My GBZ - The Henry [Complete]

[oliddell]

Hi guys, It was a labor of love which may have renewed my love for electronics. First of a massive thanks to these fine chaps

@veterangamer
@camble
@Helder
@Wermy

Its not the cleanest of builds. I had to take it apart (when almost ready) 3 times. The hardest part was getting the case closed, anyways here is a summary of the build:

Testing screen and PI Zero W (Havent done this type of work for over 10 years....Here we go)

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Dry Fit

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I thought i ruined the pi so i totally removed the USB and power ports , that same day i managed to resurrect it... more space
Note: Spraying the Pi with isopropyl alcohol and also applying the usb fix stickied in the GBZ forum fixed the usb and game pads not being recognized issue on the Helder AIO 2.2a board

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Continuing wiring everything up

Cambles Safe shutdown gave me a lot of grief but thanks to @Camble who provided another script, I manged to get it working, basically the other script can be set to be compatible with my power boost, the generic powerboost from Banggood. Please ask @Camble for more info as im not sure it has been released yet.

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Getting a battery delivered to my country was a massive headache. 3 batteries ordered as 2 never arrived. The last one works perfectly. Had it running of Battery for 3 hours and haven't charged it yet.

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Closed and ready to rock, especially proud of the L/R buttons

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Firing up my two favorite game in time for the new Samus returns on 3ds

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Top tip - the SNES games were really lagging, stuttering generally unplayable. Pi0 temperature was within normal limits (65 deg cel). This was all fixed by simply updating all Retropi packages, which took an hour.

very happy with how both builds turned out - what i could have done better (applies to both builds):
Be patient
Invest in a wire stripper
try source from Europe (i live in Malta - EU) China parts took well over a month to arrive)
Be Patient!!!!

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And that's it...Why I named it the Henry, I was around 8 (35 now) and a sweet old German man by the name of Henry my next door neighbor introduced my brother and me to the NES and then then he went out and bought a SNES a few years later.

[Boydee]

looks good! I do like the black shell.

[oliddell]

Thanks, not sure if i should close off the cartridge slot, I have my powerboost sitting right at the bottom which does get a little hot. Not to mention the blue status LED looks cool.

[Thump52]

First of all that is a nice build, where did you buy your screen?

[oliddell]

First of all that is a nice build, where did you buy your screen?

Thanks a lot. I got it from amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/BW-Monitor-Dig ... =bw+screen

[VeteranGamer]

Closed and ready to rock, especially proud of the L/R buttons

great work....

i also like your L/R buttons....

i think i know you've used the tactile caps (could be wrong)....

how have you got everything fixed on the inside (a pic would be great)

and what size drill bit did you use, or how did you make the opening....


thanks.....

[dryja123]

@oliddel, You could cut a game cartridge in half and buy one of the small axial fans from kite. Drill a few tiny holes in the top of the game cart and tape some speaker dust fabric to keep everything looking fluid.

I really like the L1 and R1 buttons as well. I may use those for my next build.

[oliddell]

@veterangamer, the buttons I used were part of a pack from ebay really good value and quality seems ok (havent put them through their paces yet)

the exact ones I ordered:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-100pcs-4-3- ... 2749.l2649

As for the drill bit i got one of those cone drill bits the diameter of the hole is around 6.5mm drilled by hand (did not use a drill). The i smoothed the inside where the buttons sit.
I will have to get a decent photo of the inside true will do asap. Thanks for the comment

@dryja123

Ordered a cartridge and will get right on it thanks for the awesome suggestion
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Grey-Game ... 2749.l2649

[VeteranGamer]

@veterangamer, the buttons I used were part of a pack from ebay really good value and quality seems ok (havent put them through their paces yet)

the exact ones I ordered:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-100pcs-4-3- ... 2749.l2649

As for the drill bit i got one of those cone drill bits the diameter of the hole is around 6.5mm drilled by hand (did not use a drill). The i smoothed the inside where the buttons sit.
I will have to get a decent photo of the inside true will do asap. Thanks for the comment

i actually thought you might have used a tactile buttons with a cap....





didnt realise that there 12x12 tactile buttons....

i have a another build in the works... and the previous tactile buttons used just dont feel right
so i'm trying to find posible alternatives

[oliddell]

Didn't know those types of buttons existed. When I was looking for parts I immediately knew I didn't want them sticking out but just enough so they wouldn't be a pain to find.