MintyPi - Built by Cralex

[Cralex]

Hey, guys. I've been at this, my first build, for a while now and I'm excited to be part of the community. My previous experience working with tiny electronics amounts to (barely) hardmodding a New3DS XL. Finally got around to taking some pictures, so here you go!

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Photo Apr 11, 10 49 40 PM.jpg (1.97 MiB) Viewed 3715 times

I selected a spearmint tin for my build because it's my favorite color. Not pictured, (yet) are the transparent parts I ordered to show off the internals.

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Photo Apr 11, 10 49 21 PM.jpg (1.6 MiB) Viewed 3715 times

Here's the somewhat inferior parts that I've used to get this far, due to not having access to a drill. Cheap hand files, a hand drill, and an odometer, straight from China.

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Photo Apr 11, 10 50 25 PM.jpg (1.07 MiB) Viewed 3715 times

Well, I eventually managed to drill holes with that hand drill. Here you see the L and R buttons, spearmint green. Since this my first build, I don't really care that I scratched the tin a bit.

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Photo Apr 11, 10 51 07 PM.jpg (1.7 MiB) Viewed 3715 times

Button PCB connected to the Pi. I made sure to test all the connections, and it seems ok.

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Photo Apr 11, 10 51 23 PM.jpg (1.09 MiB) Viewed 3715 times

I did my best to make the connections between the two boards extra thin and flat.

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Photo Apr 11, 10 51 58 PM.jpg (1.25 MiB) Viewed 3715 times

Last picture for now, since here's where I put the camera down and started working. I managed to find these green buttons to match the theme. They came with an entire green DS Lite shell.

That's where I was before I worked on it tonight. Here's my current progress: I'm missing a longer tactile switch for the function button, which I plan to get tomorrow. Most of the soldering is done. As expected, I had to do some filing on the buttons and the faceplate in order to get them to work together. The screen is tested and working fine. I tested the sound card before trimming it down and it worked well.

My biggest problem now is that I think my power switch is too thick. I got the smallest one I could find locally and I even filed down the sides, but I found that the tin would not stay closed on the right side when I put the other parts in to check the fit. I'm planning to check the store where I'm getting the tactile switch tomorrow to see if they have anything smaller, even though it means yanking out the switch I was using. If not, I am trying to decide between ordering one online or ordering a MintyPi protection sleeve to keep it closed when not in use.

Sorry for rambling and, most likely, poor writing. Need to get some sleep. I'll post updates later.

[HollandJim]

Looking forward to seeing the progress!