Worklog WiiSPii 1.0 (Wii in an SP Shell)

StonedEdge

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Hello BB,

This has been a project I have always wanted to do since I joined the forums, and the concept has always lingered in the back of my mind for quite some time (it has been joked about for a few years on the forums but no one has actually really given it the chance it deserves). Given the difficulty of such a task, I had always put it off, until now. Thanks to the advancement of Wii Portablizing (the introduction of the RVL PMS by Gman, Aurelio's amazing direct drive board and GC+2.0), we can now make smaller portables than ever before in 2019 and now coming into 2020, I am more excited than ever. I am ready to tackle the task of trying to fit a Wii inside of an SP shell!

I don't really know when I will finish this portable as I am sure it is going to be a lot more difficult than I am anticipating, but these are the ultimate end goals of the device. I'd hope to have it finished before the summer contest 2020, but let's see. I guess these things always start off with an idea but execution is always the hardest part for me :P

The WiiSPii 1.0:

- 3D Printed Gameboy Advance SP Shell designed by me (full integration of original SP hinges)
- Fully painted in 'Metallic red' gloss finish, to match the original flame red SP that I got for Christmas when I was about 5 years old
- 2 x 18650 NCR18650B Panasonic Cells, 3.7v 3600mAh (providing around 2.5 hrs battery life)
- 3.5" Panel with Aurelio's DD drive board
- USB-C PD/Data switching on a custom PCB
- Wii PMS on a custom PCB
- Original orange charging LED/blue power LED for power/red LED for low battery indication (slightly modified code, using the available free GPIO pins on the PIC16F15324 IC to control the LEDs via PWM)
- OMEGAfied Wii (slightly larger than an OMEGA) with the NAND flex board to relocate the entire NAND
- LM49450 on a custom PCB (with integrated headphone jack for switching audio)
- Potential flex cable to connect the direct drive board to the digital video lines of the Wii via the left hand side hinge by GoldPheonix
- Custom cut glass bezel
- 3D printed L/R shoulder buttons (haven't thought about the Z button yet)
- SLA printed ABXY, DPAD and start buttons
- Sliding switch (for turning on and off the portable)

I have spent quite a bit of time these past few weeks on the CAD models and am pretty happy so far with how they are coming along. The case is still in the early stages of development and there will be plenty of tweaks to be made. So far the biggest challenge in my opinion will be integrating all of the PCBs whilst still keeping this portable as close as possible to original SP dimensions.

The pictures aren't honestly that exciting at the moment, but this is what I have come up with thus far. The hype! The insanity! Enjoy!

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StonedEdge

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I know that this isn't a huge update but since not many people are posting worklogs these days on BB, here we go! #noclamshellgang

I have been working hard on the modeling the past couple of days to make sure all of the components fit with the amount of vertical space I have. Safe to say that with the current design the base of the clam will need to be made thicker which is a bit of a shame, but overall the X/Y dimensions of the case will remain completely identical to a Gameboy Advance SP which I am quite proud of.

I worked on modeling both my custom ABXY/DPAD buttons which will probably resin printed in white. All of the controller related buttons/joysticks will be white to accent the metallic red finish of the original SP.

Meanwhile, here are some sexy AF pics. I have had YveltalGriffin model me an OMEGA trim with NAND relocation and AVE relocation since I really do not have the ability to trim currently given I am living in a tiny little apartment in Japan although I have all the necessary tools to do so. He has done a wonderful job and the trim is unbelievably tiny (final dimensions measure in at 57.5 x 67.5mm), ridonculous. I will be going with a 3.5 VGA IPS display panel from Alibaba for the screen since unfortunately my COVID-19 contract with Aurelio fell through and I didn’t get the virus as planned. The oscillator and other small capacitors will need to be relocated to fit into the top part of the clam.

Next step will be to design the custom "all-in-one" PCB with modifications to the PMS code for setting the LEDs which shouldn't be too difficult.

Here are some pictures below.

Top view of the case. Modeled some original L/R SP buttons which will make use of the dual tact switches from the BB store.

Screen Shot 2020-03-20 at 18.03.03.png


Side view of the case as well as the hinge. Two incisions made for the RGB leds, which will be for power (blue/red) on/off indication/low battery switching respectively and charging (orange) to match the original SP LEDs. Hinges will be based on the original SP hinge design (purchased from Alibaba)

Screen Shot 2020-03-20 at 17.48.36.png


Top view. Buttons will be white resin. The sticks will need to be further recessed at this point to make sure that the lid will fully close without hitting them. Otherwise I may switch to 3DS sliders, but most likely going to make the case thicker. DPAD will be also resin printed.

Screen Shot 2020-03-20 at 17.48.25.png

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stoned.jpg


Welcome to OMEGACITY!!! It boots, but AVE is slightly borked due to feeding it 1.8v at the wrong point. Should work fine after replacing it with a new one (soonTM)
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
 
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my project is this with only one diferent, mi board is a lattepanda delta.

can´t wait for see the next steps in this amazing project.
 

StonedEdge

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I worked on integrating USB-C PD, GC+ 2.0 (we love you Aurelio) and the audio amplifier this weekend. I was hoping to also be able to fit battery management on this board but unfortunately the space constraints do not allow for it. I could attempt to put something together but it really would be pushing the board to the absolute limits and I’d rather keep the board as easy as possible to assemble.

