SNES themed Kite's Circuit Sword Lite build with no glue or tape

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Yawn
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SNES themed Kite's Circuit Sword Lite build with no glue or tape

Post by Yawn » Thu Mar 21, 2019 3:12 pm

Hi All,

I wanted to share my designs for a Kite's Circuit Sword lite build, using absolutely no hot glue, and no tape to hold things in place. It's all screws and bolts from here on in..! The drawback of this approach, of course has to be some extra fasteners, but I think these are quite unobtrusive in the final build, and I never have to worry about the glue wearing out in a year or so.

I wanted to keep my build as low-key as possible, so I went for a simple SNES theme. Here's the finished look:
Finished buildShow
IMG_0376 - Copy.JPG
IMG_0376 - Copy.JPG (1.72 MiB) Viewed 24076 times
Front view
IMG_0377 - Copy.JPG
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Top fasteners. I should have countersunk these a little more, but I lost my nerve.
IMG_0378 - Copy.JPG
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Back view. I'm still waiting for my YaYa design stickers to arrive :cry:
Build steps
Case after modificationShow
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Nothing particularly special, just some extra holes and countersinks where the screws that hold the bracket (and consequently the whole case) will go.
The screen and back buttons are held in by these brackets, which I designed in Fusion 360. The main difference in the screen bracket to others I have seen is the extra strength at the top of the bracket so stop it from bending, as the back of the case is held on by the bracket. You can also see the cut-outs for the nuts that my hex bolts will fit into.
I also paid a lot of attention to the button well design, so the pegs and support ridges match the original wells exactly.
Custom, glue free brackets for CS LiteShow
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Brackets and drill guides for best button placement.
IMG_0359 - Copy.JPG
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Captive nuts hide behind screen, and provide a secure hold.
Behind the screen fit captive nuts, which the hex bolts screw down into, to hold the entire case together. The screw posts on the left are specially designed to pass through the CS back board, so that it is supported at the correct height and held in place. The post itself continues through to mate perfectly with the back of the case. The back board is held in place by a single screw into the back button bracket, and these locator posts.
Screen and buttons in placeShow
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No need to cut the connective pads, they fit perfectly.
The back button bracket comes in two parts. The button well slots into place, and is a perfect press fit into the Deadpan Robot case. Again this has got pins to locate the buttons, as well as 5 pins that match up with Kite's back board to locate it in exactly the right place. The second bracket screws down onto the normal case posts, and that keeps everything firmly in place.
Back buttons going inShow
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First bracket holds the buttons.
IMG_0365 - Copy.JPG
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Second bracket clamps down. The back board is held in place too, and will be secured in place by the screen bracket.
Above you can also see the final bracket that holds the power switch in place. It has posts to hold the power switch board at a jaunty angle so that the board doesn't contact with the USB power connection on the CS lite. This is a picture of a slightly older version that didn't fit perfectly. The new version fits snugly around the screw post.
Ready to assembleShow
IMG_0366 - Copy.JPG
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Now it's just a case of screwing in the hex bolts.
I used M2 countersunk hex bolts, which I got a in a set of a hundred or so from Amazon. Luckily there were a number of lengths in the pack. I used...
  • Four 6mm bolts to hold the screen bracket.
    Two 10mm bolts for the top screws
    Two 12mm bolts for the middle screws
    And normal DMG screws for the battery compartment (although 8mm bolts seemed to also work)
Well that's just about it!

If anyone wants to use the Fusion 360 files or STLs, I'm sharing them here for free :D
Please let me know if you find them useful.
Yawn - Glue-free GBZ brackets.stl
STL with all the parts
(1.95 MiB) Downloaded 1782 times
The Fusion 360 files are in the thread below.
Last edited by Yawn on Fri Mar 22, 2019 4:18 pm, edited 4 times in total.

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VeteranGamer
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Re: SNES themed Kite's Circuit Sword Lite build with no glue or tape

Post by VeteranGamer » Thu Mar 21, 2019 4:51 pm

The build looks OK...

