The DMGii

StonedEdge

a.k.a. ClonedEdge
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For this year’a contest, I am entering with my WiiBoy-esque portable! It is my first ever attempt at using CAD software to design a portable. The case is based on a DMG and has the exact same dimensions.

It’s going to have 3.5” VGA memes, a cool little battery cover and, since we are all still children deep down, a fully hand-painted Pikachu Pokémon theme for all those poke-dweebs still out there. I’ve always loved the series and it is one of the reasons I got interested in gaming. I’m bringing back my childhood!

I’m sure most people have seen it already, but here is a sneak peek of the portable and the design. Cannot wait to see the finished contest portables this year, and fingers crossed I can have something at the end of the contest I can be proud of and say I made myself.

Good luck everyone :)

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StonedEdge

a.k.a. ClonedEdge
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I plan on updating this thread pretty comprehensively throughout the contest so that you guys can all see my progress, even if the progress is pretty small. Little progress is better than no progress :p

There is 3 months roughly until the deadline, and with my job being pretty busy, I decided to dedicate June to finish the case, July to print, refine the case features and hand paint, and August for the assembly. I just recently purchased the YAEDONG 858D hot air station along with 5x PMS PCBs thanks to Gman that I will assemble and test in the upcoming weeks. I bought all of the components from Digikey and they should be arriving in the next couple of days. I will populate all 5 boards with the components to use in future projects =D one thing I was annoyed about was that my hot air station cost me the equivalent of about 55USD here in Japan which is pretty poopy, considering it’s almost half the price in the US :(

I know I know, not major progression has been made but I am pretty happy with how the battery compartment turned out. I need to create the clip for the battery cover now and then the battery holder part of the case will be done, which is great. As for the battery pack, I created little brackets where I can just slide in the battery clips with essentially a friction fit method. I might have to apply a tiny bit of glue on the inserts where the clips slide in so that they are securely in place, but I gave myself a tiny bit of offset so that they should fit snug. I also split the face of a square extrusion in the shape of an 18650 battery in the back of the compartment, so that the batteries will not roll around and will sit securely. I made two small round extrusions in the back half so that I can run wires through from the back to the PMS which will be housed using 4 screwposts just above the L/R trigger custom PCB (also for Z button which will be 3D printed). I changed out the GC logo since I just didn’t think it looked that great, and went for a standard round design with 4 prongs for the fan vent.

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The L/R triggers will be printed separately and glued on to the back of the case so that I can print the back side face down.

That’s all for now! It’s all coming along pretty nicely, and I have two trimmed Wii OMGWTF trims that have been successfully tested and working with Bluetooth/MX relocations performed. I thought about doing an OMEGA so that I could fit 4 batteries, but the smaller 3.5 inch screen, as well as increased efficiency thanks to the SMD reg board means I can get a decent battery life with 2 cells anyways. Work is getting in the way of the project slightly but I hope to have a test print done in the next couple of weeks followed by an official prototype in the next coming month. Looking forward to seeing how my tests prints turn out!

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StonedEdge

a.k.a. ClonedEdge
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Just a quick update post here to keep track of progress so I don’t forget where I’m at. The contest deadline keeps creeping up every day and I feel like I’m not going to make it, but will keep pushing forward to deliver the memes!!

I soldered together a Gman PMS board using a stencil and hot air. My first one went terribly since I wasn’t using the stencil correctly and trying to hold it down onto the board with my hand. Definitely take a few minutes and tape down the stencil to the table with sticky tape. I’d also recommend to use the other PCBs that come with your manufacturer if you ordered more than one to surround the board you’re working on so that the stencil doesn’t flex on the sides and create air gaps between board and holes (I learned this the hard way as there was way too much solder paste on each of the pads resulting in IC bridges galore) After a second attempt and inspecting each of the IC pins, there seems to be bridges where necessary and none where I don’t need them.

