Worklog World's Smallest Gamecube

[Madmorda]

Okay, okay, it's not really a Gamecube, it's a wii.

The idea of having a mini Gamecube has been around for quite a while, and once I even went so far as to see how small a gc motherboard could be while keeping it to scale. Obviously I'm glad I didn't make it because I discovered this wonderful forum and the much smaller wii motherboard instead.

After looking practically everywhere for this exact case, I finally lucked out and found someone selling these old gummy candy cases in the shape of Gamecubes. And boy is it gonna be small lol. DIBS! I got all three colors and hope to make the set

Here's some pics of the case with a dead board trimmed as an lmao, with the omega trim roughly traced on it. You can see that even the omega barely fits. I'm going to start with silver since my first gc was silver and I only have one purple gummy case.

It fits the tiny gcc almost perfectly to scale lol.

So, parts needed:
-Omega trim wii motherboard
-Regulators (ideally I'd like to design my own)
-controller ports
-video plugs
-power plug
-small fan
-power supply and av cables that fit the plugs
-patience

Goals:
-keep it looking as stock as possible
-have tiny controller ports with adapters for controllers, similar to the Xbox

Bonus points for the future:
-I want to make a mini gameboy player to go with it since it is just the right size
-Make all three colors

This is going to be by far the most difficult project I've ever done, but it'll be SO worth it in the end. more to come

 

[Shank]

Okay, okay, it's not really a Gamecube, it's a wii.

Oh thank god

 

[DeoNaught]

do you have a link for those gummy cases? I want one, Idk for what, but I want one again. And can't wait to see where this goes

 

[Madmorda]

do you have a link for those gummy cases? I want one, Idk for what, but I want one again. And can't wait to see where this goes

Sadly, no. I bought the ones that seller had, so you'll have to just keep an eye out for more. Eventually they have to pop up

 

[link270]

Oh boy this looks awesome! Can't wait to see these completed.

 

[fibbef]

I don’t envy your future headaches, but I’m really looking forward to seeing how this goes. Good luck!

 

[jefflongo]

This is going to be great. Good luck!

 

[Cradiak]

I'd imagine for those having trouble finding these cases, they could probably be 3d printed. Might not look as authentic but it would be a backup if you can't find them.

 

[DeoNaught]

Sadly, no. I bought the ones that seller had, so you'll have to just keep an eye out for more. Eventually they have to pop up

Okay, what were you keywords? I'mma keep a bookmark

~Edit~

You could also use Mini-hdmi, which would also upscale it. and if you need help with Eda, I'd love to help with this project(Pls)

 

[Madmorda]

Okay, what were you keywords? I'mma keep a bookmark

~Edit~

You could also use Mini-hdmi, which would also upscale it. and if you need help with Eda, I'd love to help with this project(Pls)

I just kept searching for "GameCube candy" and "GameCube gummy". It could be called "GameCube plastic case" but if you bookmark that you'll get game cases lol. I messaged the seller and asked him to let me know if he sold any more, so I can post it here if he does

 

[Madmorda]

Update time!

I'll be posting pics and notes of every piece of progress on my build for myself and others to use in the future. So expect a picture heavy worklog with frequent updates from here on out!

So far I have portablizemii installed and fully relocated the NAND. The console still boots fine

I removed the NAND


Bent the pins in alternating directions to make the wires easier to solder. I also carefully cut off the pins that don't do anything so that they wouldn't be in the way.


Soldered the capacitors directly into the NAND and cut a bunch of 34 gauge magnet wire to about 15mm in length. 34 gauge fits perfectly into the vias.


It's worth noting that this wii has bare vias whereas some wiis have solder mask on top of them. This kind of wii is easier to solder to for a nand relocation.

I soldered the wires on all facing the same way, making sure they aren't shorting


This probably isn't the most efficient way to mount it, but I have a ton of vertical space in my gc case, so here's how I soldered the NAND in.

First one side, then the other. I used my multimeter to make sure that all of the pins went where they were supposed to go. The capacitors I relocated had one side connected to ground, and the other side connected to 3.3v. That's what the 30 gauge wires on top of the NAND are.


It's alive!


I carefully epoxied the wires both on the NAND and on the motherboard to make sure they won't move around much. You can see how tall it is here.


After epoxying the pins, I tested again, and then squished the NAND down shorter and epoxied it to the board. It sticks out about 5mm from the board (3.5mm to the top of the NAND, 5mm to the top of the epoxy).


As for the case, I managed to accidentally drop the silver gc about two feet, and it chipped a piece of plastic off in the same exact spot where real gcs seem to chip. So I will be using this silver shell as a test piece, and making a black gc mini.

I was a bit worried about the fan vents, so I wasn't too upset to have a test piece. I decided to drill them out and it worked beautifully. You can see the chip in the picture.