It’s a really interesting take....
If your happy with it, that’s all that matter....

Congrats...


.

FoRTu
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Re: SNES themed Kite's Circuit Sword Lite build with no glue or tape

Post by FoRTu » Fri Mar 22, 2019 5:49 am

Yawn wrote:
Thu Mar 21, 2019 3:12 pm
If anyone wants to use the Fusion 360 files or STLs, I'm happy to share them here for free :D
I like your back-buttons design. Could you share the Fusion 360 and STL files please? I think that is the best solution I have ever see, I would like to try your solution by printing some pieces on with my own printer.

Thanks! nice build, I like the SNES style!

Yawn
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Re: SNES themed Kite's Circuit Sword Lite build with no glue or tape

Post by Yawn » Fri Mar 22, 2019 3:41 pm

stevieboy84 wrote:
Fri Mar 22, 2019 2:03 am
Nice work. I think for aesthetics, I would maybe consider countersinking the front two screws and covering them with a custom logo or plate to maybe hide them a bit, but overall good job
Yeah, the screws are countersunk, they look a bit worse on the photo than in real life. On my second build, they look a bit better:
Yellow NA versionShow
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One for me, one for a friend.
IMG_0382 - Copy.JPG
IMG_0382 - Copy.JPG (1.53 MiB) Viewed 24075 times
Screws are actually flush at the front, so you could cover them.
I'm thinking of decals, but you get used to the screws pretty quickly. They hold it all together very firmly, at least.
Last edited by Yawn on Fri Mar 22, 2019 4:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yawn
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Re: SNES themed Kite's Circuit Sword Lite build with no glue or tape

Post by Yawn » Fri Mar 22, 2019 3:57 pm

FoRTu wrote:
Fri Mar 22, 2019 5:49 am
Could you share the Fusion 360 and STL files please?
I've attached the STL above, but I couldn't convince the forum system to accept the f3d files.
Ah, it looks like I had too many attachments maybe. I can attach it here:
Yawn - Glue-free GBZ brackets - f3d.zip
(1.02 MiB) Downloaded 1607 times
I tried to keep the time-line as clean as possible.
Enjoy!

dedmonds
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Re: SNES themed Kite's Circuit Sword Lite build with no glue or tape

Post by dedmonds » Fri Mar 22, 2019 8:48 pm

This is awesome.....great work

hurricane
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Re: SNES themed Kite's Circuit Sword Lite build with no glue or tape

Post by hurricane » Sat Mar 23, 2019 5:22 am

LOVE your bracket! If you could design a 6-button version and print one out for me I would love to pay you for your efforts. Again, GREAT JOB!

No Hands 55
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Re: SNES themed Kite's Circuit Sword Lite build with no glue or tape

Post by No Hands 55 » Mon Mar 25, 2019 2:37 pm

Man these brackets are just what im looking for! All the ones ive tried i had lots of small complaints with and this seems to solve them all! tempted to try and un-hot glue my screen bracket and redo it with yours. it would work without the screws and just normal glueing right?
SuperGameGirl Build:
https://imgur.com/a/KuBRE

Yawn
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Re: SNES themed Kite's Circuit Sword Lite build with no glue or tape

Post by Yawn » Tue Mar 26, 2019 4:27 pm

No Hands 55 wrote:
Mon Mar 25, 2019 2:37 pm
it would work without the screws and just normal glueing right?
Yeah, of course it would work with glue instead of the bolts. :lol:

The (invisible) captive nuts and bolts to hold the back shell to the front are probably worth keeping, if you have M2 nuts & machine screws/bolts. You can also cut off the top of the bracket a bit if you don’t need the top fasteners.

Cheers,
** Yawn **

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andershp
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Re: SNES themed Kite's Circuit Sword Lite build with no glue or tape

Post by andershp » Thu Mar 28, 2019 7:57 am

Could you share your STL files? :)
My "Bubble Bobble" Themed Bartop Arcade: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/107 ... cade-build

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