Pi Portable

Pifan

Ok, so I couldn't come up with a witty name for my project, it is what it is.

Here is my first attempt at a portable Pi gaming system. It took a 6 months to complete. I'm hoping my next one will be quicker as a lot of the time went into research and part sourcing. There wasn't quite as much info around when I started, but just recently the Pi Gameboy modding scene seems to have really taken off and I'm getting lots of good ideas.

I didn't do a progress log or get any proper WIP shots so here it is in its finished state:

Front View

Side View

It's my own design but it's obviously inspired by the classic SNES joypad.

It features:

homemade Vacuum formed casework shell
Rasberry Pi A+
2.8" Adafruit tft display
A, B, Start & Select buttons
headphone jack
Adafruit Powerboost 500 charging circuit
2,000 mAh lipo battery
4 x spare (Menu) buttons 3D printed in Ninjaflex
red low battery led (small hole next to orange menu buttons)
green power on led
battery charge status led (blue whilst charging, red when done)
micro USB charging port
mini USB external socket (seriously wish I had gone with micro USB once I realised that I had practically no devices that would hook up to this!)

Things I'm happy with:

the case turned out better than I expected
it's comfortable to hold IMO
the action buttons all work very well (better than when they were in the rubbish SNES gamepad I sacrificed)
I feel the paint job turned out nice, it has a matte satin finish (on purpose)

Things I think could be improved upon:

no internal speaker, I would probably change this in hindsight
slightly squeaky D-pad and the action isn't quite right
would prefer a micro USB socket
paint job is not mega tough and will scrape off if not careful
button configuration is a bit wacky *

Button configuration * - OK, so it can't actually do SNES without plugging an external controller in because it only has A + B buttons. Yep, the green and blue buttons should be X + Y but instead I chose to make them Start and Select. When I was building the thing I only intended to make it for NES games, I have always preferred the look of the SNES pad though and this layout was aesthetically pleasing to me.

Here's the inside of the case, the whole thing was made to come apart if needed, everything is screwed into the case and the case itself has two screws countersunk into the back to hold it together. It doesn't really need these screws because there is a lip that runs around the whole edge that applies tension between the two halves.

Inside View

You can see from this angle the headphone jack, power switch and holes next to the switch for power status LEDs.

The most challenging bit of soldering on this was relocating the status LEDS on the Powerboost 500. I wrecked one board completely after successfully soldering all the necessary, only to give it a gentle tug and pull the copper pads off of the traces, Doh!

My second attempt ...

Powerboost

I used a little hot glue for reinforcement.

Lastly, here is a rubbish photo size comparison next to a DMG. Incidentally, this is the new project that I am currently working on. Not much done to it yet, it's a good quality China copy case with bright yellow silicone rubber buttons purchased separately. I intend to have shoulder buttons at least with this one, like a GBA.

Size comparison

glennlake

@Pifan The pictures didn't transfer. It may be the bit.ly links.

Pifan

@glennlake - Hi, thanks for pointing that out. I haven't used image hosting sites before so I don't know what I'm doing.

Is it any better now? I moved them from my Google images account to Imgur. I can see them on my desktop but they don't display on my phone.

glennlake

@Pifan Thanks!! Well worth the wait!! That's something like what I am planning(been gathering parts for quite a wile now) but with a 5 in screen and more control buttons for MAME games along with nes and snes and whatever else I chose.

Pifan

@glennlake - Thanks, glad you liked it. A larger screen and more buttons are definitely something worth having, I was using parts I had to hand on this build, otherwise a bigger screen would have been ideal for sure. I'd like to see some pictures of your build when it's done. It's always good to get inspiration from others.

lostmuppet

The thing I like the most about your design is that it looks very spacious inside and fairly tidy, a job well done.

Pifan

@lostmuppet Cheers! Yeah, I'm a bit of a one for making things neat when I create stuff, so if that comes accross in the picture I feel like I've succeeded in that respect. I think I may be a bit rougher with my new project though, as I'm eager to play it already.

Regarding the space inside, there was a bit of room left over and I do slightly regret not putting an internal speaker in there, but... oh well. Nevermind.

TheLuthier

Super clean build @Pifan! Congrats on completing your first portable. Love the vacuum-formed case. It looks comfortable to play.

Pifan

@TheLuthier thanks. I'm pleased with it and yeah, it is comfortable to play. The vaccuum forming turned out better than I expected. How is your PiSP mk II with DS parts coming along?

TheLuthier

@Pifan - I pulled the trigger on it a couple weeks ago actually! It's going pretty well so far. I'm taking my time and documenting a worklog over at bitfix gaming.