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I am also working on a USB-C PD Data Multiplexer PCB that will be identical to the one in Gman’s WiiBoy Rev 3. I want to thank him for open sourcing his code for programming the IC registers and allowing the BitBuilt community for being able to implement amazing features like this one into portables. I have to put the USB drive on the back of the board, but this will be a 2 layer board. Huge shoutouts to @Postman for giving me a 15 page report on my first original PCB design. He gave me pointers on what to fix and taught me the basics of PCB component placement and routing so a big thanks to him. Also @BocuD for the late night messaging and advice. It’s a weird shape but it will fit perfectly around the screw posts that secure the Wii to the back of the case. The pictures below are of the first revision, so please ignore the terrible vias everywhere. I will update this when I have finished the PCB.

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Finally, we have some nice memes of the first revision of the case (printed on my Ender 3). The final case will be printed by shapeways with the SLS printing technique, but it’s nice to have the printer to make revisions of the case and see if things all fit, of which you can see, the batteries fit nice and tight!! Just need to fix the battery compartment as it wasn’t deep enough to close the battery clip. Will finish this clip design in the next week or so.

more memes to come ;) hoping to finish before the deadline! I’m also going to be custom moulding my own DS lite ABXY buttons and dpad to match the paint finish with resin and sparkly things. Stay tuned.

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StonedEdge

a.k.a. ClonedEdge
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Deadline intensifies.

More smexy CAD pics.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


Last thing to do is the battery clip mechanism, and then it's off to Shapeways!
Will he make the contest?
Probably not lmao. :P

Good luck to all those involved. I have ordered the PCB's and am in the process of assembling. I wanted to make my own audio amplifier PCB based on the LM49270, but I don't think I am going to get time. Good luck to all those finishing off the last part of their builds!

Complete Front.PNG


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EDIT: PCBs came in! Only now to put them together now to probably find out that they probably don’t work lol.

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StonedEdge

a.k.a. ClonedEdge
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PCBs, PCBs, and more PCBs!


:D:D:D

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Pre-assembly mandatory “noods”
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BocuD

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Damn this is some neat shit
I know how much time these boards have taken you from discord DMs lol, so i hope they end up working correctly!
Even though its a knock off it looks really good lmao, almost as good as an Original Gman a "real" WiiBoy rev3 :P
Looking at my (and other peoples) projects you might have more of a chance of finishing in time then most :P. And since this is actually a new project (hi ginger lmao) you might have my vote
 
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StonedEdge

a.k.a. ClonedEdge
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Hi all, quick update.

Unfortunately making the contest by the deadline has proven to be too much for myself to handle - literally got gastro bug last week and was stuck in bed for five days straight which made it really difficult to progress on this thing. Since the case is going to be professionally done via the Shapeways SLS printing technique, I am going to have to wait a few weeks to get the case printed and then wait for shipping, as well as shipping on the little dual actuator tact switches from Europe, so I am out of the contest, but I will definitely finish this thing before the end of September (well on the way now!)

In more positive news, I am really proud that my USB-C PCB with Data Multiplexing "board" appears to be working, which is really just unbelievable to me for some reason lol :o happy to see a project that I worked on in Eagle come to life and not cause any boom. Big thanks to the following guys for helping me out with that: Gman (for releasing his code to program the STUSB4500 IC registers and his awesome blog helping me out), Postman (for literally taking the time to write a 15 page guide on good PCB design practices like routing, layers, part placement etc) and BocuD (for providing moral support when things just were going shit lol)

I have not fully tested all of the features yet since I do not have a USB-C to A adaptor to check if the multiplexer functions are working correctly, but the USB is receiving a stable 5V input which is nice. Also, the STUSB is outputting a solid 12.2V which means its negotiating over I2C with Gman's microcontroller on the PMS. At first I was wondering why the hell it was negotiating 20V over VBUS but realized I had fucked up the soldering of the resistors arrays on the PMS - the STUS also resets itself to 20V configuration if the VBUS/VSYS lines become disconnected in any way - noticed I had shitty solder joints on the VSYS line). Big thanks to Gman and Aurelio for fixing that for me :D

Well, everything appears to be going decently well. I did lift a pad on the 1V reg IC PMS which is a real shame since now I'll have to move all of the parts to a new PCB. I would not recommend soldering up one of these boards as a beginner, it's a real headache given the amount of ICs. I might even just buy one to say thanks to the BitBuilt team for all of their support.

