The Wii SPii
A Nintendo GBA SP inspired clamshell portable by StonedEdge
Worklog: https://bitbuilt.net/forums/index.php?threads/the-wii-spii.3347/
So here we are, my first post in The Cutting Edge, and my first ever portable on the forums designed by myself!
After 10 months of PCB failure, failing to enter the 2020 Summer Contest, the WiiSPii, my first ever self-designed portable is all closed up and fully functional (as at the time of this post!). I've been working on this for over 10 months, and it feels good to have made something I'm proud of and can keep forever (provided it doesn't break, I figured I better make this post quickly just in case so I can say it was working... I plan on open sourcing a lot of the case assets in the near future so that people can build their own. There is a few tweaks that should be made to the PCBs to improve ease of assembly. Safe to say this is not a beginner project (requires at least a LMAO trim plus soldering an entire AIO PCB to pull it off), but I'd like to see someone else have a go. I'm planning on making a YouTube video very soon, which I will post here once it's done. Look forward to that!
Internals:
The Wii SPii features:
- CNC acrylic housing, machined on a 3-axis CNC machine (thanks Dmcke5 for doing an amazing job)
- BBLoader v1.3
- AIO PCB, housing all components required to power a Wii portable
- 5v boost, 3v3, 1v8, 1v15 and 1v uSIP TPS regulator modules with inbuilt inductors
- Bluetooth module relocation
- MX chip relocation
- 3.5" VGA 640x480p panel with relocated xtals, powered on 5v, 3.3v and 1.8v
- U-AMP with modified code to allow for a potentiometer to control volume, full digital audio with no distortion
- External SD card for upgrading memory (256GB)
- USB data switching and USB-C PD (12V/2A, 9V/3A) - thanks Gman!
- Power management system with modified code for green power LED (red low battery) plus orange charging LED (turns off when fully charged)
- 2 x OEM GBA SP hinges
- Acetal machined triggers with hinge mechanism built into the shoulder buttons (no springs required)
- Full analog trigger compatibility, with 70 points of resolution on each side scaled to a 0-255 range (hall sensors/magnets)
- Full digital trigger compatibility (actuated using 1.5mm music wire)
- 2 x NCR18650Bs for 2.5 hrs of battery life
- 2 x 700mW speakers
- Full OMEGA trim, with relocated AVE, NAND and more - thanks to Yveltal for this!
- 2 x mounting posts w/ spacers for mounting OMEGA/LMAO to the front of the case
- Headphone jack
- Custom GBA SP logo
Special thanks has to go out to these members. Without each and everyone of you, this project wouldn't have been possible! Thank you to all the BitBuilt members for supporting me throughout the project.
- Dmcke5
- Bob (robetlong13)
- YveltalGriffin
- BocuD
A Nintendo GBA SP inspired clamshell portable by StonedEdge
Worklog: https://bitbuilt.net/forums/index.php?threads/the-wii-spii.3347/
So here we are, my first post in The Cutting Edge, and my first ever portable on the forums designed by myself!
After 10 months of PCB failure, failing to enter the 2020 Summer Contest, the WiiSPii, my first ever self-designed portable is all closed up and fully functional (as at the time of this post!). I've been working on this for over 10 months, and it feels good to have made something I'm proud of and can keep forever (provided it doesn't break, I figured I better make this post quickly just in case so I can say it was working... I plan on open sourcing a lot of the case assets in the near future so that people can build their own. There is a few tweaks that should be made to the PCBs to improve ease of assembly. Safe to say this is not a beginner project (requires at least a LMAO trim plus soldering an entire AIO PCB to pull it off), but I'd like to see someone else have a go. I'm planning on making a YouTube video very soon, which I will post here once it's done. Look forward to that!
Internals:
The Wii SPii features:
- CNC acrylic housing, machined on a 3-axis CNC machine (thanks Dmcke5 for doing an amazing job)
- BBLoader v1.3
- AIO PCB, housing all components required to power a Wii portable
- 5v boost, 3v3, 1v8, 1v15 and 1v uSIP TPS regulator modules with inbuilt inductors
- Bluetooth module relocation
- MX chip relocation
- 3.5" VGA 640x480p panel with relocated xtals, powered on 5v, 3.3v and 1.8v
- U-AMP with modified code to allow for a potentiometer to control volume, full digital audio with no distortion
- External SD card for upgrading memory (256GB)
- USB data switching and USB-C PD (12V/2A, 9V/3A) - thanks Gman!
- Power management system with modified code for green power LED (red low battery) plus orange charging LED (turns off when fully charged)
- 2 x OEM GBA SP hinges
- Acetal machined triggers with hinge mechanism built into the shoulder buttons (no springs required)
- Full analog trigger compatibility, with 70 points of resolution on each side scaled to a 0-255 range (hall sensors/magnets)
- Full digital trigger compatibility (actuated using 1.5mm music wire)
- 2 x NCR18650Bs for 2.5 hrs of battery life
- 2 x 700mW speakers
- Full OMEGA trim, with relocated AVE, NAND and more - thanks to Yveltal for this!
- 2 x mounting posts w/ spacers for mounting OMEGA/LMAO to the front of the case
- Headphone jack
- Custom GBA SP logo
Special thanks has to go out to these members. Without each and everyone of you, this project wouldn't have been possible! Thank you to all the BitBuilt members for supporting me throughout the project.
- Dmcke5
Helped me so much with this project that it wouldn't have been possible to achieve without him. He called me several times a week to help improve my CAD model, showed me tips on what was unlikely to work on a CNC machine and told me why it wouldn't work with examples. He then would answer all of my dumb questions on several occasions, whether it be with CAD or mechanical design in general. Not only did he suggest using the hall sensors, but he machined the entire case for me out of acrylic. What an absolute legend! There is probably more I am missing here, but I cannot thank you enough for all your advice and hard work. This is much your portable as it is mine.
- GmanListened to all of my questions on the Discord. I was able to learn a lot about C from just reading through your code and hope to be able to make more portables like you. Always have been an inspiration to me and got me into the hobby. This time, I can safely say I didn't clone any portable.
- AurelioFor helping me with just about everything. For open sourcing GC+ 2.0 and BBloader. He is always willing to help people build a portable and he always helped me where he could lend a hand. A big thanks to him and his knowledge and wisdom for making Wii portablizing so accessible to people like myself.
- Bob (robetlong13)
Bob, for having calls with me and helping me with the hysteresis code and showing me how easy it actually was to implement a pot with the U-AMP firmware. He always provides great explanations in detail about EE concepts for someone who is not overly quick at understanding
- YveltalGriffin
For providing me with an OMEGA trim to use in this project. I originally was going to use a LMAO as it would fit quite easily, but it died during the assembly so I popped it in there. Not only that, but Yveltal really helped me with my PCB layout and design all throughout this projects journey. He is a really nice guy and talented with PCB design. The PCB wouldn't be as nice as it was without his help.
- BocuD
For always showing me that I am an idiot and always making mistakes all the time, and for the general chats all throughout 2020 and 2021 as we built our portables together. He improves a lot quicker than I do, but I hope that the SPii can be even better after a few more revisions in the future, just like your Swiitch.
- NobbleFor printing me some buttons to use on his resin printer. I didn't end up using them in this project, but I do plan on making another, so they definitely won't be going to waste.
Random shots of the end build, in its current state:Attachments
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