[FINISHED] Tact-4 shoulder button bracket for GBZ

[goodBEan]

AFTER MONTHS OF EVERYTHING I HAVE FINISHED AND RELEASED MY 4 TACT SHOULDER BUTTON

THINGIVERSE LINK https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2941993

DROP BOX LINK WITH INCLUDED BLENDER FILE https://www.dropbox.com/s/iggy4bmwffj35 ... D.zip?dl=0


Simply put when I saw that the circuit sword was using the CM3, I knew I had to put in 4 shoulder buttons so that could possibly run Playstation games. At the time I looked around and did not see many brackets that made it easy to build, but I did see a few people drilling basic holes and gluing tact switches, and it looking a bit messy. So I decided to give it a shot, I also used this as an excuse to brush up on my blender skills since I was planing on getting a 3d printer. This is what I came up with.




Basicly this how it works. You will see 3 sets of files: squares, circles, and blanks. Circles are for drill guides, squares are for mounting the tact switches, and blanks are for customization if you want to mount something else there.

Since I did not take any pictures of me assembling my GBZ-CS, I have to illustrate with blender a bit.

---Print off the square and circle pieces.
---Place the circle pieces into the back shell of the gameboy case, Use a fine tip sharpie to mark the holes, and use a drill bit to drill out the holes. Go slow with the drill. It is recommended to use a step bit and razer blade afterward to smooth things out.
PIC HERE:

---Remove the circle pieces
---add some hot glue and add the square pieces.

---Wire up your tact swiches, test wiring.
---Place them in, make the buttons have free movement and use the hot glue.

---Let everything cool and make sure everything is secure and working
----------------

HERE IS THE TACT SWITCHES I USED
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0177 ... UTF8&psc=1

A few notes and thank yous:
This bracket is compatible with hoolyhoo's Glueless CS power bracket. https://www.sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=5321
I haven't given much thought about selling this thing. I did have some significant help from yaya (special thanks), so in a way not all of the model is completely mine.
Within the blender files is neolith's back shell case. Big thank you to him https://www.sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=3729
I completely abused the "boolean" modifier function in blender.
I am completely without any cad or engineering training. I had barely any idea of what I was doing, I just know that someone will find problems with this design.
I am not setup for donations or payments. If want to contribute something just pm me. Also If you want to improve or remix, go ahead, just let me know.

Thank you to everyone who helped and posted in this thread.

-------- BELOW IS THE ORIGINAL POST-------

I will say this up front. I haven't done blender in a long time, so I am working off the rust.


I working an idea for my own gameboy zero and i figured that I would start by making a basic shoulder button bracket. Since Kite's Circuit sword is running a Raspi CM3, I decided that I need all four shoulder buttons for possible play station emulation. I did some looking around and decided to do something simular to what dryja123 showed me on the discord server, and that was to use tact switches. PIC HERE. However he showed me that its mounted using glue so I decided to get on blender and try some modeling. I first grabbed neolith's full case cad files LINK and started messing round with blender.

This is what I came up with.




DOWNLOAD LINK
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ecph68i9hzyo3 ... 1.zip?dl=0

Basically its a starting point for possible brackets in those two areas. I figured to release the files at this state so that if somebody wants to put something else in that spot they can. Also I am bound to make some mistakes so I know somebody will have a fix.

I plan on doing some holes/slots for tact switches.

A few things I have to note. I do not have a 3dprinter to test this with (yet), nor do I have a gameboy case (yet), nor do I have any real blender/engineering skills (yet). So its likely something is not going to work.

If you make any changes please repost them in this thread.

[YaYa]

Sticking to this post. Interested in seeing the evolution

[moooarcuuuus]

Very nice, it is similar to my idea for Pi3 gameboy. I don't have exact models for it, just hand-drawn sketches. I guess I'll think about it on my next holiday. This posting is useless, I only want to subscribe this topic.

[goodBEan]

Since I don't have any gameboy parts or a 3dprinter I do wish that somebody could do a quick print and test it out. I am also concerned about getting in the way of circuit boards. I will have to look up measurements of tak switches to figure out placement and holes.

Also I am trying to find a detailed drawing with measurements of your typical tact switch.

Sticking to this post. Interested in seeing the evolution

Cool

Very nice, it is similar to my idea for Pi3 gameboy. I don't have exact models for it, just hand-drawn sketches. I guess I'll think about it on my next holiday. This posting is useless, I only want to subscribe this topic.

Not useless, I have done the same thing in the past in other forums.

[goodBEan]

I did some more adjustments to my brackets by adding some bevels and just loosening up a few angles to make it a bit easier to fit in. Its a bit subtle.


My next step was to create Tact switch place holders. I went through a few sites and found a bunch of data sheets on the type of tact switches that this is designed for. LINK My next step was to build blanks in 3d, I went to tinkercad to build them real quick. I just made them a MM bit bigger on each side and ballparked the button part. I also made a version that was a bit taller to make it easier to make access to wires and one with a hole in it so that later it can be used as a drill guide (the green one).



First thing I did was make duiplcates so that I have a blank version. I ported the "switches" from tinkercad to blender. Then I made duplicates of the buttons. Spaced them out and made the boolean modifcation to the brackets. Copied the two plugs, flipped to the opposite angle, careful of placement, rinse, and repeat.





After all of that I ended up with this.

STL FILES AND BLENDER FILE ARE HERE
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kb8fnxsbhpoeq ... 2.zip?dl=0
Btw I found a mistake after making this post so the stl files wont exactly match the pics


If nobody tests these with a print, I think my next step is to fix some possible problems I found with the models and clean them up.

[HoolyHoo]

It would be better if you had the STL files separated (Left and Right) to make it easier to reposition on the printer build plate. As it stands now, it's not sitting in the best printing orientation.

[goodBEan]

It would be better if you had the STL files separated (Left and Right) to make it easier to reposition on the printer build plate. As it stands now, it's not sitting in the best printing orientation.

I see what you mean. I fixed that and another problem I spotted. Try and redownload it.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kb8fnxsbhpoeq ... 2.zip?dl=0

Also I might change the angle of the switches.

[goodBEan]

Immediately after my last release I did noticed some mistakes and got some feedback form Hoolyhoo and a test print from Risto LINK. I found out from hoolyhoo that there could be some problems with printing. So I figured it would be best If I do a fresh start, but keep some of the frame work I have.

First thing i did was setup some "no zones" barriers. Just some areas where I do not want to go.


Basically I use some Boolean modifiers to say if any part of the bracket is in the "no zone", just cut it out. Kinda did the same thing to make the holes for switches.



From what I can see they are much cleaner.



DOWNLOAD LINK TO VERSION 3
https://www.dropbox.com/s/cx1upwf7n7v3u ... 3.zip?dl=0

If you are going to print this, you are likely have to do a bit of sanding. I haven't put in breathing room for tolerances yet.

[goodBEan]

Thinking I may have made holes/slots too small for tact switches I made a version for ones that measure 6mm by 6mm. I threw them into version 3. Which aslo caused me to shift positions on the buttons.

I still need to print and test fit.

[YaYa]

nice job so far !