Will continue to push onwards and upwards towards my personal goal of finishing this thing before the end of September. After that, I plan on studying for the USCPA, as well as making something similar to the GS2 since I think having a PS2 portable would be fricken sexy.

Thanks!!

Testing out the battery clip mechanism (the batteries just fit, a bit squishier than I had hoped!)
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Bought the S2 Kingston reader instead of the out of stock Samsung 3.0 FIT drive. Was wondering how to implement this solution and then DeoNaught made me look like an idiot by telling me that I can just "plug it in" lol
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Perfect "purple" PCBs
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12V baby!
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Progress. The battery clip will clip in nicely and is going to take insipiration from the original GameBoy Zero clip. This is almost finished. Just need to print and test that the plastic gives enough flex when clipping/unclipping. Excited to see how this turns out.

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StonedEdge

a.k.a. ClonedEdge
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Quick update to above:

Unfortunately, I can not seem to get the data lines to switch the hosts between the USB device. Well, that’s not entirely correct. The TS3USB mux switcher appears to be doing its job, receiving a stable 3.3v from the LDO and switching the data lines to the Wii when the battery management system is turned on. I just cannot get access to the data stored on the Kingston reader as the PC is not even recognizing the device. The multiplexer is working as this was verified with a multimeter. The only two issues I can think of at this point are:

1) There is interference coming from the ground plane and/or voltage lines on the board (I have routed the data lines going to the USB-C port under the 5V bus line)

2) The fact I’ve forgotten to connect A6 with B6 and A7 with B7 on the following schematic, resulting in the cable only working when being plugged in a certain way. I am using a basic USB-C to A adapter, and I am not sure if this would affect the orientation of the plug and the resulting data lines.

Well, here at the schematics for the board. I’ll keep trying to troubleshoot this for a few days, otherwise it’s back to the drawing board for me to make the data lines a hell of a lot shorter and of equal impedance.

Thanks all!!

USB-C connector: Forgot to connect A6 to B6 and A7 to B7 for reverse orientation of the plug for data.
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3.3v LDO powering the TS3USB data mux.
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The TS3USB data mux for switching data between the Wii and the computer.
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Routing on the top layer from data lines to USB-C port. I tried to keep them as close as possible - they’re not perfectly of same length but very close.
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Orientation of chip - same as above (just in case lol)
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I have just uploaded these for completeness and to keep track of where I am at! If any EE gurus notice anything shady let me know!

Oh, and here’s the little USB - A adapter I bought for 5 bucks.

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:)
 

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StonedEdge

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Sorry for the lack of updates everyone recently. I have been working on this and constantly thinking about it despite not posting for a good 3 months. I have just moved into my new place in Japan and been getting set up, but I am almost ready to start the official build as the case work is pretty much all finished now and the PCBs are on their way as well. I know this is very similar to a WiiBoy, but I wanted to put some sort of spin on it to make it feel somewhat different. As you can see though, it is inspired by Gman's build of course.

I wanted to theme this portable in some way or another, and I decided to make it like an original DMG Gameboy. To achieve the aesthetic, I have got Nobble helping me out with some molded ABXY "DMG colored" burgundy ABXY buttons which look absolutely amazing. I also wanted this to look as official as possible from the outside to make up for my spaghetti on the inside, so I have ordered a custom glass bezel from bluishsquirrel. His original business idea is to make custom laser printed designs that are used on DMG/Gameboy Zero glass, and I asked him to custom print me a glass bezel that will fit the 3.5" screen I am using and he gladly accepted which is brilliant. Finally, some water slide decals will be added for the original Nintendo Gameboy logo and A B X Y buttons. I also finished the battery clip and it works really nicely, I am really proud of the way it turned out. PLA probably isn't the best for flexing, so I plan on printing this either in nylon or ABS. I will upload a video of the nice click once I find it on my phone somewhere...

