My first GameCube Portable

[C4RB0]

Hi there

This is going to be my second portable (my first portable GameCube).

Specs:
- Case: Wii U gamepad protective case
- Screen: 7 inch screen with Composite/VGA input
- Controls: Original GC controller (transferred to RDC's miniGC)
- Wasp Fusion
- Battery: tbd
- Planned features: External controller box, video out, internal 128mb memory card, SD gecko

I started a few weeks ago with the case work. To glue the pieces together, I'm using homemade ABS cement:

After a sanding everything down:

After even more sanding, adding the start button and repositioning the c stick, it looks like this:

It still needs a lot of work until it is perfectly smooth and the cutouts for the speakers are still missing. They're going to be placed above the analog stick and the ABXY buttons.


The Wii U case is not very thick. So I need something to make the case a little bigger. Luckily, the GBA carry case I used for my N64 portable had an inlay (inset? Sorry, I'm not native English speaker ) which is perfect for this:

I was really surprised that everything fits so well together :

Here's a comparison between the original case and my modified case (Note: they have both the same width even though doesn't look like it in the picture):

In the corners I'm going to use parts of the front of the second Wii U case to get the right curvature. I also added the shoulder buttons of the GC controller to the case:

I didn't do any work on the GameCube itself yet but I transferred all the components of the controller to RDC's miniGC board:

I hope you like it up until now.

 

[Bakuku]

Looks great! Keep up the good work

question:

Where did you get the wasp?

 

[C4RB0]

Thank you.

I bought the wasp on Badassconsoles.com. They should be in stock again in march.

 

[Bakuku]

Thank you.

I bought the wasp on Badassconsoles.com. They should be in stock again in march.

Thank you!

 

[Shank]

I did not know RDC made boards like that. Thats really cool. Aside from the smallmp, what else does he make?

 

[C4RB0]

He makes similar boards for the PS2, the N64 and the Xbox 360. He also made a analog converter for the 3DS slider. I'm sure there's more but these are the projects I know of.

http://www.gc-forever.com/forums/viewto ... 970#p20970
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12373

 

[C4RB0]

UPDATE

Back of the case after sanding:

Mockup of the front:

The GameCube which I'm going to use:

I soldered directly to the FFC cable to connect the wasp:

And it works:

Nevertheless, I think I'm going to purchase a Megadrive as soon as they're available again since soldering directly to the FFC cable doesn't seem very robust.

 

[thatguythere]

I am really liking what you did with that case! Good work

 

[C4RB0]

Thank you. I've never done anything like this and I'm really happy how it's turning out.

Next few things I intend do to:
- Fill the remaining holes in the back
- Cut the heat sink and GC mainboard such that they fit the case perfectly
- Add vent holes to the back (I'd like to a cut the GC logo in the back, as Ashen did, but I'm not sure if I'm able to do this)
- Add speaker grills to the front (still waiting for the parts I purchased for this)

 

[C4RB0]

UPDATE

Cut the heat sink:

and the GC mainboard:

It still works:

 

[C4RB0]

UPDATE

I really like how Ashen cut the fan holes on his GameCube Fusion rev 4, so I thought I do the same. I think it turned out pretty good:

For the air exhaust I used a part of the back of the Gamecube case:

I'm going to glue the pieces together after I have made more ABS glue.

 

[trevor403]

Awesome work! Keep it up! Where were you able to find a pcb to fit the pitch of the pins on the custom regulator?

 

[Blargaman91]

That cut of the GC logo is really clean. How did you manage that? Any special tools?

 

[C4RB0]

Thanks to both of you.

@trevor403
To be honest, I don't know if there are premade pcbs that have the right pitch. I used perfboard with the standard pitch (2.54mm). Then I desoldered the pins on the PTH8080 (surprisingly, this wasn't very easy) and used the bent legs of the capacitor and the resistor to solder it to the perfboard. On the PTR08100 I simply bent the pins until they fit the pitch.

@Blargaman91
I didn't use anything special. I used a fret saw for a rough cut and then used different small files to file it down. I had a small three sided file which made the corners much easier. The most important thing is that you don't try to make a perfect cut with the fret saw. I cut around 1mm inside of the lines with the fret saw and then used the files to file everything down up to the lines.

 

[Derus59]

I am doing something similar for a gamecube portable, if I may ask, where did you find pinout for the wasp fusion directly to the gamecube drive pins. Plz and thx

 

[C4RB0]

Here you go:

Wiikey/Wasp Pinout:
http://forums.modretro.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=6003

How to solder to the FFC cable:
http://www.gc-forever.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=759&sid=1aee646e94d90a31bc2afcda1169fa4d

A word of caution: It's not very easy to do and doesn't seem very reliable to me. It's probably easier to buy a megadrive from badassconsoles.com.

 

[Derus59]

Currently checking with them at Badass Consoles to see when they might get another version of the MegaDrive in. This would more than likely be a temporary thing.

 

[C4RB0]

UPDATE

Air exhaust:

I used the speaker holes of 2 GBA shells:

I also added screw posts for the buttons and thumbsticks:

I repurposed the screwposts of the GC controller shell. That's why I use triwing screws.

Next few things to do:
- Determine the exact position of all components such that everything fits inside the shell
- Make cutouts in the back for the SD cards, video out, etc.
- Add a way to screw the front and the back together

A bit further away:
- Sand everything down for the perfect finish
- Paint the shell

 

[Protobug]

It looks amazing Keep up the good work !
did you pm RDC to get his controller board or are they on sale on a website ?

 

[C4RB0]

Thank you. I wrote RDC a PM. I don't think he has a website.

By the way, I'm still working on this portable. The front and the back can be screwed together now. Currently, I'm trying to get a smooth surface which is a real pain since the ABS cement has left lots of tiny holes.

I'm going to post some pictures when I have painted the case.