PortaCube WIP (UPDATED: 12/20)

[tzt2]

Hi, new to the forum. I see others have a worklog thread to post updates and get advice on, so I am doing the same, to keep things straight for me as well. I've been mulling over making a portable cube for two years, seeing hailraizers cube is the nail in the coffin - it's just inspired me to do this. I'm tired of wishing I could play on one of those - so I'm building one. For me.

I am an electronics technician and routinely work at surface mount level and am quite comfy with pcb mods. The process of obtaining all the parts required to get going is underway, my biggest concern is the case - reading some of the case construction threads has me even more ready to do this. Although I may have identified a good case from work that can be frankenmodded quite nicely.

It should be noted that this is my first attempt at anything quite like this - so my expectations are high and I hope I can deliver to myself......what I want.

In the process of obtaining a psone screen, however the seller just informed me it is not the sony screen - not sure what brand it is yet. I may go another route as I have many lcd's at work - but the interfacing may be more hassle than what I'm banking on. An all in one solution already prefabbed seems the best path.

I plan to document each step with pics and post as I go along. Wish me luck!

[Tchay]

Excellent! Welcome aboard! It's a lot of fun, especially when things work

I will look forward to seeing your work.

[hailrazer]

If I can be of help just ask

[tzt2]

Thanks guys, and a big thanks to you hailrazer - the great work you did with your recent project is what's got me really wanting to do this. I think I have a great case canidate as of this morning - will post pics soon.

So of course the questions begin - I have a cube with the digital out on it - should I be focusing on using this output, my thinking is the digital out may give me more flexability in regards to LCD modules - is this correct thinking? I haven't seen any discussions on the two options for getting AV data out of the unit.

or should I stick with the composite out?

Right now I'm in a crash course on LCD modules.

Big thanks.

[hailrazer]

Thanks guys, and a big thanks to you hailrazer - the great work you did with your recent project is what's got me really wanting to do this. I think I have a great case canidate as of this morning - will post pics soon.

So of course the questions begin - I have a cube with the digital out on it - should I be focusing on using this output, my thinking is the digital out may give me more flexability in regards to LCD modules - is this correct thinking? I haven't seen any discussions on the two options for getting AV data out of the unit.

or should I stick with the composite out?

Can't wait to see it

You can use the digital out to get RGB. But then you will need a component cable from Nintendo which costs around $60 on Ebay. And IMO on a screen 5" or less it's just not worth it. There's not that much of an improvement over composite.

[tzt2]

Great news, I am pretty confident that I just sealed the deal for an LCD with a PSOne, $60 - I offered $40 for the screen alone - we'll see what the response is - either way I'm buying.

It's not the sony screen though, but I figure for $40-60 bucks...I can't go wrong, can always be used for something else.

and here is a pic of the current case I'm considering, it is 2.43" deep, 9.51" wide and about 6.75" high, the front is kinda curved and the rear is flat, debating if it should not be reversed and use the flat panel as the front...not sure about how that'd feel in the hands. It's nice and hollow when the two pcb's are removed.



things are looking good, placing a digikey order pretty soon, maybe on monday and just place one order for everything I know I'll need. so feel free to give me suggestions, for sure the ffc's to extend the drive cables are already on the list, and the white LED's to mod the screen as well - right now I'm thinking I'm staying with the stock power regulator and going for the 14.8V battery voltage and charging circuit.

If there are any other parts someone is pretty sure I'll need and I can get from Digikey, please feel free to let me know. At the moment I can't think of anything else.

[Tchay]

Awesome! You will need a Low Battery LED indicator (unless your charger circuit comes with it). For the indicator you would need a few zener diodes, LEDs, switching transistor, and a basic 1k resistor. I assume digikey has those items although I haven't checked myself.

And I like your battery choice. 14.8v is a great way to go, and with your case design, you should have room for a battery with good capacity. Anything 3000mA and up will do the trick depending on how many hours you want

[tzt2]

thanks - I'll look up some part numbers from Digikey for those items - I found a power level meter at work - for 12v.

Tested it on my bench and it just goes blank when the voltage is over 13.6~ (funny...a typical charged 12vdc system is 13.8v), so I think I'll keep it but not use it for this project. Cool thing is there are 3 voltage monitor lines on the pcb, and it can easily be cut into 3 boards!!

My LCD is secured, picking it up next week from a local guy selling it, looks like I'm getting the psone as well - cool.

[tzt2]

activity for today:

just purchased the batteries / protection circuit and charger. 14.8vLiPo set up; http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=34576

off to research switches and led's.

[tzt2]

Got out the sawzall today and hacked off some outer edge material that needed to go from the case I've chosen. The blade got bogged down on one side and I did not see that for a few seconds, not too concerned - that area will be getting cut up further and there's going to be plenty of filling, sanding ect.. I still have to deal with the protruding connectors on the bottom.




TBH - I don't know what type of plastic this is, if anyone can tell by the pics - I'd be very appreciative.

Further activity for the day includes setting up a place to get the LCD.

Oh, I also got a couple hi bright blue LED's (I was going to replace my SNES LED) that I plan on using (at least one) for the rumble mod. I'm thinking something crazy with this - thinning out the case internally and having the light shine through the case.....have not quite figured this out in regards to the many coats of paint that will be applied.

[neverused]

TBH - I don't know what type of plastic this is, if anyone can tell by the pics - I'd be very appreciative.

I don't know if you did this already, but if you look on the inside, you may be able to see if the plastic is labeled (such as ABS).

[tzt2]

Nope, no stamps anywhere on the case. Went as far as getting the manuals online for the product, nothing in there either.

I hate to assume, and I want the best possible case. Maybe I'll call the maker and try to find out, not holding my breath though.

[tzt2]

Picked up the psone with lcd today, the display is an InterAct mobile monitor. The psone came with a couple games and a battery pack (!) - checked it out for a few minutes, and it seems okay - the colour on the screen is adjustable, as is the volume and brightness by rotary dials.

Take a gander:




Thoughts? There is AV input on this, I may leave that and have this thing capable of having external input still, doing so may require me to power the display separately though I think (it's own switch). Will have to see how space for this stuff works out.

I've also put a request in to find out exactly what type of plastic my case is made from.

The batteries are due to arrive by weeks end.....so.....short of placing my digikey order, and picking up plastic modification 'stuff' (bondo ect)...I have all the items needed. At least the ones I am aware of.

[tzt2]

Today the batteries arrived, that was a bit quicker than what I thought it would take.

The project is 14.8v - this is a single battery pack:

http://www.batteryspace.com/highpowerpo ... arate.aspx

The protection circuit:

http://www.batteryspace.com/pcbfor148vl ... ocket.aspx

...and the charger:

http://www.batteryspace.com/smartcharge ... isted.aspx

edit - short post, RE2 is on PSN tonight.

[nobble]

looking good man! keep us posted. I can't wait to see this finished