N64M Coming Soon....

Includes but not limited to: SNES, Genesis, Sega CD, PlayStation 1, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, Game Gear and I guess the Virtual Boy.

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XFactor
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N64M Coming Soon....

Post by XFactor »

I am jazzed about this :D. I've wanted to reveal my project for some time now and offer a preview, but my plans were not as developed as they are now.

I am making a portable which I have named the N64M, or N64 Micro. Like that which is out currently (the original NES version that is), it is significantly smaller than the other portables I have seen here on the forums.

The portable I am building will be almost the exact width of the motherboard for the N64 (the case will increase width by about 3 mm at most) and the length will be increased by only about an inch (half an inch on both sides to accommodate buttons). The depth will be a little more than an inch due to the cart slot; however, the grips on both sides where you can hold the unit will be about a half an inch to allow for comfort.

This is not a brainstorm; I have actually already done my power wiring for all of my parts (screen/speakers and N64) and in doing so have found out how to make the unit as small as I have planned it to be. The problem came down to the battery positions, because as you will see in the specs below, I am putting a lot of power into this small package. Just to note, I already possess 95% of these parts.

Specs:

Hardware:
*PSone screen + stock speakers
*N64 (obviously)
*N64 Controller buttons (I thought about swapping these out because of how large the joystick housing is, but I figured out how to get around this by modifying it)
*25mm fan which moves 3.5 cfm at 5V.
*3 Heatsinks (company name has escaped me) which have been modified to be roughly 1.5cm high.
*Powerizer Batteries with PCB (7.4v at 4800mAH X 2 = 9600mAH)

I have mostly completed my vacuum former and am ordering black styrene to form with probably next week.

My estimated time of completion for my N64M will be mid to late June because 1. I have very little money right now and need to buy the second battery by getting another job and 2. I am in school, which sucks because I have no time to portablize.

There you have it I guess. I'll be updating this periodically probably next week, since I have to go to my cousin's college graduation this weekend.
Kurt_ wrote:Why not try this:
1) Slap your friend across the face for buying an ipod. They're made to fail after a year or two, regardless of how well you care for them.
2) Slap him again.
3) Go buy him a Creative Zen or something.
daguuy
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Post by daguuy »

sounds awsome, that some elite batteries you got 8) . it's hard to make N64ps small, you might have to relocate the expansion pack (those wires are really close together) and N64 analog sticks are pretty bulky and PSones screen PCBs aren't much smaller than a rounded down N64 board. and you'll have to do all that small stuff while making sure your N64 doesn't die, some are really tough but some die really easily. good luck!
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csurban
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Post by csurban »

just curious... how much did you pay for everything? those batteries sound awfully expensive :?
nope... can't think of anything I could possibly want to put in my Signature Block...
Skyone
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Post by Skyone »

I predict $50 for both.
marshallh
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Post by marshallh »

That's pretty much my idea for my next n64 portable. /me wonders how you will cram the batteries in there. :P
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vskid
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Post by vskid »

Skyone wrote:I predict $50 for both.
If he got them from power101, I predict it is under $50, with shipping.
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toby dawg
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Post by toby dawg »

marshallh wrote:That's pretty much my idea for my next n64 portable. /me wonders how you will cram the batteries in there. :P
Another ...man your the n64 king....how many have you fried??
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XFactor
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Post by XFactor »

Hey all, just thought i'd clarify some stuff/answer some questions.

daguuy: Yeah, the batteries were expensive (nearly $50 apeice), but for the power they pack, it's well worth the price. As you know, the joystick runs off of an LED based movement recognition system (wow that sounded official :shock:), so I couldn't cut the housing apart to risk letting light into the housing and thus causing the thing to go haywire while playing it (vents are right there behind it, so light comes in). I instead cut into the joystick housing by making a slit so the motherboard would actually fit inside that slit, allowing the housing to be anchored while at the same time not letting any light in. And no, i am not so ambitious as to start rounding down the mobo for fear of death, both N64 wise and myself from anger :wink:. I actually am taking advantage of the heatsink and the holes cut into the mobo to anchor it and am turning it into a cart slot holder. I'll show pictures of this later on so you can see better what i'm saying.

csurban: Around $250-$300, i am not sure at this point but that's what it's looking like. Making things small requires expensive parts unfortunatly :?.

