Worklog My attempt at making a gamecube portable

[juankamq]

I know, I know. A wii is better and all that... I have about 3 gamecubes with a broken laser, 1 dol 001 and 2 101.
I built a really really bad gamecube portable back in 2011 I think, when the modretro forums were still alive and it came so crappy that I didn't forget it.

Anyways here I am 12 years later , once again trying to create a more refined gamecube portable with a bit more money and knowledge.

Requirements:
AlmostWTF cut
4.3 TFT screen from ebay (the regular backup camera screen)
Nintendo Switch buttons and joysticks
Single circuit board for power (1.9v and 3.3v)
Single circuit board for controllers and audio
18650 batteries and BMS (i'm happy if it gives me 1 hour of play time)
Picoboot
3D printed case

 

[Goodie175]

I think its totally doable. I was starting this as well but accidentally sent the wrong voltage to my 3.3v line an nuked the GC motherboard. The downside of using the GC motherboard is battery life and size but if you can get past that I see no problems with making it.

 

[juankamq]

I think its totally doable. I was starting this as well but accidentally sent the wrong voltage to my 3.3v line an nuked the GC motherboard. The downside of using the GC motherboard is battery life and size but if you can get past that I see no problems with making it.

I've done that a couple of times lol and I don't care about battery life. It's just a fun project.

Today's update:
Started looking around to which components i'll be using and I have most of them ordered.
1.9v reg - OKL-T/6-W12P-C Murata Power Solutions - 4.5-14V input, 0.591-5.5V output @6Amps
3.3v reg - Cheap and tiny DC-DC converter from aliexpress - 4.5-24V input, 1.8V, 2,5V, 3.3V, 5V, 9V, 12V output @3A
Batteries - Samsung INR18650-35E x2 3500mAh each
BMS - 2s @10A from aliexpress
Display - 4,3 inch TFT from ali
Fan - 12v 40x40x10mm used on 3dprinters, hopefully can run on lower voltages
USB-C port (for charging only)
JK FlipFlop (i'll attempt to power on and off the portable with a single tact switch)
ISL22511 - digital potentiometer that only requires 2 switches (for audio)
PAM8403 as audio amplifier
Switch buttons
Switch joysticks
And other miscellaneous tact switches and connectors for the joysticks

It'll take a while to have all that in my hands, in the meantime i've started designing everything I already have in fusion360 so I can have a basic layout for the case.
Components I have:

This is what I came up with:


It's only 119mm or 4.68 inches, which is pretty small

 

[juankamq]

This weekend I started playing around in fusion360 to make a case. this is what I came with:
Front:

Back:

Complete:

3d printed without the front holes for size reference

I'm liking it so far

 

[Goodie175]

Looking good so far can't wait to see the final result!

 

[juankamq]

Today I started reverse engineering the original controller to relocate it to another board. I'm pretty much new to pcb design and kicad so it's taking me quite some time.

I think I have the very basics to make the controller work, here are some screenshots:
Schematic:

PCB layout:

PCB 3D Front:

PCB 3D Back:

This is pretty much a mockup and won't be final. I'm still missing a lot of components and i'll continue with this once they arrive

 

[juankamq]

The DC-DC converter I ordered for the 1.9v arrived, I was doubting it could power the gamecube for such a small thing.

Rigged a quick test and it's working perfect, please ignore the messy wiring

If you would've told me this tiny thing could produce 6 Amps or at least 3 to power the gamecube, I wouldn't believe you

 

[Stitches]

Dat boi smol

 

[Adan]

ₛₘₒₗ

 

[Adan]

your case looks like a w i d e gameboy and it's great!

 

[juankamq]

Hello everyone. Today I wired up a microSD card and RPI2040-Zero for picoboot.

After messing around with it for around 2 days with what I tought was wrong wiring with the micro SD. Turned out I was using a wrong pin for picoboot GP4 lol.

Wiring for the microSD goes straigth of the CPU pins for SD2SP2.

Ignore the lines in the screen, i'm not using shielded cable.

Still waiting for my package from china, apparently delivery couldn't find my address

 

[Stitches]

he long

 

[juankamq]

Hello everyone. Quick status for my portable

I finished the design for the power board, it takes 8.4v from the BMS and takes it down to 1.9v and 3.3v, It also has a JK flip flop so I can power up the unit with a single tact switch.

Components needed:
Tact switch (connected to BTN1 and BTN2 terminals)
OKL-T/6-W12P-C for 1.9v
4.7kOhm resistor for the reg
This cheap DC-DC converter for 3.3v, it gets connected in the 4 pin header
HEF4027B-Q100 Dual JK Flip-Flop to toggle the ON/OFF pin of the regs
SMD 1k resistor as pulldown


I also added a bunch of pads for convenience

Front:

Back:

As for the controller side; I have mostly designed too, but I haven't received the connectors for the switch joysticks and I can't tell the position yet. I'll be sharing that soon

 

[juankamq]

Welp, mi
y stuff from china finally arrived and everything seems Ok.
Iv'e wired up a nintendo switch joystick to an original gamecube controller, unfortunelly there's where my luck ended. The Y axis is inverted while the X axis works fine.

Will investigate and try to find a solution for this.

 

[juankamq]

Quick update... I ordered some 3ds sliders from china, should arrive soon.

I also finally figured out the trigger assembly, I'll be using dual tact mod for L&R. Here are some pictures:

I've also assembled a power regulator, and worked great:

More updates coming soon...

 

[juankamq]

Hello everyone, it's been a long time since I posted an update.

Yesterday I received the 3ds sliders and tested them on an original controller, they worked perfect.
I updated my 3d to accept these sliders, here's a preview:

Then I 3d printed it and mocked up everything on the front:

I'm liking it a lot so far...

I've also ordered the pcb for the controllers and audio from JLCPCB, let's see how long they take to arrive, this is how it ended up:

 

[thedrew]

Great worklog, really nice to see the GC get some love these days!

 

[juankamq]

Hello everyone, I have a quick update.

I've wired up everything in the back case to test all the components together (except from the controller board) and it's working. I might have to increase the voltage of the fan, it's running at around 48 degrees and at that temperature it starts to consume a lot more power. Also I think i've messed up the via's for the memory card, it worked at first, but didn't worked after rewiring multiple times (it's not a blocker, i'm not a huge gamer).

Here's a teaser:

Next up is waiting for about a month to receive the controller board.

 

[CrashBash]

I really like how it looks! What's the dimensions of it?
We would have killed for a portable like this back in the day.

 

[juankamq]

I really like how it looks! What's the dimensions of it?
We would have killed for a portable like this back in the day.

It's pretty small, about 4.5 by 5 inches