Worklog The "Atlantii": Wii portable, in Advance AGB formfactor.

[Anris]

Background:
I have made 3 portable Wii designs throughout my education as an electronics engineer.
Every time i felt like i really learned something new.
I put it to use in a new portable idea.
I have posted about the last one, the "Wii backpack", and may make posts about the first two projects at some point as they are also quite fun.
After 2.5 years working full time having a bachelor degree, i have now returned to university for a masters.
And as i am "advancing" myself, i felt it appropriate to make an Advance inspired Wii build.

I love 4:3 content, and the advance originally has an aspect of 3:2, quite close.
I chose to build the design around the 3.5" 4:3 640x480 IPS Screen.
This is about 1.2 times bigger then the original screen, so the whole build will be about 1.2 times bigger than the original GBA.
I got to sketching and brainstorming:

Research and planning:
After a few years of working, not having followed BitBuild in that time, i got myself up to date with the forums and happenings in portabilizing.
I was very impressed seeing the Xiiboy Ultra and the progress in transfering the BGA chips of the Wii.
Shoutout to @Xenii & @B_rob1

Goals and rules for the project:

• KISS: Keep it simple stupid.
  • Limit moving parts and wires where possible.
  • Keep number of PCB's to a minimum.
• Design for manufacturing.
  • Too often the portables are made with the end goal in mind, building while designing for making one single console.
    • With the Atlantii, i want it to be as easy as possible to build multiple portables fast and easily, without the process being too intensive.
• Open source.
  • Best part about the Bitbuild-scene is everyone working together for better portable consoles in the future.
  • I have a few projects i want to implement or modify into my design, will do my very best to give credit and open source my files in the end.
• 4 Layer tech.
  • Nothing but respect for these guys. But i will try and avoid using the off the shelf PCB's from here that are not open sourced.
  • I want to keep the price of the project to an minimum, and shipping + import from USA to EU is a killer.
    • (The prices for their PCB's are super fair btw)
  • Just want to compact the design and myself have full control of as many components as possible.
• OMFG Wii trim.
  • I have bought a drying oven, a ultrasonic cleaner and re-balling jig for BGA chip relocation - but will save this for the next project in the future.
• I will save you all from listing to many of the "usual" features now. Will go through them as we go along the Worklog. Here is some of the more unusual features i want to implement.
  • HDMI output from an internal switcher circuit. Displaying & gaming on a bigger screen is sometimes wanted.
  • 1-2x original Gamecube ports for 2x player Gamecube controller & compatability with the original GBA for Pokemon Box & the likes.
  • IR diodes build into the design, so that Wii remote gameplay is as easy as pointing towards the console from a comfortable short distance.

Buttons & initial shell design:
So i have decided on re-using as many buttons as possible from other consoles and making the rest as 3D prints.

• Joysticks
  • Switch Joysticks
  • The Click on each i thought about also mapping to Start / Z
• ABXY / D-Pad
  • Thought about using Switch Lite buttons & Gamecube / SNES buttons.
  • Ended up with Nintendo DS lite buttons. They feel relly nice, and only bad availability will make me change it again in the future.
• Start button
  • Placed a small start button between D-Pad & Left Joystick - wanted to use a Gamecube start button and membrane. Might make something custom 3D printing it.
• L/R buttons
  • 3D modelled
  • I want to have a resistive slider and a push button on the PCB, making Supermario Sunshine controls reactive.
• Z-button.
  • Want to have something like the original Z-button on the back, will have to make a 3D print solution for this one i feel like.

I have downloaded scans of the GBA shell (Thanks @Wesk for your 2020 post)
Remodelling the case in Fusion in a 1.2x bigger size.
I have also found models of the intended buttons and made the layout.
A testprint later, holding it in my hands feels nice, size is perfect.

Thank you for reading along and look forward for my next post where i will have the buttons dialed in feeling nice. and getting to an outline for my main PCB.

 

[Anris]

Atlantii log #2
Perfection of buttons:

So the buttons of a DS lite and a Switch joycon are quite small and require precise height and internal design for the silicone and buttons to sit just right.
To save on printing a whole new front shell everytime i needed a test-fit. I made some small jigs to test the designs and measurements before porting them back into the shell design.
My screws i had for the joycon are a bit too long, but otherwise everything looks and feels nice now.

The L & R triggers:
Then came a challange i had not been looking forward too; The trigger design.
These triggers has quite a complex shape and interaction with the shell & sidepieces.
I want them to have a good amount of travel for the resistive slider to have a good effect and to mimick the original GBA triggers.
From modding GBA consoles alot, i have a ton of the original and 3rd party buttons laying around and designed around using an original steel spring. The trigger is 1,2 times larger but i hoped it would work just the same.
This is how the design came out:
Around 6 degrees of travel ~4-5mm travel in the outer area.
I will revisit the triggers again to make an interface with the slider and button on the main custom PCB.

Time to print and test it all out:
Printing went fine, testing with PLA, but want to do nylon or other heat resistant shell material for final design.
The PCB is printed as a dummy.
4 M3-screws from the back shell keep everything together atm.
There is a slit in the PCB for the screen flex-cable to come through. The rest of the PCB holds down the screen mechanically.
Playing around with a good placement for the screen-pcb, with a good bend and acces to the HDMI-port.
Everything came together nicely.

Results of button tests:
The triggers came out SO much better than i could have hoped for. The right was smooth like butter, the other scraped a little bit of plastic. So minor tweeks for a perfect fit every time.
All the other buttons and joysticks work great.
Exept for the Start button. I still havent done anything here. Its a bit in limbo, and need to look at that together with the Z-trigger / triggers.
The L/R triggers have a nice long travel and the original springs hold up just fine.
When holding and "playing" on the console, you can really feel the potential for a nice gaming experience.

Wrapping up and goals for next time:
For next time i want to look at.

• Batteries.
  • I want 2x 18650 batteries, but can allredy see that it might be a challenge.
• Import and place the OMGWTF trimmed Wii.
  • Make cooling and fan design.
• Make room for Z-triggers.
• Design a placement for speakers.

Thank you for following along. See you in the next post.

 

[Stitches]

Man that's nice