Worklog PSXp (A playstation 1 portable)

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Hello everyone,

I've been using bitbuild for a long time to familiarize myself with the modding scene, i made a couple of projects before using raspberry pi before but decided not to make a big deal out of it since it's fairly common. lately I've been working on a playstation one portable since i played it a lot in my childhood, even though i could emulate it on many consoles, it's just too dear to me to not make a project out of it, so that is the inspiration behind this project.

I used a measurement tool to calculate all the measurements needed for the project since i couldnt find ps1 dimensions in the internet, and i used Fusion 360 to turn them into 3D models, and then print the parts using Creality3D cr-10S pro.

one thing to note is that I'm starting this worklog midway through my project, sorry about that since i didnt think about making a worklog at first, and this is my first worklog ever.

Parts:
SCPH-101(Playstation1 slim model)
Psone 5" LCD (It's convenient because it's made for the psone, it runs with the same voltage as well as provide 2 speakers).
2x 3.7v Lithium polymer battery 5000mAh (Connected in series for 7.4v).
7.4v Smart Battery Charger (It charge at a constant of 1.2A).

Sony Playstation Controller (Non-Dualshock) (I used this Controller firstly because of it's motherboard simplicity, secondly, i dont care about having analog sticks on my PSXp).
Playstation one memory card.

Motherboard and LCD.jpg


Speakers.jpg


Here is a playstation one motherboard with desoldered ports (controller/memory card ports, AV port, on/off switch, and the power port)

at the moment, the CD reader is not on and the controller and the memory card is not connected to the board to see how much length of wire is needed in the assembly stage. however, the power of the screen and the psone is connected as shown with the red and black/blue wires(Lol), as well as the AV ports. i connected the RGB pins with the C-sync because it shows a better picture than component, as well as the RGB audio left and right for the 8 Ohms speakers.

I decided not to mod the psone screen light because i like it the way it is, + i have a high capacity batteries.

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Here are the batteries connected in series, both batteries are balanced, and both got protection circuit from the manufacturer. with an ON and OFF switch. and a picture of the charger that has a male barrel connector.
7.4v.jpg


Charger.jpg


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Here is the controller's motherboard as well as the memory card's. we can see the simplicity of the motherboard, i added solder on the button pins and then i just need to used a common ground.
The memory card connects pretty straight forward as well with those shiny solders.

Controller and memorycard.jpg


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and yea, this is the huge part of the project. the CD reader. i just cant use USB to run games from since im using the original ps1 hardware. however i read somewhere that you can change the CD reader for an SSD but i couldn't find more information about that(+a crash bandicoot original CD, my favorite childhood game).

CD reader.jpg

Now for the 3D parts, It took me a really long time to digitize the components as i wanted to fit everything perfectly with screws, except for the controller and the memory card(they will get glued on the psone motherboard.
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Top case:
top case.PNG


Ignore the appearance as i just wanted to look fancy. so this is how it will look for the player, i tried to shape it as best as i can for ergonomical purposes.

insides.PNG


Here are the internals of the top case, i made a lot of screws for this case, i want it to be as rigid as possible.

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now for the bottom cover, i faced a problem with the sizes of my batteries, however after some brainstorming and errors, i turned the disadvantage of the large battery sizes to an ergonomical advantage as you can see the curves bulging from the case, it provides a better grip for the player. i also added a lot of slits for ventilation purposes because i couldn't fit a fan inside because i had a kind of a big fan for the project.hopefully ill integrate a fan in my next console project :) .
Bot case.PNG


The CD cover is kind of prematurely made because of my 3d modeling skills limitations. so i resorted to a really basic cover:

CDcover.PNG


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Here's the whole unit fit together:

whole unit.PNG


for the buttons, im using the official ps1 controller, except for the shoulder buttons, LCD buttons, start, and select. as i said, i didnt integrate the analog stick just simply because i wanted the retro feel i had when i first played the playstation one :) .



