Putting a Pi in a NES Cartridge Case
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Hey - sorry for the constant assistance :-(
I want to make a RetroPie in a NES cartridge. The questions I have are whether or not a blank case from China can be used? Wasn't sure if the cheap materials posed a fire risk with it not being a genuine Nintendo cart?
Fixing the parts in, can I use standard superglue to stick down the USB ports, and use double sided sticky tape to hold down the pi?
I'm just aware of the heat issues and don't want to set the whole thing on fire! Thanks
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I don't think you'll have heat issues to that extent, even with cheap plastic.
What kind of Pi will you be using? A Zero? A modified Pi 3?
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A Pi Zero W
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@jay81uk you probably wont need to hold the pi zero down. The hdmi cable holds it in place. And with the force of the bent hdmi cable if you stick the pi down you could damage the pi's hdmi port.
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Won't it wobble or rattle around inside though?
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@jay81uk Hold it down with a thin double sided tape.
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@jay81uk no. It holds in really snug because the hdmi cable pushes it against the edge of the case.
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Thanks. 8bitjunkie doesn't reply to my messages for one of his bezels, so I've got ETAPrime on YouTube to send me the 3D print file of his, and then sent it over to someone on eBay to print it for me!
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@edmaul69 Have you made one yourself? Would be interested to see the inside of it. I've bought a USB hub which means you can plug power into it as well as USB things. Saves space inside the case apparently.
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@jay81uk yup i have made several of them. I posted one on here.
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/2583/my-sony-pistation-1-and-super-mario-bros-zero-cart
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@edmaul69 Wow that's really good! I'm using this guide -
What concerns me is that the power source goes into the USB hub, then the USB hub goes into the port on the Pi. Usually power gets its own connection, but apparently this is the new way of doing it. Is this likely to be ok?
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@tashman I like that too! What did you stick everything down with?
I've bought a repo case from China, and will be using a USB hub inside it which can also be used to power the Pi... see my last comment and thoughts please on whether it's a good idea to load the power in that way?
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Everything at the front is stuck down with double-sided foam tape...the USB hub and HDMI port are solid but the mini usb power port is not (obviously because it is smaller). Just to add to the bodge I coloured in some of the white tape with a black marker so it doesn't look too "white" when you look at the front opening. The Pi is not stuck down - it certainly doesn't move even with the lid off.
As for heat issues... I've no idea to be quite honest. I've never felt any heat at all in any of my Raspberry Pis, sometimes my "main" Pi3 gets warmish but it's not heavily used. I wasn't aware that the Pi Zero W could be powered in that way using the OTG setting on one of those mini-hubs. It seems to work on the Zero W but not the normal Zero. It was news to me.
Good luck with it anyway. The guy in the video was making one for his daughter. My kids don't like old fashioned games because "the graphics are rubbish". What do they know?
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@tashman What do you use your 'main' pi for exactly?
I'm loving the Zero W as my Retropie, but what could you do with a Pi 3 as your main pi?
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The Pi 3 is my main RetroPie setup as I have a few.... The 'main' one sits under the TV in the lounge. I use a Pi 3 basically because it can handle PS1 games. I have a Pi Zero W behind my bedroom TV with a selection of games for older systems, a Pi Zero in the NES cartridge which usually sits on my desk and a Pi 2 running RetroPie inside a homemade bartop arcade machine that I built (99% complete - apart from the goddam marquee). I do have a non-Retropie Raspberry Pi 1 connected to my network that I just mess around with, generally for downloading stuff.
I built the NES cartridge thing simply because I saw one online and liked the look of it. I thought it would be useful for taking away on trips but it's just as easy to take the Pi 3....
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I'm using mine purely for games I can't purchase, like Solstice, or Moonwalker. Any games which can be purchased digitally, I don't put them on the Pi. It's just my rule.
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@tashman I'm tempted to buy foam tape instead of e6000 glue. I have a bezel for the front on the way so that would probably hide the foam tape.
Why wouldn't it hold down the power cable?
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It's just not sticky enough. The other ports are fine because they are jammed in well whereas the power port has a gap and can be pushed inwards if I'm not careful when plugging in the power cable - not a massive problem because I'm the only one who uses it.
I may try glue at some point.
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@tashman do you think in your experience, having double sided adhesive foam tape at each edge of the corner of the pi would be safe? I wouldn't stick the whole pi on a big piece as it may not do it much good, but not sure if the heat build up in the cart would melt it or cause a fire?
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