Worklog The Gearshift (Completed)

Madmorda

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I know I'm a bit late entering the contest, as I've been a bit short on ideas this summer. However, I believe I finally have something worth building, so hopefully I'll be able to finish within a few weeks.

The idea behind this project is to have a "portable" with a screen, wireless controller, battery, and wireless video receiver that gets video from a transmitter in the house. (No console though). The transmitter can be plugged into a variety of consoles to send the video from them to the handheld, so that it's not one system but several. It will have a wireless ps2 controller in it, since there are adapters for it to work on a wide variety of systems.

While you would essentially be tethered to the area around the console, it allows for the "portablizing" of consoles that can't be trimmed much or have too much power consumption to make a reasonable handheld.

Okay parts time :D
5" composite lcd screen
Generic wireless ps2 controller
Nyrius brand composite transmitter / receiver
Game gear as the case
Hopefully a 5v battery bank for phone

This is the transmitter I'm using :)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FB1NTP6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_QgUsBbEYMC6NF

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As to the transmitter, it runs off 12v 250mAh and operates with no noticeable lag. I'm sure there is a very slight delay, but definitely not enough to impair gameplay. The signal reaches all the way across my entire house even with closed doors and walls in the way AND the transmitter antenna pointing the complete wrong way. If you obstruct both of the antennas, the video can static, but I haven't gotten it to cut out completely. So if you start to wander out of range, you'll still be able to see the game until you get back near the transmitter.

Anyways more updates to come soon :D just wanted to get this worklog rolling
 

Madmorda

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I forgot how much work just the case is haha. Here's the case with the major parts put in. It still needs the smaller buttons like start, select, power, etc, but those can be put anywhere so I'm going to do those all last.

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I decided on ps2 buttons (but proper joystick layout) even though I plan to play mostly Xbox on it since different controller adapters for various consoles will have different setups. This will make it a bit more generic, which fits because it's supposed to play anything.

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Also it turns out that the game gear makes a MUCH more comfortable case than I thought it would. I stole the shoulder buttons from the ps2 controller I'm using because they're tiny and have convenient brackets.
 

Madmorda

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I know I'm not the first person to do one of these, but did you do one too? Sorry my memory is terrible haha
 

GingerOfOz

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Yeah, Downing tried to get a Kickstarter rolling for something similar a while back. Different method than yours though.
 

Madmorda

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Hey that's awesome :D yours is a lot more professional than mine ever will.

Speaking of cosmetics, sanding in 100+° heat is no fun and even my primer won't go on right because of the heat and humidity lol. Painting it before the end of the contest may not be an option if it doesn't cool down this week
 

Madmorda

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Sanded and primed :D speakers will go on the bottom (not the back) so this is basically everything except the charging port, which the epoxy is drying on. The battery covers and a printed out cartridge cover were epoxied on and sanded, leaving only 4 screw posts.

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I took apart the video receiver and it's reasonably small. It fits well in the game gear case, and as it turns out my battery can fit on top of it. With some help from @Aurelio, I found out that the copper wire is an antenna for transmitting ir controller signals. Since I'm not using that function, I removed it.

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Here's the basic orientation of the internals, with the controller likely being on the left half of the case. I removed the av ports and bent a couple caps over to make it thinner. There's no reason to remove the switches since there's plenty of room, but I will probably remove the power plug just so it's a bit neater.

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Pacal

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you did a good job with the case it looks really good,what color are you planning to paint it?
 

Madmorda

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I decided on "oil brushed bronze" Rustoleum paint. I wanted something metallic like a gear, but thought anything really metallic like silver would show off the imperfections too well lol. This is sort of an odd color, it can be metallic bronze, dark grey, or black depending on the lighting. It's more bronze than it looks in the pictures, but you can kinda see the real color where the flash hit it.

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sin^2(x) + cos^2(x) +e^(i*pi)
I decided on "oil brushed bronze" Rustoleum paint. I wanted something metallic like a gear, but thought anything really metallic like silver would show off the imperfections too well lol. This is sort of an odd color, it can be metallic bronze, dark grey, or black depending on the lighting. It's more bronze than it looks in the pictures, but you can kinda see the real color where the flash hit it.

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Rub on metal, It's a thing at hobby lobby(other stores should have it, but I checked Walmart and they didn't have it), that's not the exact name, but you rub it on, and it looks metallic, and looks amazing last time I saw it.
 

Madmorda

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18 days later...

IT'S ALIVE!!!
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It works great with the Xbox, and here a picture of it playing Spyro on the ps2 as well.

You can see that the colors look fine in the pictures, but for some reason the screen looks blue tinted in the video. Sorry :P

Internals (yuck):
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Looks good! It's a cool idea compared to the traditional portable. Great job on the frankencasing, looks really clean!
 

MRKane

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I was actually talking with friends about the feasibility of having a transmitter style mobile unit for "live streaming" your own home consoles as the next sort of "thing" that Sony might look at doing. For instance: Internet speeds are almost fast enough to make this a reality, and from looking at your video I'd say there's a market because it is simply too cool!!!
 

fibbef

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Great work and SUPER smooth frankencasing! If a big company does start making something like this like MRKane suggests, I feel bad for all the haters you (and Downing) are gonna get calling you guys the knockoffs.

Don’t worry, I won’t forget who the real heroes are.
 

nobble

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When a plate of spaghetti looks cleaner than the internals, you know it's good.
 
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