Worklog First Portable Aluminum case

[Sharpsword]

Figured it was about time to make a work log instead of post more question the area. To start off let me say I have very little knowledge about electronics. Most of what I'm doing in this project I learned on bitbuilt so thanks. Im hoping to have a aluminum case milled and figure out how to do removable batterys for longer gaming sessions, also i will be using a gc video and a gc+. please forgive me for being a no on and make as many recommendations as you want to

one question I have right now is if anyone knows if memory cards are sensitive about the wire distance to the motherboard?

 

[jefflongo]

You don't need a memory card. Nintendont can emulate memory cards. Save yourself the hassle. Good luck!

 

[Sharpsword]

I will use that but I also want to keep the original ones so I can load it from wii to gamecube

 

[Stitches]

If you're going to trim the Wii and use the PortablizeMii pack, you can't normally use physical memory cards. You'd have to use a stock version of Nintendont AND relocate the MX chip for the GC font data. Then you'd have to boot any game you want to use a physical memory card for manually through Nintendont, you can't use Postloader for it. I don't know how well PM's modified Postloader would play with the stock Nintendont, so it's pretty safe to say you'd have to do all your Gamecube stuff manually through Nintendont, which means changing settings manually every time you want to change video modes or use emulated memory cards. It's a lot of extra hassle.

And to answer your question: Rule of thumb with data wires is the shorter the better.

 

[cheese]

Be careful with an aluminum case, you'll need to make sure nothing is shorting to it, and it may make it hard to hold if heat is transferred to the case.

As for electronics, we've got a page about it here that's pretty good.

 

[Sharpsword]

I didn't know about the memory card issues after being trimmed, I'll probs just drop that idea but for the case issue I was worried about that too but a few members said it should be fine and suggested I line it kapton tape. I'd be interested to talk to anyone who has done an aluminum case before, as someone did link a finished portable

 

[Aurelio]

I didn't know about the memory card issues after being trimmed, I'll probs just drop that idea but for the case issue I was worried about that too but a few members said it should be fine and suggested I line it kapton tape. I'd be interested to talk to anyone who has done an aluminum case before, as someone did link a finished portable

Anodize the aluminum and you should be good

 

[Sharpsword]

planned on it already lol

 

[Aurelio]

planned on it already lol

Well the anodization is already enough to add a non-conductive layer on the aluminum

 

[Sharpsword]

nice to know, is there any way to switch between the internal screen and a tv, looked for threads on it and didn't find anything

 

[GingerOfOz]

To use your portable with a big screen, you're able to just turn off your internal screen and connect video/audio to a TV without any issues. If you're talking about switching automatically, I know for sure that @Madmorda did it with her most recent portable, so she'd be able to give you a better description on how to do it than I.

 

[jefflongo]

I use a DPDT switch with the video signal as one input and voltage to the screen as the other. So when you flip the switch it cuts power to the screen and switches the video input to the external connector. This also prevents the signal from becoming degraded by having the video signal sent to two sources. It's possible to do it automatically but not with the stock connector since there's no sense pin.

 

[box_roller]

I didn't know about the memory card issues after being trimmed, I'll probs just drop that idea but for the case issue I was worried about that too but a few members said it should be fine and suggested I line it kapton tape. I'd be interested to talk to anyone who has done an aluminum case before, as someone did link a finished portable

I did a N64 portable out of aluminum a few years ago, youtube search for aluminum n64 you'll find the video of it and most of the photos in a slide show if you have enough patience to make it to the end. This was back in the day of the bacteria forum so all the commentary on it is long gone most likely.

Milling an aluminum case is pretty straight forward, plan ahead for all your mount points, holes, etc. I made all my buttons on a lathe, and was over all happy with what I made, if I had more time and money, at the time, I would have bought a more capable machine or a CNC to do it, but that was the best I could do with the anemic machine I had access too.

With anodizing, get a few samples first, I did mine in clear anodize or "natural" for the case and black for the buttons. The finish was nice, but it was beyond beyond beyond dead flat with no shine or reflectivity whatsoever, if you want a shine to it like most anodized crap out there or like the stuff Apple makes you need to get it bright dipped anodized.

Anodize will take the electrical conductivity out of it, but don't forget the anodized layer is quite thin, with enough force you can get it to short. Don't waste tape lining it, just mount your boards well and don't have any bare wires floating around in there and you'll be fine

 

[Sharpsword]

thanks this is actually the case I saw before. great job by the way. I have access to a haas cnc to do the milling. I haven't decided on what color to do the anodized in, prob look at sample then decide, great Idea.

 

[fibbef]

Ay box_roller! Yours is one of my fave portables of all time! Didn’t realize you were already a member here.

 

[Sharpsword]

can I use a wifi and Bluetooth module from a 6 layer with a four layer board, I have a full 6 layer wii and a 4 layer motherboard strippeda of every thing

 

[GingerOfOz]

Yep. Modules are interchangeable between revs.