Aran Wii Portable

[Wesk]

It's finally done!, who would have thought the part that took longest to arrive was a simple screen polarizer!?

I bring you the "Aran" Wii portable, this is my first portable console so I'm hoping to get a little more experimental in the future.

The case was designed and built from scratch using design cue's from Gingers "Loui" portable case.

SPECS:

• 2x Vibration motors for rumble.
  
• Bluetooth audio transmitter.
• PAM8803 audio amp.
  
• 4x 3400 Mah Panasonic batteries for approx 4-5 hours battery life.
  
• Gmans Wii PMS and USB-C board.
• Aurelios GC+ 1.0 controller board.
• 5-way tact/Joystick for screen and volume control.
• Joycon joysticks (Pulled from official joycons, the Chinesium ones on ebay gave me too many drift issues)
  
• 5" TN Screen - Matte polarizer replaced with gloss for a more vibrant look.
• ^ Get an IPS screen instead, something like an Eyoyo ^
  
• Painted and clear coated PLA case.

THE GOAL:

• To create a case that is simple to print and assemble.
• Have some modern improvements over most portables with rumble and bluetooth.
• Comfortable to hold, my hands cramp easily so having grips as part of the design was key.
• Keep design as clean as possible, 5-way tact was used to reduce amount of holes/buttons on the case.

VIDEO SHOWING RUMBLE AND BLUETOOTH:


BOM and 3d print files will be released in the coming weeks when guys like Noah have had a chance to make one and give me feedback to improve design.

Thanks to Aurelio and everyone else that assisted with my nagging questions on discord.

Feel free to ask questions, I'm sure I've missed plenty of information.

Also, probably won't be posting internals - the case hides my shame......

 

[Gman]

Beautiful

 

[jefflongo]

Wow extremely hot

 

[Timo43]

Nice portable! Gives me hope for when I finally start my own portable. What type of cooling system does it have? (If you don’t mind sharing)

 

[Wesk]

Nice portable! Gives me hope for when I finally start my own portable. What type of cooling system does it have? (If you don’t mind sharing)

It's pretty generic, just a 35x35x10mm blower style fan and heatsink. Pretty much identical to what you'd use in a G-Wii.

 

[StonedEdge]

Stunning work Wes, easily one of my favorite themed portables of 2019. The internal Bluetooth is really awesome as well.

Congratulations on the build!

 

[Stitches]

Words cannot describe how slick that thing looks. I love it!

 

[Wesk]

So after a few weeks of testing I've decided on a few changes:

1) TN panels are less than stellar for this type of use case, I will be replacing the panel with an IPS.

2) The shoulder buttons are ....fine... but they could be better, I made the internal tact mount to be modular so I'll make adjustments to them to hopefully get a nicer feel.

3) The Switch button layout just doesn't work for a few GC games so I've decided to change to a miniaturized GC layout.

 

[MRKane]

That design is transcendent and delightfully fitting!

 

[Shank]

100% Sexual

 

[Wesk]

So the updated Gamecube layout of the case is done. I've decided for the new version I'm going a Dark Samus theme with Darker colours and a blue glow.

The button layout feels a lot more natural and I have made improvements to the trigger mounts as they now feel more "sure" when pressed. I won't be completing the new model until Aurelios new LCD driver and GC+2.0 have released.

Another minor change is I've decided to use PET for the rear piece, not that there were any problems with the PLA piece but I have noticed the Bluetooth transmitter does get quite warm, I don't *think* it'll cause the rear of the case to warp over time but just doing it as a precaution.

 

[Nicholas298]

So the updated Gamecube layout of the case is done. I've decided for the new version I'm going a Dark Samus theme with Darker colours and a blue glow.

The button layout feels a lot more natural and I have made improvements to the trigger mounts as they now feel more "sure" when pressed. I won't be completing the new model until Aurelios new LCD driver and GC+2.0 have released.

Another minor change is I've decided to use PET for the rear piece, not that there were any problems with the PLA piece but I have noticed the Bluetooth transmitter does get quite warm, I don't *think* it'll cause the rear of the case to warp over time but just doing it as a precaution.

Hey Wes, would you be willing to let me use those GC face buttons on a portable I’m working on? Aka would you be willing to make them public? Btw love the look of this, Thanks!

 

[SuperSaiyanBird]

So the updated Gamecube layout of the case is done. I've decided for the new version I'm going a Dark Samus theme with Darker colours and a blue glow.

The button layout feels a lot more natural and I have made improvements to the trigger mounts as they now feel more "sure" when pressed. I won't be completing the new model until Aurelios new LCD driver and GC+2.0 have released.

Another minor change is I've decided to use PET for the rear piece, not that there were any problems with the PLA piece but I have noticed the Bluetooth transmitter does get quite warm, I don't *think* it'll cause the rear of the case to warp over time but just doing it as a precaution.

Wow it looks amazing! Very inspiring to me and motivates me! Thank you for that and keep up the amazing work!

 

[Wesk]

Hey Wes, would you be willing to let me use those GC face buttons on a portable I’m working on? Aka would you be willing to make them public? Btw love the look of this, Thanks!

The files will be available soon™

 

[The_Smeags]

Just stumbled across this
The 2nd rev is sweet, reminds of using 3rd party controllers in the sense of the button size, but I really love the vent layout especially the tiny holes nice one

 

[KaitoTV]

Looks so nice, what did you do finally with the BT transmisor?

btw, is it open finally?

 

[Wesk]

Looks so nice, what did you do finally with the BT transmisor?

The Bluetooth was used to transmit audio as shown in the video.

btw, is it open finally?

Oh yeah, she's open alright. I've pulled it apart to re-use parts on other projects. Unfortunately that's commonly the way things go with portables that aren't sold.

 

[StonedEdge]

The Bluetooth was used to transmit audio as shown in the video.

Oh yeah, she's open alright. I've pulled it apart to re-use parts on other projects. Unfortunately that's commonly the way things go with portables that aren't sold.

Really? That blows, I usually try my best not to re-use parts for other projects no matter how tempting it may be. I think Elchicogamerx might have been referring to whether the case is open source or not. Wesk hasn't released the files except to a select few people for refinement and testing. He did mention that he would be open sourcing the case files eventually though.

 

[KaitoTV]

Really? That blows, I usually try my best not to re-use parts for other projects no matter how tempting it may be. I think Elchicogamerx might have been referring to whether the case is open source or not. Wesk hasn't released the files except to a select few people for refinement and testing. He did mention that he would be open sourcing the case files eventually though.

Yes! that is what I mean, the case looks so good and I would like to test it

 

[Wesk]

Really? That blows, I usually try my best not to re-use parts for other projects no matter how tempting it may be.

I barely have enough use for a single portable, let alone multiple. I much prefer making portables than I do playing them.

Yes! that is what I mean, the case looks so good and I would like to test it

The files should be available very soon (for real this time)