Projekt Numbers.....On Hiatus :(

[Metallica Man X]

OK, here's an update!

Cause construction hath begun...although, these tests are mere experiments to see how the plastic behaves with certain materials, and orientation. These where mostly to figure out how I'm going to get the controller parts to work on it...

BUT, first things first...needed some tunes to work to..


I did quick work of this...my test wood...with many different kinds of holes to figure out how big a hole I'm gonna have to make in the back in order to have the vac formed plastic make a decent screw hole.


Once again, the vac table gets pulled out for some action!


Unfortunately, the first idea was a near total failure. However, it did give me some ideas towards how the cardboard behaves, and more importantly, how stuff can be arranged on the final product. Overall, the cardboard actually did pretty well in giving a decent temporary mold design for testing various shapes and figuring out how to mount those controller parts and whatever else.


In the 2nd experiment; I carved some holes into the cardboard to make the controller parts fit flush with the card board. Unfortunately, this also failed hard. Mainly cause I pulled the plastic out of the oven a little too soon...but the design idea didn't work so great overall as it made the case look...tumorous...didn't care much for that look lol.



After these tests, I'm tempted to ditch the controller parts all together. Not so much for space saving (however, ditching the controller parts will save a fair amount of space), but more or so to ease up on the case design and construction itself. Plus, it keeps the thing from having tumors

But, the old wheels are turning in mein noggin. I've got a few more ideas up my sleeve to try out. Too bad I'm out of plastic right now haha. Gotta wait for a fresh shipment.....

[dragonhead]

dont bother with trying to make screw holes with vac forming. it wont work. try making basic shapes and adhering them together with acetone or some other form of plastic weld.

[Metallica Man X]

Basic shapes? I don't think I understand what you're saying...

[dragonhead]

Basic shapes? I don't think I understand what you're saying...

to be honest, i dont either haha. i must have been out of it. i dont remember what i was trying to say. IGNORE ME! [/tall space guy]

[Metallica Man X]

OK some update-sauce!

So I finally got around to making the mold happen.

As you can tell, it's quite simple and to the point, nothing fancy.


Unfortunately, my vac table area is too small and my 12x12 plastic that I have sitting around is too small for this mold to work well....


But, with that failure, comes a good slab to practice on. Tested a new method of cutting the shape from the rest of the plastic, which worked out quite well. I also set up and cut out my layout design for the portable. Overall, it works pretty well.




But wait, what's this shiny thing in the middle of it? Mwa ha ha ha! None will know until its too late!
...and yeah, I know the buttons aren't lined up very well..I just did some quick dig-intos to try the layout feel with buttons...it'll look MUCH better on the final product when I drill-press it instead of just hand dremeling it

[leonexodio]

looks good so far keep it up

[eagle5953]

I like your labeling - wooden want to forget which one was the test block...

Going to try to have this ready for MGC 11?

[Metallica Man X]

That's the idea

If all goes well, I could have this thing finished as early as xmas..although I highly doubt that

[HotDog-Cart]

Just get your gundam to cut it for you with its laser sword.

Wait...

OH NO. NOW WERE ALL SCREWED.

Its jealous man. It KNOWS your sega plans.

Its dangerous out there, take this:

[Metallica Man X]

LOL best part about that picture is that my soldering iron is an orange Weller

[Metallica Man X]

Holy taco sammich an update!

Yeah..work has finally let me off crazy crap hours...so now I can finally get back to working on this thing.

...let the case building begin!

First thing on my list was to modify my vac table...as it was just slightly too small for the larger size of my new mold.


I also had to construct a new plastic holder too....


And so the first part became molded...didn't form fully tho, as I failed to center if properly...but it's still good for test purposes.


...and during said tests, I found that I forgot to cut down my disk drive, so I did just that...shaving it down to a nice 5.5" to fit happily inside the case area.




Unfortunately, I've run into another snag
..I ran out of plastic sheets large enough for this case....I have some more ordered up tho, so hopefully I'll get the goods in a couple of days and be able to continue.

[Pkmnjunky7]

I like what you're doing here. I really hope you get your video fixed! I'm amazed at how many updates you have crammed into this worklog. Everytime I would get to a new update I would think it was the last one, but NO! There were more and more and more and more. haha.

Good luck! I'm watching this closely!

[Metallica Man X]

Well, as much as I'd hate to say it...this thing is going on hiatus. The CD laser/motor system is failing hard, and it's rather disheartening (everything else is running fine tho...I even managed to solve the wobbly picture issue!--turns out it was a simple ground lead issue.

SO, until a later date, when I decide to spend a pile of dough on either another CDX to destroy, or a new laser/motor assembly, this thing is on hold.

BUT! This isn't the end of my Sega portablizing...I have a backup portable projekt in the works to keep me entertained...Codename: Projekt Pluto.

My progress thread for Pluto should appear fairly soon (I'm just waiting on parts to arrive right now)...I have an aim to get Projekt Pluto done a weeks time...so it should be amusing