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

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

Post by Apis » Wed Nov 23, 2016 5:29 pm

Have you considered switching from a clip in battery panel to a slid in one? Maybe that will allow you the space that you want to free up.

Like in this image. http://worldwide.bose.com/productsuppor ... attery.gif

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

Post by iSP » Thu Nov 24, 2016 2:41 am

Actually I haven't and don't think It's needed as I don't require more space in that direction. Right now I'm on one of those 2-week trips to the other side of the country for work and can't post images now.

In short; I placed the battery compartiment as close to the edge as possible and in order to do that the bottom corners had to be rounded. As I'm not at home I can't show a close-up but if you look closely you can still see it in the bottom left corner.

Right now as soon as I get home I hope some packages are waiting for me with backbutton options and more. 1 backbutton option in particular is promising and there's enough space for those, no need for extra space. The (possible) problem with the space lays in the thickness and I'll only know for sure once the prototype has been 3D printed.

Don't expect to be able to show something anything new any time soon as I'm not at home, details take way longer and I've got about 50USD of parts coming in just to test and consider various things.

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

Post by iSP » Thu Dec 08, 2016 2:28 am

Small update:

The front case has been send to the 3D print service and with some luck the turnaround is within a week. It's probably not pretty but it's all about whether the parts fit and the studs and holes line up.

Also ordered some buttons weeks ago and still don't have them, as soon as I got those I'll have a look at the back buttons. I'd rather have premade ones than custom ones but if my current idea works either way is an option. Used to have stuff from China in 2 weeks and that has become almost 2 months lately... Don't know what has changed since x-mass was still far'ish away 5 weeks ago when I ordered. Would be nice to have everything before-mass.

So we'll see some first results soon.

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

Post by WLCD » Thu Dec 08, 2016 6:26 am

Hey iSP,

I don't know the question has been asked before, but do you plan on releasing the files on a STL repo of some kind, and if so, would it be free ?

I mean, I wouldn't mind to pay for the files and it would be very nice to be able to print the case on my own 3d printer :D

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

Post by iSP » Thu Dec 08, 2016 9:05 am

Hia!

Well I haven't decided on how, but I want to make the *case* available in some form, either physical or maybe as .STL.
There's a few thoughts I haven't decided on how to advance yet, and there's a few loose ends I still want to research.

1* Quality control; I want some sort of control over the final product quality and it needs to be on par with Chinese 3rd party cases at least. I probably can't get it perfect like the original case finish as injection molding is something that I can only achieve by a kickstarters or the like. The Chinese cases aren't perfect but they only show a minimal amount of imperfections. And for a kickstarters I'd need a team, probably.

2* I've been putting in quite a bit of money on just getting the parts on a not that great salary, and even while I don't need to recoup all (it's hobby after all) I might want to make some back. At the same time the price needs to be at some point it's still viable... that means I might only make a few € per case at most. So far I've ordered around 350 €/USD on parts, 2 times what I need to make a single GBZ and I haven't even gotten it all yet so there's more to add to that amount.

3* Also I got a production process in mind that's viable for sure and can be done at home, although it can be anywhere from 20 to 40 €/USD for a single case, I think and I'd need to make at least 50+ for sure. This is kind of labour intensive but it also offers me to possibly get a real nice finish and offer more colour variations including custom jobs... and with this experience I can also offer rubber buttons and the like which can now only be gotten from US stores with huge shipping costs. This is the best possibility so far.

4* I could make it available like through some makers service for a better print than a home printer... but they simply charge too much and I'm not sure of the result yet.

5* Maybe the most important one; I already know I can't make everyone happy, but I want to make as many people happy as can be. This may initially be offering pre-made cases and at a later point in time and when I can't make anymore money of it or for any reason else I might offer the files in some form, too. However I did promise to make some supporting prints like the internal screen supports etc free and available to all so you can at least print it cheap at home. You can hold me to that.


It's not that simple and I need to find some solution that works for me and most people. And I do know I might be occupied more than I wished for soon too as there's some talks about international research from the university involving me... time will tell I guess. But by all means present possible solutions and I'll have a look at them.

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

Post by iSP » Sat Dec 10, 2016 8:48 am

Image

Image

Not much to add, it had to be done some time and I had the time to do it now.
Maybe I'll just add those ribs like the original cover and back has.

Still waiting for the print to be ready, till then there's basically nothing I can do.

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

Post by HoarseHorace » Sun Dec 11, 2016 11:55 am

Are you interested in doing something like this with other cases? I can provide STL files, perhaps of a GBA case?

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

Post by iSP » Sun Dec 11, 2016 12:21 pm

HoarseHorace wrote:Are you interested in doing something like this with other cases? I can provide STL files, perhaps of a GBA case?
Not sure what you exactly want me to do, but you want me to edit existing .STL's?
Better make anything from scratch, but this project will already require a lot of time.
Also not sure what the demand is for GBA shells as there really isn't many PCB's yet for the GBA and none with extra buttons.
Besides this project will already cost me a lot in both time and finances.

But there's news son, so stay tuned =)

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

Post by HoarseHorace » Sun Dec 11, 2016 12:50 pm

iSP wrote:
HoarseHorace wrote:Are you interested in doing something like this with other cases? I can provide STL files, perhaps of a GBA case?
Not sure what you exactly want me to do, but you want me to edit existing .STL's?
Depending on what software you're using, STLs can give quite the shortcut in 3d modeling. It can save you quite a bit of time having to get proper dimensions off of something.

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

Post by iSP » Mon Dec 12, 2016 5:25 am

Huge Update: First 3D print prototype got in

Got this delivered today! They told me they had both good and bad news... but the bad news is actually good news to me.
They messed up using buildtak, a material for smaller prints, which is used to add friction to the heat bed... and it got stuck.
Why they decided to go with buildtak beats me but either way it got printed.
The only thing I wished for was white filament, but you can't be too picky if they go for whatever they have at hand if it's just a prototype.
So basically I got the first revision for free and another guaranteed print slot before x-mass! That can't be bad news, just means my first prototype looks like a mess;


Image
You see how the buildtak left a less than impressive surface to say the least, but not everything is bad! the speaker grill actually got printed right and it's not solid but you can actually look through the plastic, sweet!


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It actually fits the Chinese aftermarket case pretty well! Also you can see some files since I filed the case a bit to get an impression of how it should look like. Also the buttons don't really fit right away as the button holes became slightly narrower.


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The backside... the ultimaker 2 is actually a really decent printer for prototyping... the inner surface isn't bad at all. if you look closely you see I managed to break some pins while test fitting the board... those pins diameter became too wide too and needs modding.


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The Start/Select buttons needed some extensive filing, I got to make these cutouts a bit bigger. The D-Pad pretty much fitted right away but it can still use some extra margin. The A/B/X/Y buttons could use some of that extra margin as well, but with some filing they worked. Nothing that can't be resolved. The speaker corner worked out surprisingly well but the speaker I selected didn't fit... again the space became more narrow and needs about 0,4mm extra. This needs some work and could prove tricky.


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Just another overview.


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The screws fitted first time! I was kinda worried about that but it lines up perfectly well. The A button silicon pin needs a slight replacement as that caused some other pins to break... still a simple fix. The headphone jack works out really well but puts some tension on the board so I will slightly replace it.


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I really like the snug and flush look of the headphone jack! Due to the production process being used in 1989 they couldn't produce it like this. I think this is a fair improvement.


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This is how it looks fully assembled, a bit rough but it kind of does look like a gameboy already!


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And side by side!


Hopefully I get the next revision, and those #$@! buttons I ordered, soon!

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