Nintendo SuperBoy (SNESp) case design - comments? advice?

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 10:52 am

shmagoogin77 wrote:looks like everything working out pretty good
everything is linein up

Amen to dat, brudda

Speaking of lining up, I got a brilliant idea for how to mount the shoulder buttons on the back of the ZN-40 case for the SNESp. I can't wait to blow you all away with the awesomeness of it! I'm thinking about having them work like the triggers on an xbox controller - vertical instead of horizontal

Oh bondo, here I come!

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:06 pm

I got off work a couple of hours early today so I went over to my aunt and uncle's house. My uncle has a scroll saw and a router that he said he'll let me use, so that's cool.

I got some MDF board from Lowe's (although you can get it just about anywhere). This stuff sands so easily and so smoothly that it'll be no problem to get it just right for vacuum forming.

I just got the basic outline done today. The next steps will be gluing the two 3/4" halves together, sanding them flush to one another, and then routing the edges so they're nice and rounded and oh-so-professional looking.

For the raised section for the screen, I'm trying to decide just how high to make it. The wood I have is 3/16" thick, so two layers equals just under a half inch. Is that too much or should I stick with the 3/16" thickness? Here's some pics to help:

Could anyone with some experience help me out?

Also, here's some pics of the "making of" and a picture of a free electric grill my uncle was planning on giving away - I asked him if I could take it off his hands and he said yes! I do have kind of a dinky one already that I also got for free, but this one is larger and looks like it will work better. We'll see how it goes.

MDF board - how sweet it is...

My uncle's scroll saw - it was fun learning how to use it

Hey, since I have extra MDF board and extra peg board, maybe I should go ahead and make a vacuum forming stand like the one in Ralis Kahn's tutorial...

I've been so crafty lately.

Edit: I've got another question - is it possible to have both the front and back plate be rounded and meet in the middle if the total thickness is only 3/4"? If so, how? I'd really like to do that but I don't know how else aside from just making the front and back and then trimming and sanding and stuff to get it to align just right.

Metroid fan · Post by **Metroid fan** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:23 pm

Make them together as the same part pegged together and then vacuum form the parts seperatly.

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 10:03 pm

Metroid fan wrote:Make them together as the same part pegged together and then vacuum form the parts seperatly.

I don't understand. Could you describe it some more?

Post by **gannon** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 11:16 pm

Build your mold in 2 halves attached with pegs while you build it so both halves are symmetrical, then pull them apart and form both portions separately.

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 5:24 am

yeah if you dont make them together and separate them then you might get some gaps between the halves

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 8:24 am

Okay, I understand better now. Thank you!

I was planning on just adding what I need for the back onto the back of my mold and then just flipping the thing over to vacuum form both sides. Would that work?

I guess what I'm trying to say is how the heck do I go about getting a straight cut for both sides if I make the front plate and back plate each 3/8" so I get a total thickness of 3/4"?

grahf · Post by **grahf** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 8:51 am

Looking good so far. Thats a nice saw to have access to.

Metroid fan · Post by **Metroid fan** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 9:08 am

Sorry I stink at explaining things.

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 10:16 am

Metroid fan wrote:Sorry I stink at explaining things.

Oh, please don't ever apologize for trying to help! I really appreciate it.

Thanks, grahf. He does have a band saw as well, but apparently it's in pieces right now and would have taken a bit to put it back together. My uncle made me laugh by telling me that for every new project he takes on he has to get a new power tool. I asked him if that's just the way it's worked out or if that's a personal rule. He said that it's a personal rule

Can't blame the man for buying cool toys, can we?

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 3:31 pm

joedog86 wrote:Okay, I understand better now. Thank you!

I was planning on just adding what I need for the back onto the back of my mold and then just flipping the thing over to vacuum form both sides. Would that work?

I guess what I'm trying to say is how the heck do I go about getting a straight cut for both sides if I make the front plate and back plate each 3/8" so I get a total thickness of 3/4"?

yeah it will as long as you make it really thick so it doesnt form around the curved edges and get stuck on the mold

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 3:47 pm

Turbo Tax 1.0 wrote:
joedog86 wrote:Okay, I understand better now. Thank you!

I was planning on just adding what I need for the back onto the back of my mold and then just flipping the thing over to vacuum form both sides. Would that work?

I guess what I'm trying to say is how the heck do I go about getting a straight cut for both sides if I make the front plate and back plate each 3/8" so I get a total thickness of 3/4"?
yeah it will as long as you make it really thick so it doesnt form around the curved edges and get stuck on the mold

So do you think I should add another layer of MDF board here?

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 5:32 pm

joedog86 wrote:
Turbo Tax 1.0 wrote:
joedog86 wrote:Okay, I understand better now. Thank you!

I was planning on just adding what I need for the back onto the back of my mold and then just flipping the thing over to vacuum form both sides. Would that work?

I guess what I'm trying to say is how the heck do I go about getting a straight cut for both sides if I make the front plate and back plate each 3/8" so I get a total thickness of 3/4"?
yeah it will as long as you make it really thick so it doesnt form around the curved edges and get stuck on the mold
So do you think I should add another layer of MDF board here?

well how thick is it?

Website · Post by **Life of Brian** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:59 pm

Well, it's two 3/4" boards on top of each other so that's 1-1/2".

Turbo, how thick was your mold for the Portendo? Looking at pictures of it, it looks outrageously thick. I assume you made the front and back of your case by using the same side of the mold?

Edit: Hey cool I broke 500 posts. How the heck do some of you guys get up in the thousands in just a few months? Spamming I suppose...

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 7:49 pm

joedog86 wrote:Well, it's two 3/4" boards on top of each other so that's 1-1/2".

Turbo, how thick was your mold for the Portendo? Looking at pictures of it, it looks outrageously thick. I assume you made the front and back of your case by using the same side of the mold?

Edit: Hey cool I broke 500 posts. How the heck do some of you guys get up in the thousands in just a few months? Spamming I suppose...

yeah about 3 inches thick

some advice for cutting the case loose once you mold it. try and mark the thickness you want on the plastic in a few places with a marker and a ruler. then wrap duct tape around the plastic shell along your marks and take the dremel to it nice and easy

also when you form, lube it up, it may not be aproblem with that mold but when i use my molds (pine wood) it is a little hard to get the plastic off without some cracking or cutting