Aluminum GameBoy Zero build

Show off your completed Game Boy Zero, or post your build logs here!
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jwh02017
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Re: Aluminum GameBoy Zero build

Post by jwh02017 » Tue Apr 23, 2019 11:06 am

Dividion wrote:
Tue Apr 23, 2019 8:22 am
jwh02017 wrote:
Tue Apr 23, 2019 7:57 am
Your build looks great...very clean. Which battery are you using? I'll be using the BW 3.5: TFT screen for this build. So the SPI screens are thinner than the TFT's? Seems like I read that the TFT are faster framerate but lower resolution whereas the SPI screens are better resolution but slower framerate.... does that sound right? I need to get a SPI screen to check it out.
Thanks! The battery is a 4000mAh 125054 (12x50x54mm) so it fits in the battery compartment without modifications. If you get them in bulk they're really cheap (about $7 each), but they do take awhile to receive.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10pcs-B ... 08513.html

SPI screens are known for their slower framerates, but they can be driven off 8 (or 10) GPIO pins and are still completely playable. I've read that some have experienced tearing issues, but I haven't run into that myself with the 3.2in screens (also cheap at $7.50 each). These have a 320x240 resolution.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3-2-inc ... 82096.html

I'm curious what you're planning to use for buttons in the aluminum build. Plastic just doesn't seem appropriate. Also, since you went with a full rectangle for the screen cutout, which screen protector are you going with?
Thanks for the info on the battery and screen. For this build I'll be using the Adafruit 4400 battery. I might change to this aliexpress battery in the future since it's much cheaper. I'll just have to slightly change how the battery is mounted inside the case. I've bought other stuff from aliexpress so I've learned to just buy it and then forget about it for a while haha.

As for the buttons, for mock up purposes, I'm using standard GB buttons. I will be making some aluminum buttons but the swiss screw machine at work is tied up right now so I'll have to wait until it has some free time. And for the screen protector, I'm simply using a piece of plexiglass from Home Depot that will be installed from the inside. While I was designing the case, I wanted something different and easily replaceable. If this proves to be a bad idea then I'll probably switch to a standard GB screen protector. With this build, I wanted something that looked close to an original GB but not an exact copy.

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mrdude42
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Re: Aluminum GameBoy Zero build

Post by mrdude42 » Thu Apr 25, 2019 12:57 pm

Whoa! These look awesome! Keep up the great work. Can't wait to see the backs!

My only gripe is the dual speaker grills. Not a fan of how they look. I think since you didn't add the angle on the corner then you should have changed the holes from being the same lines.

Very poor drawing of 2 alternate speaker grills:
Image

I'm not saying you should have 2 different grill designs on the design. Just wanted to show 2 different ones. The left one would look good if you have a squared bottom corner. The right one would look good on your existing rounded bottom corners. Just a suggestion! Really can't wait to see more of these!

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jwh02017
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Re: Aluminum GameBoy Zero build

Post by jwh02017 » Thu Apr 25, 2019 4:16 pm

mrdude42 wrote:
Thu Apr 25, 2019 12:57 pm
Whoa! These look awesome! Keep up the great work. Can't wait to see the backs!

My only gripe is the dual speaker grills. Not a fan of how they look. I think since you didn't add the angle on the corner then you should have changed the holes from being the same lines.

Very poor drawing of 2 alternate speaker grills:
Image

I'm not saying you should have 2 different grill designs on the design. Just wanted to show 2 different ones. The left one would look good if you have a squared bottom corner. The right one would look good on your existing rounded bottom corners. Just a suggestion! Really can't wait to see more of these!
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll consider that in a future revision. I actually thought about making the speaker grill with holes similar to the GBC but I liked the lines on the original GB better. Obviously there are tons of options when designing a case from scratch. That is why it's taken me 4 months to get to this point...haha One feature that I'm still not sure on is the relief cuts around each of the control buttons on the face. On the original GB, there are small dished out areas around these buttons. Machining this wouldn't be a problem, just a little extra time. Since it's not my goal to make a 100% GB clone case, I may just leave the surface flat.

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jwh02017
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Re: Aluminum GameBoy Zero build

Post by jwh02017 » Fri Apr 26, 2019 7:54 am

Last night I test fit some of the parts for the front housing. I laser cut a dummy PCB controller board to double-check hole locations and fit. This case has a quick 5 minute sand/polish job. The black screen spacer behind the plexiglass acts as a buffer against hard hits on the screen. The black, red and blue parts are laser cut aluminium and anodized for clarity in the photos.

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jwh02017
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Re: Aluminum GameBoy Zero build

Post by jwh02017 » Fri Apr 26, 2019 7:59 am

Back housing coming soon....
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Re: Aluminum GameBoy Zero build

Post by TeeReQs » Fri Apr 26, 2019 10:30 am

This is awesome, and looks really good so far. Excited to see more updates.

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Re: Aluminum GameBoy Zero build

Post by jwh02017 » Sun Apr 28, 2019 4:41 pm

It's been a long weekend of working on this but I now have the back housing finished. I had to create an insert to fit inside the shell to keep it rigid during the other cutting operations. I had to 3D profile machine the radii on the back of the case since there are a couple different radii that blend into each other. The g-code for this 3D profile alone was 189,999 lines (I should have added one more line to make it an even 190,000 haha). The machine ran this code at 158 lines per second. I posted a video of this on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/pi2joy/ On top of the case there are 2 power switches, one for main power and the other for the screen. There are also 3 holes for LED indicators. On the left side there is micro usb power in and HDMI out. On the right side there is a volume dial and single USB. On the back, there are 4 buttons and a single pin hole to reset power to the system in case something gets hung. Besides functioning as a gameboy zero handheld, you will also be able to connect it to your tv and play with a wireless or wired gamepad (so this is the reason for the power switch for the screen). I'm currently working on getting it all cleaned up after machining and test fit everything. Then it's off to working on the PCB. I'm not a PCB designer by any stretch of the imagination, so I hope that process goes half as smooth as the case went. I'll upload some more pics soon.
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phreaky
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Re: Aluminum GameBoy Zero build

Post by phreaky » Wed May 01, 2019 3:37 am

This thing is f*king sexy !

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Re: Aluminum GameBoy Zero build

Post by FireFoxGR » Fri May 03, 2019 5:37 am

Very nice work!

I am wondering how heavy this is.. Do you have plans to make some for selling?

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Re: Aluminum GameBoy Zero build

Post by TeeReQs » Fri May 03, 2019 1:06 pm

My guess would be somewhere around 1.5-2 lbs fully built. Would be cool if OP starts selling aluminum shells, but I don't think they will be cheap.

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