This will be a 2 layer PCB to save costs. I was originally going to do a 4 layer board but it just isn’t worth it unless I was going to have multiple components requiring dedicated planes. This way I can route nearly all of the traces on the top of the board and use the majority of the bottom of the board for the GND plane. The PMS will probably be mounted to the front of the base of the clamshell using a plastic bracket mount that will sit over the top of the main PCB. This will allow me to easily run short wires to the OMEGA for powering it. I haven’t had a chance to design that yet but will be sure to post it soon!

Pictures of the first revisions of the board below (and updated sxc CAD pics of course)

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Final dimensions 80.15mm x 80.3mm x 28mm (excluding the batteries of course!! - Does this count as cheating hehe??). The original Nintendo Gameboy Advance SP had dimensions of 84 × 82× 24.4 mm, so I feel like at least I made it smaller in terms of width and height ;)
It is approx. 5mm thicker than a Gameboy Advance SP at the base, and another 0.95mm for the top part :( Unfortunately it can't be helped, since the switch sticks need to be on top of the mobo - this makes it unnecessarily thicker than it needs to be.

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Huge shoutout to Aurelio for helping fix the switch stick designs (the suggestion that I use conical holes instead of plain extrusions gives it a nice touch)

Screen Shot 2020-03-30 at 1.00.42.png


Wii PMS from the store will be mounted in this orientation/location. Still TBD.
(EDIT: Nvm, I managed to fit battery management on a 4 layer. It's an all in one board now ;) )

CC494BB8-4C93-40AD-8332-C221A717453B.jpeg
 
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StonedEdge

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I found some really low profile tiny battery clips on DigiKey that will snap fit into plastic grooves in my case. The batteries will be held in by two 3d printed covers on the inside that I spent most of today designing. I thought they turned out really nice so I thought I'd share.

Sexy memes:
 
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Are you gonna have full travel on the sticks? or are they gonna be somewhat smaller travel distances?
 

StonedEdge

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Are you gonna have full travel on the sticks? or are they gonna be somewhat smaller travel distances?
Not 100% sure yet. I can always adjust the ranges in software using GC+ 2.0 configuration if they are smaller. The conical holes are quite deep and at a sharp angle, so I don’t think there will be any issues ergonomically but I’ll see after I do a test print this weekend.
 
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I found some really low profile tiny battery clips on DigiKey that will snap fit into plastic grooves in my case. The batteries will be held in by two 3d printed covers on the inside that I spent most of today designing. I thought they turned out really nice so I thought I'd share.

Sexy memes:
das epic.
 

StonedEdge

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I did some test prints this weekend. Some tweaking will be required to get everything to fit properly (including the screen driver board) but so far the first prints look very promising! After these tweaks I will order the PCB from JLCPCB.

Switch/G-Wii for scale:
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cheese

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Now that you have it all printed, how does it feel in the hand? I feel like it may require you to interlock your fingers under it to not cramp up like crazy
 
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Awesome, now sand paper on all case for final details and enjoy playing.
 

StonedEdge

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I must admit it’s not the most comfortable to hold like a G-Wii, but I don’t have to wrap my fingers around it that much. Your index fingers fall nicely into place on the shoulder buttons on the back and the grips make it more comfortable.

Probably I can see your hand cramping reaching for the C stick but it’s hard not to when cramming an entire GameCube controller onto a tiny SP face lol

Here is how my hands sit:

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StonedEdge

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This weekend I spent some time working on the main 4 layer PCB which houses nearly everything required for the Wii to function. The PCB has the U-Amp and RVL-PMS by Gman (with modifications made to the code to allow the volume to controlled with a thumbwheel potentiometer via the onboard ADC module). I've managed to initialize the ADC and set a GPIO pin to control volume, the next step being to write the new volume over i2c and scale the ADC counts to min/max volume register values. It also has USB-C PD, GC+ 2.0 and a sliding switch to turn on the device. Since I am a beginner with C, Postman and BocuD have helped me so far with my questions in regards to this part. I've added an orange LED for charging indication, which is connected to the 5V output of the VBUS step down regulator with a simple current limiting resistor. This way the LED will always be on when the charger is plugged in, and saves me from having to code anything (which is currently really limiting my progress... after this portable I plan on finally busting out my PIC development board so that I can advance my micro controller skills without feeling like an idiot nearly every time I ask a basic question about microcontrollers).

I also added two switch stick 5-pin FFCs (thanks Ginger for the package). I had planned to use breakout boards for these, but the height of the case is a limiting factor for the build, so I've integrated them into the PCB on the top half. I also added all my switches (A, B, X, Y, D-PAD and double start buttons thanks to Aurelio's new GC+ 2.0 firmware) and connected them to the GC+ (I'm using those little flat dome switches Gman recommended for the buttons).

The 4 layer PCB is just a first iteration and not 100% final yet, but I've cleared most of the DRC errors in EAGLE. Once the code is revised for the RGB led (simply need to remove the code for charging indication) and the new code is written for volume control, I will place an order with JLCPCB over the next few weeks. I plan on using a hot skillet to reflow the parts rather than using hot air as this looks like a pretty neat method and I haven't tried it before!

Here's some scans of the PCB so far.

Top:
- GC+ 2.0
- USB-C PD/Data switching
- U-AMP
- RVL-PMS

EDIT: Made some changes to the PCB layout below.

8F684180-1A97-4912-96A6-6B9BEABEE2FB.jpeg



Bottom:

- 10 dome tactile switches
- 2 5-pin FFC breakouts (switch sticks)
- 2 LEDs (orange LED for charging, RGB LED for power/low battery/shipping mode)
Screen Shot 2020-04-12 at 22.32.13.png
 
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Your build is amazing. How did you make the hinge mechanism? (Sorry if my English it´s not perfect)
 
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