The eN64p STATUS: Finalizing case. Total cost: $134

[robm]

Eh, we'll see. I love me my clicks

[zealot2009]

nice thread read it all anyway how is it going? it has been a week

[asdfjkl;]

have you gotten the buttons yet?

[robm]

Nope, haven't gotten the buttons yet. Sorry for the lack of updates; if you remember the screen housing plate thingy (:lol:) I'm working on getting that smoothed out and looking good. It's requiring a LOT of Bondo. I'm beginning to suspect this thing will weigh a freakin ton, but that's ok with me - I like heft to my stuff.

My main concern right now is getting the button situation squared away - once I get the rest of em, I need to start working on having them functional, and have the wires for the controller squared away. None of the original controller will be used except for soldering purposes.

As much as I hate to do so, I think the cartridge slot is going to remain right where it's at. The case is large enough to allow a rear-entry slot, and it actually looks pretty good, and it's out of the way.

I'll let you know as soon as the buttons get here.

[eurddrue]

kk, I sent them in an envalope though, and it was rather....thick. So I was wondering if it would go through the mail or get sent back to me. I put it in the mail on saturday night, I had larengitis so I missed thursday and friday school, so it probably didn't go out until monday...

[robm]

Haha, good timing, they showed up today. THANK YOU, they work perfectly (aside from an idiotic mistake by me,) and they were packaged awesome. Thank you!

And with that, I can do a pic update - I finished sanding the screen housing tonight.





The buttons aren't in there yet, as I've got to do some last minute filing and fitting. My dumb mistake was that since I did not have the buttons while making the case, I screwed up on how they were fitted into the case - they're crooked

Oh well, they'll work, so who cares.

Yes, it looks a little rough, but don't forget - there's going to be a plexiglass cover going over the screen area, with a nice printed vinyl graphic on top. I'll post a photoshopped image later to give an idea where I'm going.

[robm]

Here's another Robm crappy photoshop for you: (in-game screenshot shamelessly stolen from Sifuf's portable worklog)

[bacteria]

I like to see portables with character, rather than just a plain rectangle made from a generic plastic project case. Yours certainly has character, well done for that. Nice non-standard shape and sloping sides, great. The system is quite large however, but that's fine. One suggestion I will make however, is to re-sand the case thoroughly and get it smooth and looking nice - looks rough at the moment - spend a few hours finishing it off nicely and you will have a really nice looking system to be proud of. Anyway, that's my 2 cents!

[robm]

i'm typing this on a tablet pc while we wait for our ultrasound appointment, so excuse the mistakes

thanks bacteria! i do plan on finishing the case, once mock fitting all the parts together. i admit i'm impatient, though... shouldn't get too hasty, i guess.

hmm... boy or girl...

[robm]

And for child #3, it's going to be a boy! Woohoo!

Ok, back on topic.

Now that I'm not on a tablet PC:

The case is extremely rough, even more so than what it looks like in the picture. I will finish it off at some point, though that may wait until I have everything together and working. Then I'll pull it apart and round out the case.

Next is to do the back half of the case. Thankfully, it's going to require far less work than the front. There is quite a bit to be done, however, such as finishing off the cart slot (cut, and cart fits into slot on N64 motherboard perfectly.)

Once all THAT'S done... then I can finish up getting the hardware together and shoved into the case.

[64M320N3]

That there needs some sandin', boyo.
Nice work! I love it!
(Congrats on the boy.)

[Mario]

I like to see portables with character, rather than just a plain rectangle made from a generic plastic project case. Yours certainly has character, well done for that. Nice non-standard shape and sloping sides, great. The system is quite large however, but that's fine. One suggestion I will make however, is to re-sand the case thoroughly and get it smooth and looking nice - looks rough at the moment - spend a few hours finishing it off nicely and you will have a really nice looking system to be proud of. Anyway, that's my 2 cents!

[64M320N3]

Ya.
Oh well, it's still another awesome (and cheap) portable.

[robm]

Eh, you still get the props for a small N64

Mine is... not small. Or light.

That there needs some sandin', boyo.
Nice work! I love it!
(Congrats on the boy.)

Thank you, thank you. And yeah... it does need some sanding. Badly. I'm on break from school for a bit, so I'll have some more free time while I'm not at work to hammer on this portable for the next two weeks until the next quarter begins.

This is going to be the last small update for a while; going forward, I won't post unless I've made some major progress to report to avoid having a 30 page worklog, as I've got quite a bit farther to go.

Here is the placement of the z-button. You can think of this view as looking at the top of the case, on the left side.



That is a severely cut-down L1 button from a Pelican PS2 controller (obtained for free. Woot!) By cut-down, I mean the PCB for the button itself is cut down. The PCB would have stuck up from the button by about a half-inch, which would have been entirely (and completely unnecessarily) too large, as the same PCB fed both L1 and L2. Naturally, the batteries in my camera died as I was taking that last pic. After I mold the button into the case, fiberglass and bondo this back half of the case, I'll post another update.

[bacteria]

I wasn't referring to any particular system Mario, nor of yours; in case you were wondering. At the end of the day, a box is a box is a box. A system with curves, sloping sides, angled, etc is interesting. Whilst this system box is quite large, it is certainly an interesting shape. To take what I mean to the extreme, if everyone made a portable in a shoe box, after the first two are done, the view towards any more is "meh", and interest waves: sites like Engadget (and others) probably wouldn't bother posting them; if however the systems are themed or unusual shapes or sizes, people are interested. People are fickle these days! That's why Sifuf's portable got so much interest, it was unusual as it was far smaller than regular systems and looked good - hence over 520k hits.