Worklog Fixing the New 3DS XL

MRKane

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So about a month ago I decided to purchase a 3DS as I had loved the standard DS. Thing is there were a couple of shortcomings with the unit that I dearly needed to fix, and we need way more new 3DS XL love out here on the internet!

I was really unhappy with the whole "3DS needs a special cable" crap, and thought about replacing the standard port with a Type-C off the hammer. Thing is the widths essentially gave me 0.5mm between dreams and smoke on the standard port location. I could have brought a board off of Amazon, but try to give Bezos as little of my money as possible, so it was time to shop from SparkFun! This little guide was my solution:
Type-Cinternals.jpg

And a lesson about "why his his port on an angle?" so the board is clouting the plastic case on the inside, and mine ended up exactly the same!

Type-C.jpg

So, about my most pressing issue: Holding this thing is terrible. Nintendo made it all jazz, and zero comfort, and the internet provided with a really comfortable grip that changed how the hand rested around the shoulder buttons, meaning that a few tiny muscles in my hands were starting to get their cramp on. I found myself wishing that I could make a grip that had a place for the Z-buttons.

You'd be amazed how little there is out there on the test points for the new 3DS XL - but did manage to find a Japanese page on it, and it gave me everything I needed here: http://imaginglabo.web.fc2.com/new3DSLL-barabara.html

So this is right on the border of what I can actually do, and it took a frustrating number of attempts to get the magnet wire soldered on while keeping the board clear of shorts and other issues.
Z-Right:
ZRight.jpg

Z-Left:
ZLeft.jpg

Commons (ground):
Ground_Commons.jpg

So my "master plan" here involves running wires through the two holes that use to be on the back of the stylus port. There was a bit going on with the internals and some shell trimming, but I didn't check the photos I took and they ended up a blurry mess. I'll try not to open the unit back up again so apologise for not getting these! One of my primary goals here was to make as few holes in the shell as possible, and I did consider trying to remake the bottom shell as a 3D printed part, but the tolerances were too fine for my FDM printer, and it'd take dozens of attempts to get right using a resin printer.

Side note: ever pulled apart the new 3DS shoulder buttons? Don't. Springs flick across the room, parts need to be positioned nearly perfectly, and things don't simply "sit in place". It's not as bad as taking apart a barometer, but it's up there.

So at this stage I did a quick test with some tact switches before opting to hot glue everything together for a super-quick proxy :)

QuickAndDirtyProxy.jpg

It feels great, and it works great! My next step will be to design a two-part grip that includes positioning for the tact switches, and room in the handles for header connections for when I need to dismantle it and access the SD card. Problematically there's every possibility it might be accidentally ripped apart with a good tug, so I'd love suggestions from people about how to fix this - I've been thinking of something similar to a battery connection for making the "grip terminals" but don't know where to start looking there. I'm also open to suggestions for light-touch tact switches, or a good way to design the shoulder buttons etc.

Oh, and fluffy helped with the entire process :)
FluffyHelped.jpg
 
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MRKane

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2021 3rd Place Winner
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So the delay in this work thread has been me waiting for parts to arrive - they showed up three days ago so I was finally able to start getting everything set and measured.

It's worth saying that over the course of this mod I spent way too much time under the hood of my 3DS, and there's no room to swing a cat under there.

So initially I used a spring contact component salvaged from a broken mobile phone. It could only be mounted with the alignment sideways due to the shape of it, which I figured wouldn't go well given I was using copper tape as my contacts, and it didn't. To mount these strips I pecked a hole through the case and ran wires up and through. This was an easy way of doing things, but the edge of the clip tore the copper tape badly the very first time I tried to put it into my 3D printed case.
Image from iOS (13).jpgImage from iOS (12).jpgImage from iOS (11).jpgImage from iOS (10).jpg

It was at this point that I purchased some specifically-correct clips off of Aliexpress and settled down to wait. This meant that I could now mount the strips in a forward direction - a welcome change! I ran the copper strips from the underside of the shell and through over the front to save having to damage the shell again. Not my finest moment above, but I guess it was a learning curve. Making sure the tape was aligned correctly was a difficult task that took a couple of shots - I could only get 5mm copper tape, and thus had to have a divider line cut through with little tolerance. Occasionally if I knock the unit on an angle inside the grip this'll bridge but it's easily corrected.

Image from iOS (4).jpgImage from iOS (6).jpgImage from iOS (8).jpg

The buttons I used were just some cheap ones that I found locally, simple button tops that I mounted using a large hole and a snap-fit spacer to wedge down behind them to hold them in place.
Image from iOS (7).jpg

Also worth noting is that I went through more revisions that I'd have liked to.
Image from iOS (9).jpg

Finally some character shots! It's really comfy and suits my hands perfectly - it's nice to take something the extra step with customization :)

Image from iOS (3).jpgImage from iOS (4).jpgImage from iOS (5).jpgImage from iOS (7).jpgImage from iOS (8).jpg
Image from iOS (6).jpg

And as for using the 3DS with the shifted trigger buttons? I made the case to fit my hands so it feels perfect, the relocated triggers are a real pleasure to use in comparison with what it had and I'm really, really, happy with it!

Also: I solved the problem of the battery by having a portable powerbank that does USB Type-C! That was a really easy one to fix ;)

I've tossed the grip up here least anyone else wishes to use the model:


UPDATE: Potential for a third revision. So the core thing that struck me as I was playing on the unit last night is that I'm only human, and it's possible to rack the grip so that the contacts bridge. Amusingly this locks the 3DS up on the main screen and can freeze input in some games. The solution to this would be to have zR, zL, and G as 3 distinct strips all serviced by their own terminals - think of it as a "Fischer Price" approach to modding. I'll see how it goes but I might be back under the hood of this thing eventually *gah*
 

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