Bacteria's project - PSone portable: IntoPlay finished: PICS

[sonic4freedom]

Beautiful! i like that clear cover idea, mind if i use that for my next portable?

[bacteria]

Beautiful! i like that clear cover idea, mind if i use that for my next portable?

Feel free; I am happy for people to copy my ideas in their projects, which is why I post detailed step-by-step guides. Enjoy!

Have to buy more spraypaint, my cream one is nearly dead and I need more layers on the backing plate!! May as well buy 3 more cans, will need them for future projects anyway.

[hailrazer]

Have to buy more spraypaint, my cream one is nearly dead and I need more layers on the backing plate!! May as well buy 3 more cans, will need them for future projects anyway.

I feel your pain. went through 3 cans of Krylon fusion on Each of my portables.

I wanted them right.

[bacteria]

Have to buy more spraypaint, my cream one is nearly dead and I need more layers on the backing plate!! May as well buy 3 more cans, will need them for future projects anyway.

I feel your pain. went through 3 cans of Krylon fusion on Each of my portables.

I wanted them right.

Wow, that's a lot.

I estimate, on my cases, a can of primer should last at the least 6+ systems, final coat varnish at least 6+ systems; but a can of regular spray paint per system, to put a good thick coating (multiple coats) on.

[hailrazer]

Have to buy more spraypaint, my cream one is nearly dead and I need more layers on the backing plate!! May as well buy 3 more cans, will need them for future projects anyway.

I feel your pain. went through 3 cans of Krylon fusion on Each of my portables.

I wanted them right.

Wow, that's a lot.

I estimate, on my cases, a can of primer should last at the least 6+ systems, final coat varnish at least 6+ systems; but a can of regular spray paint per system, to put a good thick coating (multiple coats) on.

Well I had a lot of filling / sanding/ priming/ sanding/ filling/ etc....

And I was a perfectionist. Any mistake and I sanded and repainted. And I still didn't get them perfect.

I hate sanding/painting. Wish I had an injection mold machine.

[bacteria]

Small update only, between night shifts at moment.

Don't forget after spray painting and varnishing to finely sand the control button holes made before; I just spent a couple of hours gently sanding these areas so the fit is just loose enough for all the controls and buttons. The painting process only has to fill the holes by less than 1/4mm and buttons become a tight fit; gentle sanding the holes cures this issue. Better to do it now than during case assembly!

Still have some paint in my spray paint, nozzle was a bit clogged, turned can upside down and squirted for 3 seconds, all ok - will get more spray paint in next couple of days anyway, but might have enough in can to finish the backing plate.

Update - topside of backing plate finished, just got underside to do now. Will have that finished tomorrow (Wednesday) - will be starting to put guts into system tomorrow (the fun begins!). When I get the decals done, I will have to mask over the case with tape so only the areas with the decals are exposed, for spray varnishing. I have half of tomorrow and most of Thursday and Friday for project work, so want to make some progress!

[BoomBox-Creations]

Thats a lot of paint for a handheld...

I used 3 cans of Krylon fusion on my old bomb ( car )....

3 cans per portable is a lot..

[Neildo_64]

Thats a lot of paint for a handheld...

I used 3 cans of Krylon fusion on my old bomb ( car )....

3 cans per portable is a lot..

Not really if you want it perfect. Most people say good enough, but there are some of us who go the extra mile (or five).

[BoomBox-Creations]

Not really if you want it perfect. Most people say good enough, but there are some of us who go the extra mile (or five).

maybe, but the car was BIG i mean big bonnet, huge boot, fits 5 or 6 7ft surf boards without going over the back seats.

2 front seats and 3 along the back, with a lot of foot space in between the front and the back. and it was a really wide car.

we could fit 5 of us on the back seat without being crampt up and at the time we were 18 to 25.

And the car is bigger in length and width than a Toyota extended 4wD.

When i see my parents next ( since it is theirs now ) ill take a few pics for ya's

but im not seeing them in a while... not until half way through jan or the start of feb...

