[WIP] Project RetroBoy; a custom CAD drawn Gameboy case

[iSP]

Here's a new Survey, everything about the corner!

Question 1, do you want a palm wrest angled corner?


No disadvantages but for bigger speakers possibly. Just takes me some time to figure out how to do it.


Question 2, what kind of speaker grill do you like?
or or or or or or something else (specify)

No disadvantages, just preference


Question 3, Do you want a bigger speaker grill?

Well no disadvantages here but some people like bigger speakers... from my drawing I can see up to 32mm can be added relatively easy (3mm bigger than the original). I'm also interested in what one... I've done some eBay search and some seem not entirely round but have parts for mounting etc... Maybe something with a mounting could be nice so no hot glue is needed, but I leave this up to you to decide.


Again no data is collected.
Vote here;

https://goo.gl/forms/f6CH6vVCwH8ZhYin1



Also another update;



I did add the posts to the inside, no thread yet. The places are correct, not sure about the heights yet as I've only got 1 sample to confirm with yet (as said before I like to double check).

[Ganreizu]

Not sure what the first question means. When it comes to the exterior I would hope people would want it to be as close to stock as possible. I'm guessing that means answer yes for question 1.

Also yeah probably don't play with the Y axis. It is very quickly going to make it much more difficult to hold. I'm sure a lot of us are making builds for small children to have so this is a big no no.

[iSP]

Not sure what the first question means. When it comes to the exterior I would hope people would want it to be as close to stock as possible. I'm guessing that means answer yes for question 1.

Here you can see it nicely;



A piece is like chopped off, it's not a perfect corner.
Adding this would be closer to a real Gameboy, it's a comfort option for your palm.
Personally I have small hands and not having the corner like this may feel awkward... but as said I wanted the community to give a voice so it is being asked.
From how things look like it you guys want it so I will look into how to do this (it's easy for sure just haven't looked at it yet).

[ill-tempered]

You know there is this too right:

https://github.com/Cristov9000/SuperGameGirl

[iSP]

You know there is this too right:

https://github.com/Cristov9000/SuperGameGirl

Other project with totally different goals... it's like a joke... literally and not in a bad way.
No really, I think it's supposed to look like not that good and obviously 3D printed.
Also looking quite cheap and at the same time quite some decent parts in the inside while still cheapish".... typically hipster culture.
My goals are completely different, analyst 1:1 case that's optimised on the inside and an updated look at the outside.
It's more for us in our 30's (like me ) who want to have a nice gaming machine at their desk/living room while still with the same physical dimensions.
Even while hipsters spend money too, because of nostalgia reasons we might go the step further and spend some more money as a side project/hobby.
So I want to have the same features like the cartridge slot even while it's not necessary and I could fit a raspi3 there instead. Blame nostalgia / real feel.

Anyways I did the corner and had to start all over... ah well. But it's ok since this was a learning project anyways and made quite good progress and it's at like 80% of what it was again.
At the same time upgraded the shell thickness to 2mm to make it a bit more sturdier... don't have the VGA lcd yet but I think that's the maximum I can do to have an uniform thickness everywhere.
Had a quick look at the speaker and got some ideas but haven't found the right one yet.
Also I need to look into how to do a 32mm mount since I've found another design issue while 29 and 30 fit just fine.
Finding the right speaker with mounting holes at a diameter of 29-32mm is more important right now I think and will see how it can be fitted later.

That's why I'll start at the back case part soon as I'll hit a similar snag with the battery compartment.... if anyone got an idea what batteries (size) to pick best let me know. Probably 3x 3,7v batteries in parallel rather than series is the best way to go. A battery pack is less preferred as they come in different sizes and it's easier to find good quality high mAh loose batteries. Since it's custom it doesn't have to be AA and I want to go with 3 or just 3 depending on the size. It's all in my head just haven't found the exact combination yet.

[iSP]

Update

After looking at the votes I've decided on the way to go with the speaker part and I hope everyone likes how I did this.

The result pretty much was 50% wanted a bigger speaker up to 32mm and 50% doesn't care.
Well I went to look for nice speakers that would be an upgrade over the original ones with a diameter of 28-32mm and that was quite hard!
Pretty early on I found out no speaker with mounting holes would fit, those seem to be quite rare in this format to a point of non existence.
So it was decided a bracket would be made for any nice speaker that would fit and would be an upgrade over the original one.

Well... after looking at a hell of a lot 32mm ones I figured out those were simply too deep, sorry.
Have to take into account we want a decent battery with large capacity too and they can't occupy the same space...
So it's a trade off between the size of the speaker and the capacity of the battery or batteries.

Hopefully you guys like love what I've found and already ordered 2 myself.
Settled on a speaker of 31mm and only 8mm deep which doesn't case any problems. On top of that instead of a fabric or plastic cone like on the cheap ones 29mm ones this one has a proper mylar cone...
And the price? only a bit more expensive at about 5 Euro/USD shipping included when ordering 2 to 7,50 Euro/USD when you settle for one.

May I present;
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Foster-Mylar-Sp ... 1610100292
These were originally ment for premium headphones and Japanese made rather than Chinese... so it might be the best pick for us.

Please note, these do not fit the original Gameboy case without modding, although hot glue (yuck!) will hold them in place.


Comments welcome =)

[Zero]

Have you decided on the materials to make your case out of now, once you've finished designing it? I've been thinking about making a shell for one myself out of wood using a CNC I'm currently building. Was going to do a 3d printed one but the finish just wouldn't be good enough for my liking. Will most likely end up changing the original gameboy design a bit to fit the materials in the way you seem to be doing so was just wondering.

[iSP]

Have you decided on the materials to make your case out of now, once you've finished designing it? I've been thinking about making a shell for one myself out of wood using a CNC I'm currently building. Was going to do a 3d printed one but the finish just wouldn't be good enough for my liking. Will most likely end up changing the original gameboy design a bit to fit the materials in the way you seem to be doing so was just wondering.

Haven't decided yet, bit early for that.

I've got experience with CNC but never did it with this amount of detail... not sure if that can be done and it wouldn't be an obvious choice.
Whatever the direction I'll first 3D print a prototype just to see if everything fits.
Also wood can also be 3D printed and with some sanding paper you can get a nicer finish than regular plastic... this could be a valid option for you.
My first pick would be ABS mold injection, but that might require at least getting 100+ cases... I'm not yet sure of the demand.

[Zero]

Ok cheers for the reply. I don't have a 3d printer that would do that very well, mine even struggles with normal PLA. But then I guess most home 3D printers require a lot of tinkering to get good results. Maybe pro ones are much better.

I'd love a proper solid wood one as I have some lovely walnut wood just shouting out to be carved. I think the 'resolution' of my cnc should be just fine as it'll do down to 0.5mm fairly well, but the fact that wood warps due to varying moisture content afterwards is a problem. I'm still eager to try at some point though as I'm sure it would look great. Have been designing the 3d files in preparation so hopefully get something started soon.

Getting back to yours, I prefer the look of the rounded bottom right screen corner, but also like to use the full display size and not rely on overscan options. It just looks odd with a big black border inside the casing. Guess it's a bit of a catch 22 there. I figured it also looks better with a lighter coloured screen border, as I did a black one in one of my builds and it looked a bit odd, but you soon ignore that when gaming on a nice larger screen.

[solder]

Impressive work, good job :-]

iSP you mind sharing the model, would save me ALOT of time (cf my 3d print topic)
I understand when you prefer not to tho. Or make me sign an NDA ;P
If you're from EU i can offer highres 3D prints in exchange.