Skyone: You were right, look above.

marshallh: Not this week but the week after next, i'll be able to show you all how I crammed 8 batteries into my case without sacraficing a lot of space. It took a lot of planning and pondering but it worked out awsome.

I'll update from time to time when I get the chance.
Kurt_ wrote:Why not try this:
1) Slap your friend across the face for buying an ipod. They're made to fail after a year or two, regardless of how well you care for them.
2) Slap him again.
3) Go buy him a Creative Zen or something.
marshallh
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Post by marshallh »

The controller stick uses photodiodes and infrared leds. Having tem exposed to light won't do anything bad (same kind of thing as a TV remote.)
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XFactor
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Post by XFactor »

Cool, that'll help me a lot by removing stress from letting light in. I am actually thinking of using a Xbox Type-S button for my trigger if enough space is avaliable. I don't think I mentioned that or not, but it's just a thought at this point...
Kurt_ wrote:Why not try this:
1) Slap your friend across the face for buying an ipod. They're made to fail after a year or two, regardless of how well you care for them.
2) Slap him again.
3) Go buy him a Creative Zen or something.
XFactor
Posts: 165
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:21 pm

Post by XFactor »

Just an update:

I just bought a dremel despite how low my bank account is right now; so, for the next few days, I will work on finishing my vacuum former so when i am finished with everything else, I won't have to worry about it. Right now, I have three things to do in this order:

1.) Finish vac-former
2.) REWIRE cart slot (ugg :x <hits self with live salmon about fifty times and then eats it ferociously out of anger>)
2b.) Rewire DC-DC, video, and power so there are not as many wires floating within the case.
2c.) Get a job so i can buy another battery.
3.) Design case from my plans.
4.) Vacuum form buck (aka the case mold) then put it all together
5.) Test portable for temperature control and other stuff so i know it won't explode.
6.) Game and forget about my girlfriend in the process (haha, just kidding, but not really)

So that's the plan really. It seems like a lot, but i should have it done before graduation in june. I am hoping that i can at least play it while all my teachers are giving their "be successful in your futures or else you'll die a crack addict" speech.
Kurt_ wrote:Why not try this:
1) Slap your friend across the face for buying an ipod. They're made to fail after a year or two, regardless of how well you care for them.
2) Slap him again.
3) Go buy him a Creative Zen or something.
monkeymagic
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Post by monkeymagic »

dude use copper header pins and a scsi cable for relocation soo much easier
XFactor
Posts: 165
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:21 pm

Post by XFactor »

***Update***

I have just put on my heatsinks using thermal compound and hot glue. I opted to use new heatsinks as i saw the method of scaling down the preexisting heatsink too time consuming (plus i had already bought the new ones, but they also add the advantage of space which i so desperatly need).

Making the unit "micro" has proved a daunting task for the past few weeks, mainly because the fan is a damn hard thing to position. I am considering buying a new blower-type fan because it will significantly cut down on the space needed to house it. The one i have now is a normal parallel flow fan, and positioning it so it can suck in enough air would require me to make major modifications. Needless to say, i don't want to do that, so i think i will have to dish out some extra dollars in the coming weeks. All i have to do now is find a comperable blower fan to my 25mm one...

The joystick is also proving annoying to position. I don't even want to deal with it right now because i have to re-re-locate (yeah...i know) the cart slot from regular 22 guage wire to scsi cable; but i can't just use the ribbon. I have to strip every wire from the ribbon and individually solder each. It'll be a female of the dog species, but i have to so that when you put the cart in, the label is visible from the backside. Basically, this means that once i relocate the slot normally, the wire (or the very thin scsi cables) will have to be rotated 180 degrees so everything is essentially inverted. It's hard to visualize, but i'll post pics after i do it. That'll be by the end of the week i expect.

So basically, in summation, everything is moving along. I had to stop for a while because of finals, but everything should be completed by the end of June or early July.

Now it's off to find a new fan...
Kurt_ wrote:Why not try this:
1) Slap your friend across the face for buying an ipod. They're made to fail after a year or two, regardless of how well you care for them.
2) Slap him again.
3) Go buy him a Creative Zen or something.
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