Glue Free(ish) GPIO GBZ w/ Pocket Adventures Helpers
Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2019 3:11 pm
Just about finished with another build, some cleanup left to do. This was my first build using some of the boards from John Till at Pocket Adventures (disclaimer: not an ad, I bought everything myself, I've not had any contact with them, etc. etc.). My goal was to be as glue free as possible with as little case trimming as possible, the only things glued down are the 3D printed brackets themselves and the volume wheel, speaker, and micro USB port. First time with no hot glue! I used a little moldable glue to hold the speaker and MicroUSB port in nice and solid.
The Pocket Adventures GPIO assist board is massively helpful and John has done a good job of making his various boards work well together. The PWM filter can solder directly onto the assist board and the input/output wiring between the button board and assist board are placed so you can use very short wires with easy routes. I found the PWM board to crowd the composite connections and input power some, but everything is very manageable.
I printed a couple of spanner brackets to hold the cartridge in snug, but the cart can go in and out freely.
Minor trimming in the battery compartment. Because of the clear cart, I decided to put the powerboost in the battery bay and use the connector port for the charging socket. It meant some longer wires than usual, but it worked out pretty well.
Top / Front
Because of the clear cartridge, I decided to flush mount an LED to the case instead of the usual route of putting them in the cartridge. Because I'm not done cleaning everything up I haven't put the screen bezel on yet, but it'll cleanup the rough cuts nicely.

The Pocket Adventures GPIO assist board is massively helpful and John has done a good job of making his various boards work well together. The PWM filter can solder directly onto the assist board and the input/output wiring between the button board and assist board are placed so you can use very short wires with easy routes. I found the PWM board to crowd the composite connections and input power some, but everything is very manageable.
- 3.5" TFT composite display (12v -> 5v conversion)
- Pocket Adventures DMG Button Board
- Pocket Adventures GPIO Assist - Basic
- Pocket Adventures DMG Shoulder Button Board
- Pocket Adventures PWM Audio Filter
- Pocket Adventures MicroUSB Breakout Board
- Adafruit 1000c power boost
- PAM8302A mono amp
- 8ohm 2W speaker
- Clear Gameboy cartridge
- Tactile emergency off button in the DC barrel port
- Soft tactile shoulder buttons
- 2mm flat top tower LED for power indicator
- Camble Safe Shutdown Switch
- Sixteenbit screen bracket
- Sixteenbit safe shutdown bracket
- MicroUSB bracket (I modified this to more securely mount the MicroUSB breakout board but haven't uploaded my remix yet)
- My own custom headphone jack and PAM8302A breakout bracket (I'll get it on thingiverse eventually)
Front InternalsShow

Rear InternalsShow

Clear CartShow

Battery CompartmentShow

Micro USB socketShow

SD Card SideShow

Because of the clear cartridge, I decided to flush mount an LED to the case instead of the usual route of putting them in the cartridge. Because I'm not done cleaning everything up I haven't put the screen bezel on yet, but it'll cleanup the rough cuts nicely.
Flush mount LEDShow

FrontShow
