Tjmortenson's Gamecube Portable Worklog

[tjmortenson]

I have decided to make a GameCube portable. It will be my first portable, but I have been building things all my life so I think I can do it. I have all the parts other than the screen, which should ship on Monday, and the GameCube mobo, (which is a rev c) because I broke the first one. I am going with the disk drive for now because I like discs and I don't want to spend the money on a Wiikey now, but I might buy one sometime in the future. I started making the case, and its a 6" x 8" x3". Its kind of big but it fits in my hands good, and I don't have much money for a better case. This spring/summer I will probably make a nicer case, but this one will work for now. It has a lot of room inside, so that's nice. I'm also not putting batteries in it for now, because they are so expensive, but I plan on getting some batteries this summer. For now I have an external battery that is a lead acid, but its not too big. It's 12v and I believe it's 7.2 Ah, but I don't have it right now, so that should give me a pretty decent amount of play time. I will put some pictures on of what I have done so far later.

 

[tjmortenson]

Heres the pictures:

 

[tjmortenson]

What do you guys think I should do for the L R buttons and Z button? I was thinking I could cut holes in the side and have them inside, but I don't know how that would look.

 

[Hackerbilly]

I did something like that in my Gamecube Hobo Edition.
Turned out to be pretty comfy unless you had small hands,
then it was pretty hard to hold. Actually It was easy to use while playing
Luigi's Mansion.
It looked kinda good, looked like it would be uncomfortable to hold but it wasn't.
Here is a link to the portable.viewtopic.php?f=36&t=5661

 

[unicycler17]

This looks good so far and I hope to see it come along more in the future! As for the triggers, I really don't like the idea of having them on the inside. However, it might be necessary, because unless you have enormous hands you will be very uncomfortable trying to play with them on the back. If you put them on the inside, I hope you would section off the inside of the portable so that you wouldn't be able to poke any wires or internals through the trigger holes. Otherwise it would look much less professional and complete.

 

[tjmortenson]

Time for an update on my Gcp!

I've finnished sanding the body filler on the controller, and got a psone screen and hooked it up. I still have to get a voltage regulator for the screen, anyone know what I should use? Here's some more pictures.

 

[superben51]

that's looking good man. you'r predicament with the money/batteries/everything else is creepily close to my own....

 

[Prog]

I like 'dem controls.

 

[tjmortenson]

I've got a problem with my screen
My screen just started not working right, the image is distorted, as seen in the picture below. I thought it was a ground issue, but I added another ground wire, and with another ground it doesnt even turn on, just a black screen. I removed the extra ground, and it went back to the same distorted picture. I tried moving the composite video in to another place, and I still have the same problem. I checked the gamecube by plugging it into my tv and it works fine, so its my wiring or the screen. Any suggestions?

 

[nuke]

Maybe interference? Use RCA cable(Shielded Wire) and see if it'll work.

 

[Prog]

Check for swollen caps, or other obvious electrical damage.