The GameCube SPITE

Joined
Apr 27, 2018
Messages
160
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Location
Kentucky
Portables
Wii Laptop V2.0, GameCube SPITE
I am thrilled to announce that I am finally finished with my GameCube Portable! It took me a little over 7 months, but every minute was worth it. I am very happy with the way it turned out.


The official name I am giving it is the GameCube SPITE. Why you ask? Good question. One reason is in Spite of all the fancy newer game systems, many GameCube games stand the test of time and remain relevant icons of classic gaming that people of different generations still enjoy today. BUT...the main reason I named it that is in Spite of all the GCP naysayers and haters out there, I made it anyway and I couldn’t be happier with the end product lol


That being said, before I get into my long winded post, I would like to make a couple of shout-outs. First, to the entire BitBuilt community. The community as a whole has been a huge help at every step along the way on this project. I had many many questions, and everyone was super helpful. However a special shout-out needs to go to Madmorda. She helped me a ton on this project, not only with her own work log videos for her GCP, but also with the literal hours she spent helping me troubleshoot and brainstorm at various times throughout this journey. Thank you so much for all your help!!


Now that all that’s outta the way, this whole project started out because I had a GameCube lying around and thought “Why not”. Turns out there are a lot of reasons “why not”, but we won’t talk about that….

Nevermind the fact that I would end up getting 1 or 2 more GameCube mobos because I was messing them up. Anyway, unlike my previous portable(ish) which was a laptop style and didn’t have a battery or integrated controller, I wanted this one to be fully portable, including an internal battery and controller.

I used the ZN-45 housing to fit everything in. While that is oldschool to all the portablizing vets, being that this was only my 2nd portable and I don’t have a 3D printer, that was a convenient choice. Plus with its size, it made it a little easier on me. I used the REV C DOL-101 board, and ended up not doing any trimming because, well, have you seen the size of the ZN?? I just didn’t need to. After having all kinds of issues with the first Mobo (which wasn’t a REV C) and getting the regulator to work properly (99% of which was polarity issues and me being an idiot), I said screw it and just got the mobo with the regulator built in.

Madmorda hooked me up with a PAM8803 audio amp and I hooked up a couple laptop speakers for sound, and they sound pretty good, for my standards anyway. I ended up using two fans because I couldn’t keep the thing from overheating. I used the standard 12V gamecube fan as an exhaust fan, and a 5V Wii fan for intake air. I used the stock GameCube heat sink, but I ended up sanding the bottom legs so it would sit a little closer to the cpu and other components. For some reason the heat sink sits about ⅛” off of the cpu, so you have to use gobs of thermal paste.

I used a 12V battery pack from TalentCell which employed 3 18650 battery cells. I used that strictly because I had seen other GCP projects that used that battery pack. If you are thinking about using those, head my warning: DON’T BUY THEM!!! The 18650 cells are staples in portable projects, but the charging system used by this particular TalentCell battery back is really dumb. It requires a lot of extra hoops to get it to charge right, especially if using an external power source, like the original GC power supply. Secondly, since it only supplies 12V, and the GameCube won’t run (without custom regs) on less than 11V, the battery is pretty bad. On that note, the battery life is only about 45 minutes and takes about 6 hours to charge. Pretty sucky...which is why I also included a port for the original GC power supply. You can use that if you have access to an outlet as a backup if the battery dies. I also put a clear piece of acrylic on the back as a view port to the battery control board so you can view the battery level. There is 5 battery life LEDs on it. Since the GC dies when the voltage drops below 11V, the GC dies around 2-3 LEDs.

I used an original GC controller and fankencased parts of the actual controller housing into the ZN case. I made 2 big mistakes when I did this, however: 1) I decided not to include the D-Pad. I was thinking it wouldn’t be a big deal because a lot of games don’t use it, and it would save me space and work. But in retrospect I wish I would have included it. And 2) when I put the joystick and C stick in, I didn’t have the orientation of the joystick housing right, so they are 45 degrees off meaning the joysticks don’t fully extend up, down, left, or right. While this doesn’t affect gameplay, it was a plain my the butt for me because if I didn’t position the C stick perfectly, it wouldn’t work right. For the start button, z button, and triggers I used L1/L2/R1/R2 from an old logitech USB controller I had laying around.

I used a 5” car LCD screen and included the screen control buttons. On the back of the system, I have a power button that controls the battery and also enables/disables the port for the GC power supply. If the switch is on, the battery is turned on (also allowing the battery to be charged) and the GC power supply port is disabled. If the switch is off, the battery is disconnected and the port for the GC power supply is enabled.

Since WASP fusions are a thing of the past, I had to include the entire disc drive from the GC. I frankencased it in with some epoxy putty. It adds a lot of bulk to the already big portable, but I was still happy with how it turned out. I also put a simply switch in to simulate the disc drive lid opening and closing, since I don’t actually have the lid.

In addition to the first switch, there is another switch on the top of the GCP next to the triggers that turns the GC itself on/off. Speaking of the triggers, I forgot to mention these are not dual tact, so the variable resistor function of the triggers is not used, only the “click”.

Shoutout to Gman for the suggestion on the paint job, metallic black. I think it turned out pretty good. I went with a matte top coat, which looks nice, but I think it would have looked a little better with gloss. It would have brought out the imperfections a little more, but I still think it would have looked a little better. Oh well, next time :D

I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but that’s all I can think of for now. Below is a breakdown of all the parts I used, and of course, the pictures (nudes included).


LCD Screen: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072FNQQXV/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Speakers:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H8TDAK8/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Audio Amp: https://www.amazon.com/FidgetFidget...e=UTF8&qid=1546184136&sr=8-3&keywords=pam8803

Battery (DON’T BUY!!!): https://www.amazon.com/TalentCell-R...TF8&qid=1546182468&sr=8-5&keywords=talentcell

ZN-45: https://www.polycase.com/zn-45

Testers Spray Paint (Metallic Black): https://www.amazon.com/d/Hobby-Pain...1&keywords=testors+metallic+black+spray+paint

Krylon Matte Clear Coat Spray Paint: https://www.amazon.com/KRYLON-DIVER...546184022&sr=8-2&keywords=krylon+matte+finish


Video:
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