[mat jessop]

Hey Bircoe,

Really liking your design changes, its great to have more functionality! Keep me posted on your developments, I can’t wait to see the end result!!

Best

Mat

[mat jessop]

Files can now be found here http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1412412

Many thanks to Darkborn for finally pushing me to upload them!

I hope this can help some people!

Mat

[mat jessop]

A couple of rubbish quality photos of the more finished product.

Spray painted and coloured in logo on the back

[attachment file=”20151201_093832.jpg”]

And the front, with brass button surrounds

[attachment file=”20151218_080430.jpg”]

[mat jessop]

Dear James,

I would also be glad to send you the files too! Just send me a PM with your email address. Thanks a lot for your comment, its really appreciated! I got mine printed at 3DPrint UK. They do selective laser sintering, while more expensive than the more ‘common’ extrusion based methods. However, I really think its worth the extra cash if you can afford it, because the quality is incredible, you really wont be dissapointed! I think it cost me about 60 quid to get it printed.

And yes, I have recently tried to make the finish nicer on mine. I have spray painted it with a spray paint designed to spray onto plastic. I think it has given a really nice result, and it feels much nicer to hold too. The ‘raw’ sls product feels a bit chalky. I also painted the rpi logo. And as a bonus, i 3d printed the button surrounds in brass from shapeways.com. They can 3d print a mould, and then fill the mould with different metals, its a really cool (but pricey) service. Anyway, I have added a couple of photos so check them out if you so wish!

Best

Mat

[mat jessop]

Dear Fourfun,

I would gladly send along the files. Please PM me your email address and then I can send you the info.

Best

Mat

[mat jessop]

I second Redhalo’s comment. This is a seriously impressive and comprehensive build! Definitely one of the best I have seen.

[mat jessop]

Hey, Im really sorry for not getting back to you sooner, I’ve been really busy and on holiday etc. Let me know if you still need a hand or if you have sorted it!

Best

Mat

[mat jessop]

Hi Albill,

Yes, thankfully most small screens can tolerate voltages in a range between 5 and 12v (although this is seldom advertised). 5V is really the lower end, and some screens won’t tolerate such a low voltage. To make up for the lower voltage, it draws more current and so this must be kept in mind. On another project, I first tried powering a screen through the raspberry pi’s GPIO pins but this output wasn’t high enough and so it kept cutting out. I then just split the powerfeed to the raspberry pi and it worked fine.

Regards

Mat

[mat jessop]

Hey, so you could play n64 games… However, I have a feeling that it wouldn’t be very easy to sort out the controller set-up as the n64 uses an unconventional button layout. You would have to consider the need for two shoulder buttons, the middle trigger, and then 6 buttons for the right hand side. Some games don’t need all of the buttons, but even so, it could be tricky to figure out what to keep unless you are only wanting to play one game! Of course, I am happy to be proven wrong and perhaps other forum members might have smarter ideas than me.

[mat jessop]

Hi Zander,

I would be more than happy to send the files along, just PM me with your email address and I will send the CAD files. As for your interest in adding buttons to the back, this guy https://www.petrockblock.com/forums/topic/portable-retro-gaming-unit/ took my basic design and did just that. Adding 4 buttons instead of just 2 may require a bit of extra work since my design just uses a RetroLink SNES controller hooked up to the USB port for simplicity, and this only has 2 shoulder buttons. Of course, if you are also wanting an analogue stick instead of D-pad then you wouldn’t be able to use the RetroLink anyway. If you are then wanting to make your own controller set-up then it can be a bit more tricky. The best thing to do would be to chop up an old games controller (I have done it with a PS1 controller before) and then hook up the button inputs to the GPIO ports. Adafruit have a couple of guides on how to hook up buttons to GPIO for gaming https://learn.adafruit.com/retro-gaming-with-raspberry-pi , and also on how to use old controllers for game input https://learn.adafruit.com/pigrrl-raspberry-pi-gameboy . I have also tried using analgogue sticks, with varying success. The PSP style stick is really small and so would be ideal but wiring it up can be a little complicated. A normal playstation controller stick is easier to setup but fairly bulky. If you are new to this sort of stuff and have a timelimit then I would make life easy for myself and stick to a dpad, but you can always experiment with more than one thing at a time. It is always crucial that you have the entire system up and running before you get the case printed anyway, so you can play around with different strategies before you settle on the one that you want/works and then alter/design the case around it. Sorry for the verbose response!

Mat

[mat jessop]

Thanks for the message. For a battery, I would definitely recommend a lithium polymer battery such as this one: http://www.adafruit.com/products/328 but depending on your design, and how you want to arrange your components, a lithium ion battery such as this one: http://www.adafruit.com/products/1781 could also be useful. I went with the first one as this allowed my case to be slightly thinner. Both of these batteries output at 3.7v and so you need to boost the voltage to 5v to power the pi. I have just received the new raspberry pi, and while i have given emulation on it a go, I havn’t tested it to see how power hungry it is whilst emulating, and so it might be a good idea for you to do a couple of tests to get an idea of how much power you would be needing. Send me a private message with your email and I can send you the model file.

[mat jessop]

Sorry for the belated reply. Send me a personal message with your email address and then I can send it on

[mat jessop]

Hey,

Have you fiddled with the screen settings in the config.txt file? If you have tried this and it has not helped then I am really not sure what to suggest, and so perhaps it would be useful to ask the question on the main forum as perhaps others are having similar issues.

Regards

Mat

[mat jessop]

Ye, but that would have to include taking a couple of mm from the case thickness. I dont think it would be safe to reduce it to 2 cm without making the walls thinner. Also, you may make things fit better or worse than me, so it is really a good idea to see how thin you can make it, and then design the case thickness around that. Otherwise you could go for the safer option and leave it at 2.5

[mat jessop]

Ok cool. Im not sure that you would be able to fit all of the stuff inside if it was only 2 cm thick, but maybe get the parts sorted and then you can measure how deep the interior of the case will need to be. As for the case walls, I’m not too sure how to go about that actually. My skills in CAD are extremely limited, sorry!

[mat jessop]

I am not sure where abouts you live, but I bought it in the UK from a shop called Maplin. If you don’t live in the UK then I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard to find another with similar dimensions. Failing that it wouldn’t bee too hard to change the hole for the switch (or if you are lazy then you might be able to sand it down to the right shape/size!). Here is the link to the one I used http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/double-pole-miniature-fh36p

[mat jessop]

Should hopefully be sent

Mat

[mat jessop]

Sure thing, just send me a private message with your email address and I will be happy to provide it!

Mat

[mat jessop]

I have sent you some information.

Mat

[mat jessop]

Hey,

Thanks for the post. The case was a bit pricey, as it stands I think it cost about £60. However, the walls are way thicker than they need to be, the entire thickness of the case could also be taken down a couple of mm, and I’m sure a smarter design could also reduce the amount of material needed. So I reckon you could probably get it for ~40 pounds maybe. I am more than happy to send you the sketch-up file that I made if you want a tinker about with it?

Cheers

Mat

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