Unfortunately the real glass has not arrived yet, but I have some CAD pics to show what I hope the final case will look like. I also just ordered a Prusa Mini so that's pretty neat
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Next post should be hopefully in The Cutting Edge! For now though, here is the final aesthetic (not sure whether to go for Black or Original DMG Gray just yet, open to opinions). Well, I didn't make the contest which was my original goal, but with work and stuff I've been pretty busy but trying my best to get something out there. After this portable is done I plan on trying to learn a little bit more about PIC programming and C (will take a little break from building consoles for the time being!!) I know that everyone has the WiiBoy fever after Shankapalooza so this might not excite anyone, but here it is :P

Front case with original colored DMG switch buttons molded by Nobble. Custom glass bezel by Bluishsquirrel.
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Nobble really has worked hard to perfect the buttons for me, going through several iterations to try and get the best match. I am really grateful and owe him big time. Will send Japanese tasty memes for sure.

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Buttons molds and a bunch of Cartboy memes ready for all of his fanboys.

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DMG inspired back half with snap back door and battery clips.

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StonedEdge

a.k.a. ClonedEdge
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Fellow BB comrades,

I have been hard at work over this weekend to get the case ready for building, and I’m chuffed with how the case has turned out after the hours of sanding, tweaking and bondo-ing my way to glorious victory. Strap yourself in!

First I really wanted to get the battery cover down to feel as OG as possible to the real DMG. To do this, I did several iterative test prints to make sure that the teeth of the groove in the back case would successfully grab to the clip on the back battery cover. At first, the “gripping” point was much too high, which resulted in the back cover falling out. I adjusted the teeth on the back of the case as well as the grooves on the cover until I got something I was happy with. I also edited the overall thickness of the cover so it didn’t stick out too much.

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After getting something that I was happy with, I moved on to doing the casework preparation which is apparently “relaxing” according to my good friend Wesk. Unfortunately sanding the DMG grooves in the back case isn’t an easy task. I ended up folding the sandpaper in half and then painstakingly sanded each groove. Never. Again.

Here was my painting prep process. The end result is always so rewarding, but the process is always a pain in my anal region.

Step 1:
Apply thicc primer to fill holes and lines creates from the FDM printer. Add a cheese foot for added effect.

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Step 2:
Apply Bondo (Glazing and Spot Putty) to fill any of those stubborn pinholes, gaps or areas that the primer can’t get to. I really like the glazing and spot putty stuff. It dries really quickly and is so easy to sand. Its hard to get my hands on it so I ordered some from the USA.

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Step 3:
Wet sand the bastard until it’s smoother than a baby’s backside. Repeat step 2 and 3 until a desired finish is achieved. Took me about 3-4 layers of bondo and priming application to get it smooth. Gave my baby a bath.

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Step 3.5:
Compare to a G-Wii for a sense of scale. Really nice and should fit in my back pocket easily.

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Step 4:
Apply a liberal yet light coating of primer for painting. Make sure to apply it thinly so that it doesn’t run. Enjoy a hot coffee.

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Step 5:
Paint. I used MR. HOBBY’s primer and filler and then used Tamiya “Metallic Black” spray paint for plastics. When you use a metallic paint it’s really easy to spot the imperfections, so make sure you’ve done the prep work properly. I applied 3 thin coats, waiting 15 minutes between each coat. Full coverage was achieved on the final coat.

Step 6:
Apply sexy glass bezel for the 3.5 inch 240p VGA screen. I wanted to go for maximum aesthetics (and to somehow not end up cloning Gman 100%) so I added this. Turns on the radius of the bottom corner was 12.5mm. After a bit of pythagoras and help from Alec I was able to figure this out. I thought this picture looked really nice with the Wii inside.

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Step 7:
Enjoy your work! It turned out really nice and professional in my opinion. Grab your parts and get ready for a great weekend of modding. Can’t wait to play this one! Enjoy the pictures guys, and thanks so much for introducing me to this hobby. I really have enjoyed myself so far, there’s never enough time left to do anything else these days, hehe. It’s really nice to have a personal hobby that’s outside of the work space, particularly in Tokyo where it can get lonely-ish at times. I also bought myself a PIC development board to learn how to program microcontrollers, which I have enjoyed so far. Flashed an LED, there’s always a beginning I guess!

Pictures below. Hopefully will put this together next weekend. Got all of the parts collected (USB-C board not pictured here). Stay tuned friends!

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StonedEdge

a.k.a. ClonedEdge
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Soon... ™
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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