Worklog Kill Mii (Altoids Tin Portable)

Shank

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Small update:
Screen:
-Screen is likely a dud. Adafruit customer support blows. Would not recommend. Will update if that changes.

Updated case layout. Picture below. Left is component outlines, and right is the holes that will be cut
Screen Shot 2017-05-05 at 1.58.57 AM.png

-Volume tact switches are being moved to the side to make more room for LCD ribbon cable.
-Tact switches spread apart to allow half to be rotated and ground legs all soldered together, so only 1 ground wire is needed per cluster.
-Swapped to a thinner fan that'll give me more room. Thanks @Spencer Richardson for the sweet recommendation.
-Increased screen cutout to include black "inactive" part of the screen.
-Probably not the FINAL layout, but getting closer.

Electronics:
-Most parts came in the mail already
-Ready to go pick some parts up from mouser. Just have to pick out a tiny SPDT power switch capable of 2a...
-Nand relocation is hard as ballz. @Gman and I came up with an idea, then coated it in memes. Waiting on the package.

Stickers:
-Vinyl decals work great as stencil stickers.
-They look cool too. Stuck one on my laptop. May be willing to ship some out to people after I finish if people want one.

Altoids tin:
Cutting a hole in an altoids tin is easy. Cutting a clean hole without utterly deforming it is way, way harder than I expected it to be. The material is hard enough to not bend the way you want, but malleable enough to bend when you don't want it to. Drill bits blowout and deform, even with wooden support blocks behind it. Larger drill bits cut fold and tear it to shreds. Dremel doesn't play nice either. The corrugated letters make supporting it from behind properly nearly impossible, and hammering them flat leaves the tin with a wobbly convex shape. I have a few ideas ready though, and will be posting them once I test them, but will be going through several tins to get this done right. Life would be so much easier if I had access to a 4000w laser.

On an unrelated note, anybody like Altoids?
12Iv80x.jpg
 

GingerOfOz

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I have access to a laser. You'd have to make some sort of file in some sort of software. I'll talk to my teacher who runs it, and see what he says if you're really interested.
 

Shank

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I have access to a laser. You'd have to make some sort of file in some sort of software. I'll talk to my teacher who runs it, and see what he says if you're really interested.
I have access to several professional industrial laser cutters, but they are 50 and 100 watt lasers. The issue is I need a laser that can cut through steel, which would need to be several thousand watts, like a fibre laser. If its one of those, shoot me a PM and I would totally be down to have you cut it, but that would be a beast of a cutter.
 

ttsgeb

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The obvious solution is to make a perfect model of the inside face of the lid, and then 3d print it and use that as a backer block for cutting everything out with a drill and a cold chisel.
 

Shank

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The obvious solution is to make a perfect model of the inside face of the lid, and then 3d print it and use that as a backer block for cutting everything out
That was originally the plan, but that won't work because the plastic is too soft, and isn't strong enough to keep the metal from blowing out. Blowout isn't like most cases, because the force it takes to remove the blown out bits is more than the force it takes to deform the case, thanks to your newly drilled weak points. It ruins the holes.

Another plan was to use a laser on raster settings to etch away the surface of hardwood to make a match, but getting the right depth using that would be quite a challenge. The amount of thought and engineering I have put into this stupid little project is stupid.

I think I have found a much easier way to make a much harder and more perfect mold of the inside. Ill post results once I finish testing it out.
 

ttsgeb

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The plastic should be plenty stiff so long as you aren't going crazy with the drill. Small bit, light to medium pressure, rather than worrying about deburring immediately, wait until you've made all your cuts with the cold chisel.
If the plastic turns out to definitely not be stiff enough, use it to make a mold for casting a stiffer material, like maybe aluminum or a stiff resin or some junk.
 

Madmorda

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So that's what those mints were about lmao. I was wondering but too afraid to try them without knowing what they were XD

Is there any chance you could just sand a hole in the case with your dremel instead of cutting?

On another note, why does everyone have a laser but me? I need a laser lol
 

Aurelio

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So that's what those mints were about lmao. I was wondering but too afraid to try them without knowing what they were XD

Is there any chance you could just sand a hole in the case with your dremel instead of cutting?

On another note, why does everyone have a laser but me? I need a laser lol
Look for a fablab at your university, they usually have laser cutters available
 

Shank

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Forgot to post a picture of the stencil. Vinyl stickers are dirt cheap and have a slight elastic-ness to them, which helps it stay aligned over the wobbly surface. This sticker will be used as a template for cutting/drilling the holes.
20170508_185206.jpg
 
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Noice man! I can see why you named it KillMii LMAO
 
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Aren't you worried about the vinyl stretching and things being inaccurate? Maybe it doesn't matter and is my inner perfectionist coming out with that concern, but just a thought.
 

fibbef

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Will this be painted once complete or are you going to leave the face saying "ALTO" when it's done?
 

Shank

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Aren't you worried about the vinyl stretching and things being inaccurate? Maybe it doesn't matter and is my inner perfectionist coming out with that concern, but just a thought.
The vinyl has some elasticity to it, but its not "stretchy." It takes a bit of force to stretch it. I align the edges, and when I press down hard, it pulls over the letters. The template is just for lining up the holes, so even if the circular holes are stretched to oval shaped (which they arent), my tools are still round.
Will this be painted once complete or are you going to leave the face saying "ALTO" when it's done?
-Body made from an Altoids tin. It will not be painted, and will look like an Altoids tin.
This project is for the sake of putting it in an altoids tin. The more it looks like an altoids tin, the better. And yes, based off the current cut, it will say "ALTO" on the front, which is coincidentally spanish for "stop"
 

Aurelio

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The more it looks like an altoids tin, the better. And yes, based off the current cut, it will say "ALTO" on the front, which is coincidentally spanish for "stop"
It means "tall" :D
 

fibbef

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Amigos...


It means stop and look at Shank's wizardry.
-Body made from an Altoids tin. It will not be painted, and will look like an Altoids tin.
I did read the first post, honest. Chalk it up to a blown mind.
 

ShockSlayer

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Listen to the tin.
 
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My body is ready!
 

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Shank

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Finally heard back from AdaFruit customer support today. All I had to do was email them, post to their forums, wait a week, post again saying I was planning on doing a chargeback, tweet at them linking to the thread, and email again to get a response.

Cutting clean holes in an altoids tin still persists to be a challenge. I want it to be super clean, but may just have to settle for less-smooth cuts if none of my ideas work.

Powered the Wii off of a single tiny lipo using a tiny board from a portable charger. I was pretty sure it would work, but now I have confirmation. The battery, portable charger circuit, regulators, USB port, and power switch are all wired up.
 
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