Worklog Contest Entry "KoopaShell"

[Adam Hudson]

Currently Unnamed. Still coming up with one. This is my First Wii Portable. I've known absolutely nothing about creating a portable, and without the help of everyone on this forum I probably would still be in the dark. ITS ALMOST DONE, but I figured I would post a couple pics of some progress I've made with my case model. Pretty basic wii, technically it's a GC because I only created this to play GC games on, no wifi, BT. Hopefully my next one will be feature packed and super awesome, but for now I'm content with how this project is going.

"Features"
OMGWTF Trimmed 4Layer Wii
Custom Regs
2s2p 7.4v 6800 mAh 18650 batteries
5" composite Screen
Original GC Buttons
Led "battery" battery indicator
GC+
DS Sliders
3d printed Shoulder Buttons w/dual tact mod, and Spring mechanism
Volume + and - buttons
Custom 3d Printed Case
Rocker power switch
Tab/velcro designed battery covers

 

[DeoNaught]

Sorrynotsorrybut
I need m o r e p i c t u r e s

I love the Bowser, Big Fan of it

 

[Adam Hudson]

I'll take some more and upload them tonight. I like the fan cutout too, It was a breeze, lol. It actually was a pita. For some reason the boolean modifier I kept using to cut it out was screwing everything up for a while. I plan on sanding the edges slightly to get it a tad more rounded not much because I like the angles i wanted it to still look 3d printed like. I'm getting the front half printed currently once that arrives I'm going to fit test, and if all goes well print the second half. I'll have many more pictures once I get to the body work and painting of the case, and assembly. I probably could have made the case slightly thinner but I didn't want to risk having anything touching, and shorting out, my heatsink is rather tall as well making the thickness of the case about 50mm, roughly 2 inches. About 9 1/2 inches long, gotta check the Height again.. I plan on using an led to illuminate the bowser red or green to indicate charging or not charging. I'm also using springs in the L and R buttons but not too sure how that will work out or even if its necessary yet, we will see. I'm probably going to need to modify and tweak my case to get everything to fit right, as this is the first case I've printed. I did a test of the front face with the screen bezel initially and it was a tad too small, after making adjustments hopefully everything is to size. Fingers crossed. I'm using Shapeways to have my case printed, as i don't have a printer. Does anyone else on here have a recommendation for printing that would be a little cheaper? Its pretty pricey from them. Pix to come soon..

 

[GingerOfOz]

Drop a PM to @Matthew if you're looking for other options to get your case printed. He helped me print off my case for last year's contest and it went great.

 

[Adam Hudson]

 

[Nold]

Nice work so far! Did you model it in blender? if so, is it any good for modeling 3d prints like this?
My FreeCAD Project is broken again... <.< .... so i need an alternative for the next project(s)

 

[Adam Hudson]

Yeah I did it all in blender, which was a challenge compared to fusion360 or one of the more "proper" cad programs for 3d printing to exact scale but I already have been using blender for a long time so I made it work. The most annoying part was you have to make sure every mesh you add to the viewpoint is in the right scale, in this case I changed everything to mm, and cm. My caliper is mm so it worked out pretty good. I wanted to see the accuracy of the print so I printed the frontmost face of the portable with the screen bezel to test, and it came out .01mm accurate in relation to my model. I think this is the paint theme I want to go with, trying to choose "bowser-esque" colors. I also ended up 3d printing the GC buttons sadly for some reason my file didn't save when I edited the buttons for the original button guides so I ended up not wanting to do it again and just went with 3d printed ones, still gc shaped. I initially had a FFX themed Case that I modeled after the handle of Tidus' sword, but decided to not go with that because it's a wii portable lol. I'll save that for a Ps2 port. Which will prob be next...hopefully lol

 

[Adam Hudson]

Just wired up Audio, and I'm officially done! For now..until my case arrives, the only thing left to do is wire up the buttons once fit into the Shell. Hopefully I will be wrapping this project up in the next few weeks as its taking FOREVER to receive my order from Shapeways need a 3d printer..

 

[DeoNaught]

Damn, you did that in Blender? Fucking mad props to you good sir

 

[Adam Hudson]

Thanks

 

[Adam Hudson]

So my front half of my Case arrived today and I'm Super fng happy. I thought it came out awesome, it's a nylon plastic I believe from Shapeways. "Super strong and flexible" in white. Everything fits perfectly the screen fit amazingly, and all of the buttons, there's a little body work I need to do and expected some small imperfections with the surface due to my modeling errors but it will all come out with bondo and sanding. I cant wait to get the back half and start paint and assembly! Heres a couple pics of the front half

 

[MRKane]

Bit late here, but I've a lot of experience in creating 3D printable shapes in Blender

• Don't bother with setting any scales. When it comes to STL exports 1 blender unit = 1 mm
• Use the Blender 3D printing toolkit. The tools there are invaluable to getting a good result
• Try to use booleans in all cases for creating your shape as this will get around so many meshing issues

But all and all your final result there looks like a professionally constructed shell - I see absolutely nothing to fault! Top stuff!!!

 

[ThePuffpuff30]

I’m a massive fan of 10/10 cases.
This, sir, is a 10/10 case.

 

[DeoNaught]

I’m a massive fan of 10/10 cases.
This, sir, is a 10/10 case.

Yeah it's pretty cool... Blows me away

 

[Adam Hudson]

I'm actually anticipating getting the back half more than the front. Just got done tweaking the final touches and will have in printed in a few days or so, I should have it in a couple weeks. If all goes well the project should be done before the contest deadline. I just got my "A,B,X,Y" buttons put in, and the L, and R triggers worked out really well also. The dual tact came out perfect and I was able to implement the spring into the inner part of the trigger to keep pressure on it. I see a lot of people model a hinge for their triggers to rock on but I'm glad this method worked out. Just need to modify the D pad a little and get that in there along with the sliders, the sliders need a little washer put underneath them to get the joystick the right height, but it's not to big of a deal. All in I'm happy with how its progressing. I'll take some more pics tonight of the button progress. I ended up using the 3d printed ones instead of the original gc buttons. I'm using brass threaded inserts for the screw posts size M2 with 20mm M2 screws which I'm going to try to get in tonight

 

[MRKane]

That's sounding like you're making art there!!

 

[Adam Hudson]

Just got the brass screw post inserts in! It's coming along. I dont want to assemble to much because I do still have to paint I did a quick fit of the sliders and know what's needed for those, the d pad is being 3d printed with the back..I forgot to include it in this batch of parts

 

[Adam Hudson]

So update.....
.
Sadly I dont think I will be entering the contest this year. I can't buy the back half of my portable until next Friday and by the time I get it I'll have about 1 day to assemble and paint it. Highly unlikely I make the deadline...I would get it now but Its about 165 dollars not including shipping and I just cant afford to get it until I get paid again. FML

 

[GingerOfOz]

You should not be paying $165 for half of a case. That's ridiculous.

I'll look around and see if I can find someone willing to help you.

 

[Shank]

$165? Christ, thats insane. Whoever is charging you that much is WAY overcharging you. Thats only a few dollars in filament. I have a 3d printer (prusa mk3 specifically). Shoot me a message and Ill get the back of your case to you in time for the contest.