More to come soon. I'm really excited about this project so look for more updates soon!

As a sidenote, I need a bunch of roundish (or semicircular) plugs with at least 3 pins and a 6mm diameter for the controller ports (no headphone jacks though). I can't seem to find any, so if you guys know of some, please let me know. There are free resin cast buttons in it for anyone who can find some that will work before I do (Gamecube, Switch, GB Micro, DS Lite, 3ds, n3ds XL, or Virtual Boy in the color of your choice)

 

[Stitches]

As a sidenote, I need a bunch of roundish (or semicircular) plugs with at least 3 pins and a 6mm diameter for the controller ports (no headphone jacks though). I can't seem to find any, so if you guys know of some, please let me know. There are free resin cast buttons in it for anyone who can find some that will work before I do (Gamecube, Switch, GB Micro, DS Lite, 3ds, n3ds XL, or Virtual Boy in the color of your choice)

I found one, it's the Phoenix Contact M5 3pin (it actually has 4 pins, but some have only 3 wires). It's a round 4 pole plug about 6mm in diameter. Should do the job, but they're pretty costly at $15 USD each.

Besides that, the slightly cheaper and more readily available M8 connector may work too. It's 8-10mm wide, not sure if that's small enough.

 

[Nold]

lol.. i couldn't find this thread yesterday.. i think i'm going insane..

Anyways!.. I'm so jelly for this project. I wanted to do a GC/Wii-Nano for so long & the case you've found is just perfect.. hope i can get my hands one one of those, too.. some day.

Also, sick nand relocation! can't wait to see more.

 

[Madmorda]

So as most of you know, I spent most of yesterday learning Eagle, working on a regulator board for the wii, and asking everyone tons of questions. There's no way I could've gotten as far as I did without the help of this awesome community, and in particular there are a few members I'd like to thank individually.

Thank you to
@DeoNaught for letting me use his regulator footprint, giving me good advice, and helping me all along the way.
@Aurelio for explaining the resistor math to me, checking over my work, and discovering what is apparently the only known source of Mini USB B 4-pin female ports when I had given up on finding them (they look like tiny gcc ports).
@GingerOfOz for being patient with me, answering a ton of questions, and helping me learn some of the more confusing parts of Eagle.
@Gman for showing me how badly my routing sucked, and giving me a better example to work off of (seriously, my pcb thanks you).
@Shank for discovering the tiny GCC ports I will be using, brainstorming with me on parts and design, and for constantly helping me throughout the process.
And last but not least thanks @Noah for helping me with my components when I was sure I was doing it wrong lol.

Okay so on to updates!

The regulator board v1.0 has been ordered, so hopefully it or a future version will make it into this project.

Today I also relocated the LDO, which didn't turn out to be bad at all.


I used the original resistors that came with it and soldered them straight on to the pins.


Then I added the tiny cap that was next to it, also mounted on the LDO itself. The other tiny cap I didn't relocate since it will still be connected on the board after trimming.


Relocated it next to the NAND, making sure nothing important was under it, while keeping it within the omega trim borders.


Here's the bigger cap, and the 3.3v drawn from next to the gcc port pins.


And she's still alive!

As I mentioned earlier, Aurelio managed to find the perfect ports for the tiny GC. Here's what it looks like. It has 4 pins, which is perfect for 3.3v, data, ground, and 5v for rumble.

It should be just the right size and shape, and I ordered a whole bunch from an Italian website, so I'll have extras for you American tiny console enthusiasts

More to come soon on the AVE relocation!

 

[LOCtroviser]

I just loved your micro gamecube controller. This is gonna be epic!! Loving the detailed picture progress.

 

[KarlslandOtaku]

Holy moly! Now that is mini. Wonderful work! @Madmorda

 

[DeoNaught]

Is this what Given credit feels like

 

[Madmorda]

OMEGAWD, relocating the AVE was a pain. It was definitely a lot more work than relocating the NAND, but five hours later I FINALLY have it correctly relocated.

I took a page from Nold's book and chopped up a second board to house the AVE, which definitely turned out to be a good idea because it's a lot more complex than either the LDO or NAND. I took apart a six layer, but it had a different AVE chip with different traces, so I ended up using a spare 4 layer board that had been previously modded instead.

I chopped up the spare board and removed the original AVE


Soldered some short 34g wires to the 16 data vias, and added 1.8v, 3.3v, and ground. It boots! The data lines are epoxied on, but the power lines are temporary and will be cleaned up later.


Here's a nice diagram of everything I wired up for anyone else doing this relocation

 

[DeoNaught]

would it be safe to use an AVE from a 6 layer board? it would it have to be four layer AVE, for a four layer board?

 

[Madmorda]

I honestly don't know. It had a different AVE chip, so I didn't want to risk it