Pi in a Gameboy Advance Build - WIP

obsidianspider

Even though I measured over and over again, it still looked "off", but at a certain point, you just have to go for it. I measured, measured again, then taped, and even compared with guides in GIMP.

After quintuple checking everything, I added a dab of glue to the two corners not held by hot glue. Now I wait.

Of course, I accidentally got a dab of ABS cement on the front of the case on the opposite side, and while I wiped it off immediately, the case is no longer perfect. Hopefully it'll not show too much when I paint. I need to be more careful.

After things set up overnight I can do the other corners, working my way around over the course of a few days so as to not cause things to warp.

obsidianspider

Well THAT didn't work. I checked on the case tonight and at some point while things were curing, the case cracked. I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe the ABS cement caused stress or it contracted or something, but those who lines on the right are cracks. I pulled the DS Lite plastic out before the ABS cement had totally settled so I could attempt to reuse it, but I'm going to have to rethink things now. I do have that spare case from celly, but maybe this DS Lite hybrid thing isn't going to work. I don't want to butcher a ton of cases just to get this figured out.

FlyingTomahawk

@obsidianspider

Ouch!
Would it not have been better to just drill out the other two holes on a stock case? The holes would not be straight as with the DS layout but you could avoid cracks.

backstander

@obsidianspider
That's not good...I guess when the ABS cement dries, it must expand?

moosepr

@obsidianspider I don't think cracks are a major issue. You can reinforce it from the back with the abs glue, and you will be filling and painting so you won't actually see it

obsidianspider

@FlyingTomahawk Yeah, but I really wanted symmetrical buttons. When have I ever been known to go the easy route?

@backstander I'm not sure what happened. It was cracked on the face, but not on the perpendicular edge, so at least it wasn't fully separated.

@moosepr You're absolutely right. Since this is already damaged, I might as well try to repair it. I put some ABS cement in the crack, on the front, and rear, and since I'll be smoothing things out anyway, hopefully it won't be noticeable. If it is, well, then I'll adjust.

I'm going to let the repair cure, see how that goes, then try putting in the DS Lite part again.

obsidianspider

Round 2: Ready... Go!

moosepr

@obsidianspider 10-Attack String:

F, F(Hold) + RP, LP, RP, RP, LK, RK, RK, LP, RP, LP

obsidianspider

@moosepr I was always more of a fan of Mai myself.

moosepr

@obsidianspider i spent too many hours playing tekken :)

obsidianspider

@moosepr I can't say I've ever actually played Tekken. I do remember seeing a massive one at the arcade though.

moosepr

@obsidianspider i think tekken 3 owes me a few years of my life

klachow

@obsidianspider Damn... I think I let out an audible gasp, when i saw the cracks. I'm rooting for you though. Great build log!

klachow

@glennlake said in Pi in a Gameboy Advance Build - WIP:

@klachow enjoy watching your install! On the subject of USBs I don't know much but I googled around and found this site. It may be overkill but it has a lot of info. http://www.usbmadesimple.co.uk/index.html
Check it out.

Great resource! I read until it started sounding Greek and bookmarked it for when i'm smarter. ;)

glennlake

@klachow I'm with you. I do electronics stuff but not that deep!!

obsidianspider

Things seem to be working. After the case didn't crack more yesterday, I added more ABS cement around the inside, waited a few hours, then last night I added more ABS cement all around the outside of the case. This morning, it looks pretty good. Lots of bubbles in the ABS cement, but from what I've read, that's pretty normal.

I still couldn't help but think it looked crooked, but with all of the angles going on, I really think it must be an optical illusion. I assume that the screen hole opening is square, and based everything on that and the d-pad opening on the other side. It's not perfect, but darn close. Maybe it'll look better once everything is a uniform color.

I want to let the ABS cement cure before I try to sand anything, and I have a busy weekend ahead, so I think I'll attempt to smooth things out in a few days.

moosepr

@obsidianspider i think because the bottom of the GBA slopes down, you naturally assume that the buttons need to too. on first glance on your initial shot, i thought the left needed to go down a smidge, but then the lines convinced me that it was actually an optical illusion. probably doesnt help that the normal GBA buttons slope in the same direction as the bottom edge of the device, so you are expecting the new buttons to do the same maybe?

obsidianspider

Woo hoo! Camble made some of his safe poweroff switches available for sale. I just ordered a few. I know I'll want one for this build, and since they're not always available I want one for a potential upcoming DMG build, or any other portables that are big enough to merit a safe shutdown. (Sorry VMU)

obsidianspider

…and then I see something like this on Reddit.

It took about 3 hours as I was trying to be really careful putting it together.

Oh the wonders of custom PCBs and kits.

moosepr

@obsidianspider yeah but thats cheating :P and its not a Pi3!! and the other buttons dont match!! i could go on :P