MintyPi on steroids (Hard case/clam shell handheld portable Pi using a pi a3+)

[chris1275cc]

Hi, everybody
I've been lurking around this forum for a while but this will be my first post, I built a basic GBZ a few months ago mainly by viewing info on this site, so thanks for that, but I wanted to build something a bit more original with a bigger screen. I don't own or have access to a 3D printer so the idea was to adapt an existing "container" to house both the Pi and a 5" screen, make the build as easy as possible, be able to play everyting my Pi 3b+ can handle, have a full dual analogue game pad/control interface (I ended up using an actual Ps1 style usb gamepads innards, 2 PSP1000 sticks, and the buttons, rubbers and d-pad are form a genuine SNES contoller) and a long battery life. This is what I came up with:

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It's not quite finished as i'm waiting on a stereo amp pcb that I accidentally ordered form china, so at the moment its running dual mono as I had a mono pcb laying around. It runs Dreamcast and N64 roms at full speed (those that can run full speed on a Pi) and the dual parallel LG MJ1 18650 Batterys (3500mAh) last about 5 hours before I get the "lightning strike" and will run less demanding stuff for about another 20 mins, surprisingly the screen goes black before I loose the pi.

Although I doubt there is anything for anyone to learn from this project as I did nothing that hasn't already been done by much more knowledgeable people on this forum (because that's where I got most of my info from) but if anyone has any questions I'll try to answer or point you in the right direction.

[DieselDummy]

Nice build! It's like a MintyPi on steroids. Thanx for sharing. Very cool

[chris1275cc]

Nice build! It's like a MintyPi on steroids. Thanx for sharing. Very cool

I nerver thought of it as a "MintyPi on steroids" but it kinda is, I was struggling to give a description of it so ive changed the subjet title.
Thanks.

[Helder]

I like it but the only issue is how do you hold it comfortably? Looks awfully large to hold.

[chris1275cc]

I like it but the only issue is how do you hold it comfortably? Looks awfully large to hold.

I think it looks bigger than it is in RL, the button / d-pad spacing is exactly the same as one of those knockoff ps1 contollers (becuse it is a knockoff ps1 contoller), the screen half of the case rests at about a 40 degree angle from the controller side and because it only contains the screen and a thin bit of perspex its not top heavy and the little weight there is gets counter balanced by the 18650's. Its center of graviy falls right where I hold it so it doesn't fell like it's trying to tip away from you (I wish I could say that was by design but it was more of a happy accident) I wish I could have found a better solution for the sholder/trigger buttons than tac' switches and got them over-under instead of side by side but other than that it's pretty comfortable to hold and play. I weighs about 450g which is about the same as a gameger with batterys.

Heres a pic for size comparason:

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Balancing on it's center of grav'

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