More updates to come as I'm now printing the parts.

Thank you :P.

UPDATE #1: 5-nov-2019
I'm facing problems with 3d printing the models.

A slight unexpected delays....

UPDATE #2: 14-nov-2019
Had to redesign the case to accommodate some 3d printer errors.
 
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I had to redesign the whole case because of some rookie mistakes. That lead me to brainstorm more about how i want to fit things together in my case. one of my problems with my design were the shoulder buttons and how much PCBs im using to fit the shoulders near the Dpad and the other 4 buttons. so i decided to remake a whole new model with a new idea of shoulder button mountings.
spaghet.PNG


As shown, i decided to use 3d printed part to put two shoulder buttons in parallel so that you can easily press the L and R button.

Another problem was the battery space, the lithium polymer just took so much space, the CD reader and the lithium polymer just doesnt go well together, so i decided to opt for 2 Li-ion 21865 connected in series. it saved me a lot of space on the back side as it slides under the motherboard. i also decided to add the fan in as shown as the black block (not too much details in the models :D ) and the blue piece with the gray block under the CD represents the controller motherboard with the memory card just stuck on the psone motherboard. still some things needs to be tweaked, but im nearly done with the top part.

I still haven't finish the Bottom cover as i wanted to redesign the CD cover again since it was done prematurely last time.

All in all, i don't know if this will yet be the final design as i want to print a mock top part just to see how things fit-in in reality.

If anyone has any suggestions on somethings that can be improved on this design, please do so! :)
 
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The is my 6th redesign already :awesome:...

I shaved off more than 70mm in some places. it's just getting better and better after every design + i had to tweak them a lot to be 3d printer friendly..
Here's the front side:
P1.PNG


See something different? >:D after a bit of horizontal testing, I took the vertical approach this time, added a fan on top, and i'll use only 1 speaker instead of 2 since the psone screen outputs mono anyways. And added a bit of style into this case compared to the other ones.

Inside of the case:
P2.PNG


Notice on the top right corner, i added a bit of a slide for better air distribution.


Now closed:
P3.PNG


What's taking time at the moment is the locking mechanism of the CD. i just cant figure out how im going to do that.. :rothink:

I think i'll stick to this design, i like it a lot, the case gives off a retro style vibe that i like. and i dont think ill redesign anymore, if anything, ill keep on tweaking for best results.
 

Wesk

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Along with the locking mechanism of the CD you may also need to limit the speed of the motor. Handheld+high rotational force could cause the CD to fly off the spindle or become unbalanced.
 
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Along with the locking mechanism of the CD you may also need to limit the speed of the motor. Handheld+high rotational force could cause the CD to fly off the spindle or become unbalanced.
The CD reader has a good grip on the CD while spinning. Good point nonetheless, I'll take that into consideration when i start testing the portability of the device. hopefully it wont be a problem, and if it did, ill see how ill reduce the spindle's speed. Thing is, it doesn't really spin at a constant speed, it spins faster at times and slow at times, so the power usage of the device varies between games. though it shouldn't be that significant.

The power usage with the unmodded ps1 screen goes up to 1.3-1.5amps. and im using a 3400mAh rated batteries connected in a 2s1p configuration. so the thought of limiting the spindle speed is an appealing idea but not too user friendly as it will increase loading times..
 
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Huge update on this project.

I received the Anet A8 printer few days ago and it took me 2 days to assemble that thing @#!@.

Anyways, i made a considerable amount of tweaks to my design, and i also finished the CD cover ! :D such a hustle.
Here's what i did:
N5.PNG

N6.PNG


it retains the way the playstation opens the CD cover, i like it.

Other than that, i made button mounts!(before i used small PCBs but they're just so much work, even though i had a 3d printer, lol.)

