...
I began working on my zn45 case

Got the screen area cut out and framed, along with the buttons. Waiting for the first round of epoxy to dry then I will slap on some filler and start sanding.



I've only tackled the front so far. Hoping to find the time this weekend to knock out the rest.
Aug 3 update:
My portable has been sitting on the back burning since my last post...Today I did more sanding to the front piece. I also cut and mounted the GC power port, battery charger port, on/off charge switch, 2nd player port. I drilled the holes for the volume up/down but haven't mounted the tacts. The batteries are in place along with pcb. I also cut out a large vent in the back for the fan. That's it for now...
Some pics for the heck of it.


I was almost done cutting the hole for the p2 port and my dremel slipped.

