Worklog The Wii-84 Plus: A Gaming... Calculator?

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Everyone remembers those old Texas Instruments Calculators that your high school forced you to buy for math class. I mean, sure, you can emulate old games on these calculators, good for it, but that's kinda boring. Why don't we do something a bit better? I decided to try to cram a Nintendo Wii inside of a TI-84 Plus Calculator.

First things first, I disassembled the case until I was left with just the basic shell. The screen for this calculator is only 3.5 inches, but that isn't THAT bad, or at least, not enough for me to give up on this project. The most frustrating part about this calculator by FAR was trying to increase the size of the case. The case had a bunch of weird clip and boxes inside of it that was just a nightmare to remove with pliers. About six hours of sanding later, I got this as my shell.
IMG_0259.JPG


It definitely wasn't the cleanest sanding job, but it increased the amount of space inside by an inch or two. That is another issue with the case: the space inside. As you can see, there's NOT a lot of room to breathe. I was thinking of a G-Boy style design for the buttons, using DS Lite Buttons and Nintendo Switch Joysticks. I do also have the personal goal of using at least THREE buttons from the original calculator in the portable. I still need to use some epoxy to fill in the front shell to use it for said buttons. I still have a lot of work to do, and I'm excited to see how this project turns out!
 

dababy

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this is awesome!! This will be an amazing accomplishment when finished i wish u the best on this project
 
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I was going to work on the exact same thing. Are you going to remake the calculator in cad? I was going to do that.
 
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You could keep the original directional buttons for use like a dpad. You could also use 3ds sliders as they sit flatter
 
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I was going to work on the exact same thing. Are you going to remake the calculator in cad? I was going to do that.
I was wanting to use the original case, but I may have to 3D Print a case extension to fit in the components
You could keep the original directional buttons for use like a dpad. You could also use 3ds sliders as they sit flatter
I was toying with the idea of using the original D-Pad in the project, but I'm not sure how that would look...
 
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This will be amazing!! maybe it will even be good enough to fool some teachers at school LOL
 
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I was wanting to use the original case, but I may have to 3D Print a case extension to fit in the components

I was toying with the idea of using the original D-Pad in the project, but I'm not sure how that would look...

You shouldn't need an extension for fitting anything. In theory, you can fit it all in the oem case. I designed a rough part layout that doesn't require any extra areas added. I would model it further but I should finish my current portable first lol
 
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You shouldn't need an extension for fitting anything. In theory, you can fit it all in the oem case. I designed a rough part layout that doesn't require any extra areas added. I would model it further but I should finish my current portable first lol
The issue with that, yes, in theory, the parts would fit, all except for the batteries. Those are too thick to fit inside.
 

dababy

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i have kinda a strange idea... what if u printed a battery extension so that the 18650s came out in the back and acted as a grip cuz if remember ti 84 pluses are kinda uncomfortable to hold for a while
 
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You don't need to use 18650's for this fyi. A flat lipo would work too, and the pms2 supports them, the downside would be very little battery life but honestly who would care because you just put a Wii in a calculator
That would work, but I really don't want my Wii-84 to explode on me XD
 
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you could also try making a PCB that looks like the original calculator one but has all the hardware you need on it for the Wii to function that would probably help with the size.
 
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You shouldn't need any custom pcbs more than the 4layer tech boards, they are pretty compact. The design I've made using them is really close to the size of an 84
 
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