And here's the progress that i made with the Case
N1.jpg

N2.jpg

I know, it's kind of bad sanding but it took a long time. :'(

N3.jpg

so this is it's color! It's Black combined with another color shift spray that shifts color in different angles, It's so cool! It also fits Crash Bandicoot 3's Theme <3.

N4.jpg

Here's a basic lay out of how im going to connect things, I'll try to make the wires as short as possible.

Now im waiting for the other parts to finish from the paint, then im going to join them, the good thing is that i can finish the circuit meanwhile since everything is in the top case. B|
 

fibbef

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Reminds me that I’d like to rebuild my ps1p that was heavily frankencased. But at the same time I’ve partially joined the jUsT gEt A pSp camp.
 
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Reminds me that I’d like to rebuild my ps1p that was heavily frankencased. But at the same time I’ve partially joined the jUsT gEt A pSp camp.
Dude i get you, this project was on since 2017 man, there are just so many things that can play ps1 games.
Especially since im thinking of the next project to be ps2, and doesn't require a cD rEaDeR to play ps1/ps2.

But on the other hand, B| My childhood right there, will finish it in the coming days after 2 years of collecting dust.
 
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Hey everyone,

Sad news, i was about to finish the whole project by gluing the batteries in, and i noticed that i made the On Off switch flipped, Down for On, Up for Off, so i desoldered the battery + terminal and wanted to put it in the opposite side, but it slipped and touch the motherboard..

:|:| Dude the damn game was working, buttons, every thing was working.. a slip of a hand doomed the entire project.

Anyways, I dont think it's worth it to buy another PSone for this project so it'll stay unfinished for eternity. I'll move on to other projects like PS2s and N64s from now on.

Good bye PSXP..

Here are my Fusion 360 project files if anyone wants to pick this project up and give it a try..

Honestly i have no idea what to do with this thread, will it get Locked? or deleted? I'll just leave it the way it is.
 

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Gman

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ouch I've been there too several times, I feel for you
 

cheese

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Dang that sucks... I've done that before too :blush:

At the very least, you can reuse some of the parts on another portable, and you also have the experience from building this one
 
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Dang that sucks... I've done that before too :blush:

At the very least, you can reuse some of the parts on another portable, and you also have the experience from building this one
Definitely, Been documenting my n64 portable for a while now and as you said, i reused a lot of parts from the project.
 

MRKane

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I seem to be plagued by things that just blow up around me - don't even have to open them up sometimes. I totally get how you feel here!
 

fibbef

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That’s quite a shame. I managed to kill a ps1 board in a similar manner.

You know, I may have to go ahead and rebuild my ps1p, just to keep the dream alive. I’ve already got a memeworthy name picked out.

And not to get your hopes up, but if/when I rebuild, I’ll probably have to gut a working PSone for the disk drive, since the old one is heavily frankencased in place with reconstituted ABS. If that’s the case, I may have a fresh mobo to send your way.
 
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That’s quite a shame. I managed to kill a ps1 board in a similar manner.

You know, I may have to go ahead and rebuild my ps1p, just to keep the dream alive. I’ve already got a memeworthy name picked out.

And not to get your hopes up, but if/when I rebuild, I’ll probably have to gut a working PSone for the disk drive, since the old one is heavily frankencased in place with reconstituted ABS. If that’s the case, I may have a fresh mobo to send your way.
Just to make things clear, you will actually make a playstation 1 portable, out of the old model? xD

I also read somewhere that the psone disk drive aren't compatible with the old model's disk drive, Check this out:
http://store.richspsxparts.com/newkspllaas.html

It lists the compatibility of the disk drive according to the models.

Also, the thought of making a portable ps1 out of the old model is more appealing to me, since you can omit the need of CDs using this:

https://ps-io.com/

and damn would that be a hella expensive portable to make.

I could also have misunderstood your reply entirely. :P
 

fibbef

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No, my original portable used a PSone. The rebuild would use the same. I just shorthand to ps1 out of laziness.
 
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