[bacteria]

...back on topic...

Decals arrived today, I got two types of waterslide decal sheets. Both types are designed for printing via an inkjet printer.

The clear sheet needs a bit more attention to get the result, but starts out clear which is great.

Item: link

Instructions for use:

1. Load the Inkjet water-slide, decal paper sheets into the printer and make sure that they are sitting straight in the feeder tray. If the sheets are not straight this may lead to ink blotches at the sides of the sheet, or images being printed at an angle.

2. You can use the usual settings on your printer, as there are no special set-up requirements.

3. Once printed leave the sheet for 30 minutes to dry flat.

4. Spray with 4 thin coats of acrylic varnish. This will fix the water based, Inkjet ink to the decal sheet. Make sure that this step is followed closely otherwise the ink will bleed/come off in the next stage which involves water. Please also note that if the varnish is sprayed too thickly it can also cause problems, so try a test spray from the can on some old newspaper, to make sure that you are used to the amount of spray that the nozzle emits before use.

5. Cut out the designs with a pair of scissors, or a craft knife. If you are using the clear decal sheets, then small borders around the image can sometimes be easier to work with and give a better finished effect.

6. Put the image into a bowl of water for 30 seconds.

7. Gently pick up the decal and feel between your finger tips. If the backing starts to slip away from the image and you can feel a sticky membrane between the decal and the backing, then your decal is ready to use. Make sure that you do not slip the image off of the backing completely.

8. Carefully move the backing so that there is a very small lip of decal showing above the backing.

9. Shake off any excess water.

10. Apply the lip of decal to the desired surface.

11. Gently and slowly move the backing away from the decal image, allowing the decal to stick to the desired surface. Any rapid or clumsy movements here can cause bubbling, or the decal to rip.

12. Once the decal is placed on the surface it is possible to gently move it into place. Please remember that the decal is extremely fragile at this point.

13. Once in place use a lint free cloth to dab off excess water and remove any air bubbles.

14. Leave to dry for 24 hours.

15. Varnish the surface for extra protection (not recommended on soap).

Useable surfaces include; candles, soap, plastic, or varnished wood. You can use these for plastic model kits, bicycles and other metalwork too.

This sheet cost £2.25 including postage; the other ones I got start off white but can be made transparent, and also cheaper to buy at £1.25 a sheet including postage. I will use the clear one for my project, thought it worth experimenting with the others to compare too, later.

Item: link

Instructions for use:

Use To Decorate Ceramic Tiles, Model Cars Model Boats, Model Aircraft, Mugs, Plates, Candles - In Fact You Can Decorate Almost Any Smooth Clean Surface !

From a leading European producer of high-quality inkjet paper. This is a waterslide, photo-quality, decal paper for inkjet printing. Just print your designs onto the sheet using your Inkjet Printer, no need to reverse the image. Cut out the design and float in a saucer of water then slide it onto the article to be decorated.

This material has a white background but can be rendered transparent by applying a coat or two of clear acrylic varnish. Not suitable for articles that are to be immersed in water or exposed to the elements.

Decals can be varnished to improve durability. Some items may be baked in a cool oven or made more permanent with a hair dryer.

Both sets came this morning, which is handy.


Bought more spray paint today, old can ran out. Will show pics of back plate tomorrow when it is dry and decals on.

Spent a while changing the decals and getting them ready to print.

These are the decals:



Used the standard contrast/brightness and volume icons, a running man for "start" arrow on fake button for "select" plus recharge and headphones. Needed to do some photoediting to get these results.

Whilst the decals are drying, time to update you on some case construction this morning:

Bear with me, making this guide as easy to follow as possible:

Pry off the speakers from both sides of the case.



Gently pull off the two plugs to remove them:





Remove the five screws from the PSone screen mobo.



GENTLY lift off the brown tab to release the ribbon.





Put pliers onto the plug below to remove the connections to the screen. Be careful not to pull the wires.





