PolletjeNL's Gameboy Zero

[PolletjeNL]

So afters spending a great amount of time on researching components, reading posts on this forum, looking at other people their projects, I also started my own.

So first I made myself a shoppinglist:

The Pi zero
https://thepihut.com/collections/raspbe ... 4062715972
3.5 Inch TFT
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Hotsale- ... 4a5c89edbd
Helder's 7 dollar Controller PCB
http://www.sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=28
Battery board
http://www.banggood.com/V1_0-Lithium-Ba ... 59297.html
NES controller for the buttons
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Hot-Clas ... d9b1dec8f4
USB Joystick PCB
http://www.ebay.com/itm/272315798516
Volume Potentiometer 10K
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shi ... 24dfe1fc9e
Amplifier
http://www.banggood.com/2x3W-Mini-Digit ... 29449.html
Replacement speaker
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2PCS-Rep ... 7ed30732c0

Last night I picked up my DMG-01 for 10 euro. After arriving home, I was hyped on starting with this project , so I ripped the GB apart. Cleaned the shell, removed all blocking pegs, and made room for the LCD.

I removed the cartridge slot from the old GB PCB, folded the legs downwards, so it won't shortcircuit anything in the future. I will be using this slot for the well known SDCard mod.



Because I am using a large joystick PCB, I want it to be as flat as possible, so I desoldered all the connectors from the board and started to relocate some components to the back. I also made a start with wiring the button connections. Tonight I will be moving the rest of all the components to the back of the PCB. The front side must be as clean as possible, so I can mount something else on top of it.





The joystick PCB fits really well inside the shell, also the cartridge slot gives the PCB, no room to move. I am really happy with this .







Thats all for now, I will try to keep you all up to date

[BadBert]

are you going to remove the yellow from the case?

good luck with the rest of the build

the usb board is quite large... but if it fits... it fits!

[PolletjeNL]

Yesterday evening I had little time to work on the joystick PCB. Tonight I will finish moving all the parts to the back.

@BadBert, Yes, I already ordered 12% Hydroperoxide Cream. It would be a shame not to restore the shell .

[BadBert]

Nice!

please post the results

[PolletjeNL]

Time for a little update

Last night finished the Joystick PCB. All component are now on the back of the PCB. I tested the controller, and it still functions, so up to the next thing.



I decided to mount the pcb a little bit higher since the front is now without components, nothing can shortcircuit anymore.





This makes room under the pcb for my usb hub, micro usb connector for charging, external usb connector for the usb hub, volume wheel, and also for cable management. Also I will not be using the upper screwholes, since I will be using a different kind of locking method. This I will show you all in one of the upcoming updates.



Last night got as status update on Helder's PCB, it's on its way from the US. BIG thanks to Helder.

This upcoming evening I will continue with the USB hub, removing most of its connectors.

[Lpoolm]

I have issues with closing my case at the moment so look forward to what your secret is!

[musty_666]

I'm interested on see if the AliExpress TFT is a good choice. I'll stay tuned to your build!!

[PolletjeNL]

@musty_666: I was reading the comments of previous buyers, they wrote that the screen was usable for a GBzero project. If not, then hell, I will buy another one from a different webstore .

I am still awaiting for all my orders to arrive.

So this weekend I had some spare-time to work on my project. From prototype matrix board I made a power breakout board. I re-used the old connectors from my joystick-pcb. On the back I used 2 brass lines to connect all wires. One set of cables where guided directly to the battery compartment for connection to the low-cost alternative powerboost pcb.







So some time ago, I bought a USB hub at a local dumpstore called "ACTION". They sold very tiny usb hubs.
They are from the brand LAB31.



So I removed its casing, desoldered all usb ports, removed the sides of the pcb to make it even smaller, and added the data cables.
Afterwards I soldered one set to the joystick pcb, and one to the external USB port, that I re-used from the hub.



So on Thursday and Friday the weather was quiet good. Time to soak my DMG casing in some 12% hydroperoxide cream.
It took me 2 days, but this is the result:



As you can see I have drilled a hole just in the middle where the cartridge is to slide over. Since I was looking for a good way to close the casing without using to much space I came up with this.

First I drilled a smale hole, and after that I used a larger drill-bit to create a sunken screwhole.



I re-used one of the pegs and lined it up so it would sit directly behind it. I used some evergreen plastic-tube with the right size so I could glue the peg inside it. Afterwards I made the tube the right size to fit inside the casing. I used crazy-glue to fit the peg inside permanently.







I plan to re-use the old screwholes to create buttons for L1, L2, R1, R2.

I need a power-switch. So I re-used the original. I desoldered it from the old pcb. After some thinking how to mount it, I made a little ramp, and a retainer to place the switch in. Its also made from the Evergreen plastics. It's quiet strong stuff. The powerswitch sits nicely inside the retainer and does not move at all. I soldered 2 lines from it and also guided it under the joystick pcb and cartridge slot, in to the battery compartment.





So time to dry-fit everything. So far I have the usb-hub, powerswitch, joystick-pcb, and breakoutboard done. I prepared an SD-Card adapter, and soldered the corresponding lines. I ordered an set of 1.0 35V UF condensators to remove the noise in the data lines. I also plan to re-use the audiojack from the old DMG.







For now I have to wait for all my orders to arrive. Its pretty frustrating when you have to wait.

So hopefully I will receive some on Tuesday, so I can continue.

[BadBert]

Looking good

[PolletjeNL]

So I received my controller pcb from Helder. I was supposed to receive a plain, but instead got a freebie and received the one that includes the audio buffer and amp.

Unfortunately the joystick PCB is not going to work together with the Helder PCB. So instead I ordered a Teensy. Also the USB hub I used was not up to spec and can't handle more than 2 devices, so it's useless. Today I will be searching for a better replacement.