PS2 Portable As Cheap As Possible

MRKane

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So I've asked for a little help pertaining to the PS2 portable that I've just finished, and it was suggested that I post here :)

Technically this isn't my first PS2 portable, but a re-case of one that went horribly wrong along the way, complete with hardware failures, faulty components, months of delays waiting on parts, more months waiting for the correct part to arrive after I was shipped the wrong one...I'm not going to post any pictures of what it was as I'm not proud of them, but we got there in the end! One thing that defines all of my hobbies is that I really, truly, don't have any money to spend if I want to keep the roof over my head and do things like eat.

Lets start at the end, paint job and assembled unit. It's a cheap 7" TFT backing screen, a netplay controller that was incomplete (and so I got it cheap), the chassis was an alarm clock, and the paint was left over from a contract I did.


So stories short I spent a long time mucking around with the guts of this thing as I had to wait for things like chargers to arrive, or audio amps etc. The one major hint I'd have for anyone is to shield your controller wires as I picked up a heap of interference through those but oddly none in the audio system. Everything did get glued and taped into place before final assembly but I prefer to photograph it breezy. I don't think there's much of a need to go into anything here as it's nothing we've not all seen done before, and better than I have.



Before everything got cut up and stuck together this was the "sizing" I did for the unit. The story here is that I spent months trying to manufacture a case but just couldn't get something to my liking. From lunchboxes through to project cases and cut up tupperware that was lying around the house. One day I cut a piece of cardboard which I figured was my minimum size and hit up the local shops. In theory this clock would work, and it also had room for 4x Size C batteries!


This is "normal" for everyone here isn't it? I'm not the only one forcing my partner to put up with having to hang her washing around bits of console? Seriously though I hated the moulding step as I'm a perfectionist deep down, and the curves had to be consistent, the lines straight and the imperfections removed.


Size Cs, irrespective of what the manufacture said about their batteries, didn't cut it. So after two months of waiting I switched to 26650s - because I had them on hand. Naturally my master plan of "26650s aren't too different from size Cs" didn't quite work (sizes are actually quite variable as it turns out) and soon there was more filling, and fixing and messing around.


But they worked! And it only took a week and a half of sanding, and crafting, and whittling, and gluing, and mounting...
In the future were I to make another one I might seriously consider something like a clock again as having battery mounts turned out to be seriously handy.


Finally a video, as I understand it speaks a thousand words at 25 frames per second:
 

Stitches

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It looks pretty good all assembled. How much did you end up spending? And what's the battery life like?
If you ever make another and want to use a 7 inch screen again, the L7009 from DX accepts component in for flashier display.
 

MRKane

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Thanks very much! It actually means a lot after all the troubles I've had with this thing.

I've not actually given it a full durability test, but all up it draws about 2.3A so should last over an hour and a half with the present batteries, although you can get larger. The only game I had on my USB was XGRA which kicked my ass for two races before I got disgruntled and put it down, concluding that making something portable didn't make me any better at playing it.

Pertaining to the screen: I really didn't think past "cheap" ($55NZD with postage), but the one you've noted there would have been a substantially better option although it looks to use a bit more of juice - I got that little TFT running on 6V 0.2A.

The final unit came to $161 NZD, but all up you could say $339, and most of that was because of the failures that came before it. It's the worst run I've ever had with anything actually, from project cases that weren't correct to measurements, to a 5800mAh lipo battery which arrived dead, and of course components just dying (things like battery connectors in the clock case rusting despite being only two weeks old) - there's a very long list of issues I had with this project, and every single one cost more money. I'm tempted to sell it out of spite actually.
 

fibbef

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This is "normal" for everyone here isn't it? I'm not the only one forcing my partner to put up with having to hang her washing around bits of console?
Meh. I had to hang a guitar body from the shower after painting.

The only game I had on my USB was XGRA
Dang. From your other thread I was going to guess one of the Wipeout games. They’re pretty similar, right?

Good work on the finished portable! Interesting choice in batteries, but really nice that you can swap them out.
 

Stitches

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Thanks very much! It actually means a lot after all the troubles I've had with this thing.

I've not actually given it a full durability test, but all up it draws about 2.3A so should last over an hour and a half with the present batteries, although you can get larger. The only game I had on my USB was XGRA which kicked my ass for two races before I got disgruntled and put it down, concluding that making something portable didn't make me any better at playing it.

Pertaining to the screen: I really didn't think past "cheap" ($55NZD with postage), but the one you've noted there would have been a substantially better option although it looks to use a bit more of juice - I got that little TFT running on 6V 0.2A.

The final unit came to $161 NZD, but all up you could say $339, and most of that was because of the failures that came before it. It's the worst run I've ever had with anything actually, from project cases that weren't correct to measurements, to a 5800mAh lipo battery which arrived dead, and of course components just dying (things like battery connectors in the clock case rusting despite being only two weeks old) - there's a very long list of issues I had with this project, and every single one cost more money. I'm tempted to sell it out of spite actually.
That's actually a really good end price for a portable. I've spent probably triple that on my current Wii project and I'm still not finished yet.
 

MRKane

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Meh. I had to hang a guitar body from the shower after painting.


Dang. From your other thread I was going to guess one of the Wipeout games. They’re pretty similar, right?

Good work on the finished portable! Interesting choice in batteries, but really nice that you can swap them out.
OH THAT IS BRILLIANT! All this time that I've spent stuffing around in alcoves made out of cardboard and that really is right on the money. I'm going to copy that!

And yes, Extreme G is very similar to Wipeout - and they're both punishing towards players.

I will add that batteries are a big thing for me. My job involves making equipment which gets used abroad and it's actually put me off using Lipos. I think if I make another I'll find a way to run it off of an external phone charging power bank or something.

Tell me Stitches: is that the total cost or the $161 you were talking about? Now that I've completed it I've been left wondering if there are ways that I could drive the price down to make one cheaper/better. I think I've been bitten by the bug I'm afraid.
 

Stitches

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OH THAT IS BRILLIANT! All this time that I've spent stuffing around in alcoves made out of cardboard and that really is right on the money. I'm going to copy that!

And yes, Extreme G is very similar to Wipeout - and they're both punishing towards players.

I will add that batteries are a big thing for me. My job involves making equipment which gets used abroad and it's actually put me off using Lipos. I think if I make another I'll find a way to run it off of an external phone charging power bank or something.

Tell me Stitches: is that the total cost or the $161 you were talking about? Now that I've completed it I've been left wondering if there are ways that I could drive the price down to make one cheaper/better. I think I've been bitten by the bug I'm afraid.
Total cost. Yeah it's an infectious bug I tell you. Sadly, it's hard to cheap out and still create a solid system that you're happy with.
 

MRKane

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The magic words I think are "that you're happy with" as this one is too large for my hands - even though I'm thrilled to have made it I'm still left wanting a better solution. I was working on a portable Raspberry Pi inside a Wii U gamepad at one stage (can anyone say "cakewalk"?) but have started to get ideas because the Wii U is perfect for me. I've seen it done inside a controller case so it must be possible. Perhaps over Christmas I'll clear my schedule for some tinkering :)
 

MRKane

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I actually watched one of his videos and he said "get the Netplay controller, it's the easiest way to make one of these". I was up to my elbows in issues with the knockoff controllers and thus purchased a Netplay controller. The rest is convergent evolution I suppose ;)
 
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