You may have noticed, my system is put onto a piece of glass; non conductive, easy to move about on desk; and also, put the screen when working on the case onto an old cloth, to protect screen and case from scratches.

Snip the wires going to the speakers, keep a small amount of wires connected to the speakers, so you know which wire to extend from/to later.



Not wiring to the plugs, as you will have noticed above, this is because there is no room to allow for wires from the end of a plug to bend around - instead, will solder directly to the pins.



Time to start assembly! Let's start with the speakers. The speaker terminals will be at the bottom of the case, to make it neat. The plastic surround on the speaker corner needs to be trimmed off so it fits in the case - make sure you don't dremel off the rubber surround area.



Worked out where the screen goes in relation to the speakers; want to have about 2mm gap between the three components.



The two metal tabs from the screen need to be dremeled off otherwise the speakers don't fit.



Used some UHU glue (it is great stuff for sticking to plastics, etc) to stick to the rubber surround of the speakers, put them in place, then secured them with a little hot glue around perimeter. I used the same method to secure the d-pad and 4 button control pad in place.



This is how it looks so far - snug but all fits. Screen isn't secured in place yet, other components in pic are.

[jjhammerstein]

I think Start and Select should just be text, just like on the original controller.


Also, I your logo doesn't look too good at that size.
Do you have a PSD file I could tinker with?
I want to try and make a mini version that's still true to the original.

[bacteria]

Normally text is better, yes, but I think on this projects, logos are better - discreet. My system, my choice after all - you can make yours however you like; I just think having "select" and "start" in text wouldn't look so nice.

Logo is smaller, one on left is for the backing plate, the one on right is for the front of the case under the screen; the Bacteria logo is for the inside of the backing plate, BTW.

[Kyo]

You guys have UHU?

Anyway, why did you print your avatar?

Ah well, great progress and another great idea. I think I might just label one of my future projects the same way. You always have these great ideas

[bacteria]

You guys have UHU?

Anyway, why did you print your avatar?

Ah well, great progress and another great idea. I think I might just label one of my future projects the same way. You always have these great ideas

I've been using UHU glue since I was a lad; great all purpose glue; seems happy to stick plasticard, perspex, card, etc.

I may not even put my avatar onto my case, not sure yet; see how it looks!

No more updates today, should be quite a few tomorrow; as I will be mounting in the joysticks, shoulder buttons, the controller boards, screen, etc.

I think, even at this stage, you can see all components are squeezed against each other; this case is as small as it can be - to the extent I need to trim off part of the PSone screen mobo and rewire a few wires and grind down a corner of the joysticks (more on that tomorrow).

[bacteria]

Oh, alright then, one more update!

The one fear I had is a possibility of being a problem, the system might be TOO THIN due to the thickness of the joysticks and the components on the PSone console board. Never fear though, Bacteria has the answer!

Yup, open up the batteries, they are two cells per battery pack, I can pack in 4 or maybe 6 individual cells (at a push) into the case strategically, whereas keeping them in their usual block of 2 makes them harder to place.

I just need to snip the terminals and protection circuits to the batteries and wire them back, with the cells placed in better places in the case.


Ok, tentatively put a thin screwdriver around the perimeter of the battery case and found a place where turning the screwdriver started to pop open the plastic shell; just worked around it until done, then used the screwdriver to lever off the shell from the cells.







Snap off the end bit by the battery terminal, to free the contact.





Press the metal contacts through, and release the cells from the rest of the shell. As per the other shell part, the cells have some sticky tape on them, which offer resistance to removing them.

Pic shows the protection circuit.





If I could have two batteries in parallel normally, with two cells in each battery with their own protection circuit, it is the same situation having them connected by wires in the same configuration in the case.

This also has to be safer than opening up one of the double height Canon BP-911 batteries; which will have 4 cells and one protection circuit - having 2 cells and 1 protection circuit, twice; gives two protection circuits working together, so if one fails, the case won't explode by overcharge (that's the logic anyway).

Comments welcome!