2021 Contest Entry: GCiiPocket v2-Plus-Pro-Slim

[Nold]

Building the GCiiPocket was really fun & i still love it. But I decided to redo the whole GCiiPocket design from scratch. So it will be bigger & better.

//Edit: It's done - https://bitbuilt.net/forums/index.php?threads/gc2go-summer-competition-2021.4554/

 

[Stitches]

ＢＩＴＢＵＩＬＤ

 

[John]

Beautiful! Can't wait to see your final build!

 

[Nold]

Board is trimmed & booting. Also already did some CAD stuff.. nothing fancy yet.

To do something aside from CAD i soldered the USB wires, so i can verify it's working, too. I really enjoy working under the microscope ^^

 

[Nold]

Make custom PCBs they said.. it will be FUN they said...

i placed the components on the wrong side first.. but at least it fits now.. Still a far way to go.. but if everything works out, this will be my first portable using custom PCBs - so fingers crossed!

also need to swap out the buttons for a lower profile one, since the QFN on the other side is already crashing into the battery... xD

But tbh. custom PCBs are a lot of work, but it's really cool to see them fit [and hopefully work in the end - lol]

 

[jefflongo]

Make custom PCBs they said.. it will be FUN they said...
View attachment 17401

i placed the components on the wrong side first.. but at least it fits now.. Still a far way to go.. but if everything works out, this will be my first portable using custom PCBs - so fingers crossed!

View attachment 17402

also need to swap out the buttons for a lower profile one, since the QFN on the other side is already crashing into the battery... xD

But tbh. custom PCBs are a lot of work, but it's really cool to see them fit [and hopefully work in the end - lol]

After you get used to the process you can crank them out pretty quickly. Especially once you start building up your parts library.

 

[Nold]

alright folks, so quite a few things happened the last couple of days.. On the weekend i did some work on Aurelios greatest nightmare.. A little microcontroller project called "NPC" [Nold's Portable Coprocessor xD] which i hopefully get figured out.. at least i2c communication works.. kind of.. hopefully RVLoader integration will, too someday...

The case is making slow progress, too. Due to shanks last video i got inspired to try some snap-fits again and they are working surprisingly well for the sliders so far! Also the "new 3ds" sliders are much easier to model & slightly slimmer, which is really nice for this project...

The PCBs are a long way from being finished, too. But I'm at least happy with the results I got so far
Sadly I had to give up the integration of the uamp & GC+ into the button PCBs, since they simply would become too thicc.. but i guess i'm going to make a custom GC+/Uamp/NPC-PCB

 

[Nold]

Ok, i must admit.. Custom PCBs are pretty dope

 

[Nold]

SOON...

 

[Dark Portable]

Looks awesome

 

[TheLuthier]

Watching this one

 

[Nold]

What an exiting day! Totally unexpected my JLCPCB order arrived & i couldn't wait to put everything together.. but see yourself:

Needless to say, it's looking very promising so far except for the long cable being a little bit too long xD...


The NPC is working and doing it's thing incl. I2C communication. I only had to rewire the usb connector, cause somehow my kicad pinout seems to be wrong >.< ... I2C on the WiiHUD Amp is also working fine.
The connection to the bottom PCB [not in picture] is also working... only had to turn around the FPC connector.. haha.. guess i swapped the pins while turning the connector on the main pcb, even tho i should have kept them as they where.. or something like that..

besides these little issues, I'm so happy how good the pcbs fit & work. it's really amazing seeing your own designs come to life... sadly my buttons are still out of stock :/


Last but not least, a moment of silence for our fallen warriors...

[The SAMD chip is currently out of stock & I ordered the wrong version of the GC+ chip xD]

 

[thedrew]

Looks great Nold! What is the NPC for? Internal file transfer for USB?

 

[Nold]

Looks great Nold! What is the NPC for? Internal file transfer for USB?

 

[Nold]

Some of my PCBs arrived in Rev. 2 and everything is going along nicely. Even tho i managed to mess up the DPad-PCB in Rev. 2.. so i'll just fix it by hand.

Having a "bottom connection" PCB is also really handy. Makes it simple to solder & separate the mainboard from everything else.

Yesterday i built the heatsink & today i glued in the thermistor using thermal epoxy.

Besides that i played around with my "legacy" PMS2. I replaced the microcontroller with a PIC18f18426 because i wanted to implement the I2C-Slave API for RVLoader, but dropped that, because i couldn't make it work... anyways, since the 18426 has a DAC, I managed to build a simple temperature dependent fan control, which is pretty cool, too!

You can find my fork here: https://github.com/Nold360/RVL-Power-Management-System


Well.. time for a nap..

 

[Nold]

I'm on vacation, so it's time to finish this up i guess..

Printed the current case since idk what still was wrong with it, just some minor adjustments as it seems. (You know it's a close fit, when removing the paper isolation from your batteries is a working fix).

Overall it's the same size as the v1, but it's a little bit slimmer!

can't wait for the sanding.. still don't know which color i'm going to use for the case...

 

[Nold]

Lot's of sanding today.. i decided to print the case with some good old "summer contest carbonfil". Which makes it look pretty .. generic?! but it will make it's memes shine i think. but judge yourself:

Internalwise i wired up some stuff. some things still need testing/fixing but it's going along fine.

next up i'll need to do some more button casting, still need a few molds.

 

[Nold]

Alright.. after i found out i can't turn around the screen in software..... I had to redesign & reprint the top case.. well not too hard even tho my whole f360 project is messed up at this point >.< ... anyway, printing, sanding & postworking & also remapping the custom PCBs... it's nearly finished. basically all that's missing are the shoulder buttons, where i couldn't decide which color to use, yet.

The dock also works. even tho i wanted it printed in copperfil, but the print failed like 4 times & i messed up a lot of good filament... so i printed it in a random color.. you never can go wrong with green, right ;-)

these quick casts aren't perfect but they feel pretty good tho. guess i need something brighter...

but i'm glad everything but the NPC is working.. xD