Freeplay CM3 Dual Thumbstick + L2 R2 Build

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papajsantos
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Freeplay CM3 Dual Thumbstick + L2 R2 Build

Post by papajsantos » Thu Feb 21, 2019 10:54 am

Howdy y'all!

I got a Freeplay CM3 board from good ol' Ed Mandy mid-late last year, and I hadn't wanted to put it together because I had attempted to cut my first case and... well there was a lot less case when I was done, and it still didn't fit. That case was my burner, but it had gone so terribly I lost all confidence and just sort of threw up my hands and tossed it to the side.

Well, circumstances led me to need an emulation device for a road trip with my family :roll: :roll: :roll: so I got cracking on my new one.

I bought a grey case from RetroModding.com and all the buttons for an SNES-type build when I bought the Freeplay, only being fresh into this community and not understanding how... ubiquitous, we'll say, that design is. I decided I didn't want that anymore, I wanted to make it blue and use the grey buttons I already had from my cheap burner case.

I should say if you want to build one of these, you should follow Hipcat's build series on YouTube, he is obviously much more adept at this than me :oops: :oops:

The Case Cutting:

Screen fitting.
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I... don't have much experience using a dremel.
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I chose to de-solder the L2/R2 tacs from the add-on board and to place them where Hipcat did, behind the L/R buttons.
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... what? The hose attachment broke so I had to raw-dog it and hold the large boi main body and, I dunno... It got away from me...

Don't give me that look, okay?

In fact, I have so little experience with dremels that I only have this dremel with an EU plug, so I needed to remedy that, janky style.
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ANYWAY.

After fitting the board - extensively - I took some ribbon wire and hooked up the PSP joysticks, and soldered them to the back of the board.
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(If anyone would like some internal pics, let me know - happy to post them if there's interest.)

Now obviously the start/select buttons won't be accessible with the placement of the left thumbstick, so I drilled two holes in the bottom bezel of the GBA, under the screen.

My partner's a painter and got pretty excited to paint it, so they slopped on some primer and made most of it white.
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Now, I intended for the tac switches for the start/select and L2/R2 buttons to be inside the case, but space constraints led me to choose a more "mad scientist" look that, actually, I'm super, super into.
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In the end, all there was to do was a little config work and to get some 3D printed parts, touch up a bit of paint, but I didn't have time for most of that before the trip, so watch this space for a few more finished product photos.

Thanks for reading!
Builds:
JankyBoy V1 - worklog
Freeplay CM3 w/ Dual Thumbsticks and L2/R2 - showcase
Infinity Sword (Kite's Circuit Sword Lite x Thanos's Infinity Gauntlet) - coming soon
-------------------------------
"Romans, they go the house?!"

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GordoPie
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Re: Freeplay CM3 Dual Thumbstick + L2 R2 Build

Post by GordoPie » Thu Feb 21, 2019 3:47 pm

It's really unique

MrErickson
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Re: Freeplay CM3 Dual Thumbstick + L2 R2 Build

Post by MrErickson » Sat Feb 23, 2019 10:12 pm

Nice looking build, I saw Ed had added Thumbstick, L2/R2 and back lighting options to his Freeplay Zero and CM3 kits. I love my Zero and CM3 builds, was always a big fan of the Gameboy Advance form factor. I added https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3024005 to my CM3 build to make the port area look a little cleaner. Doing so meant I needed more specialized Micro USB cables that had slightly longer ports but those were easily obtained thru Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071J ... UTF8&psc=1

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papajsantos
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Re: Freeplay CM3 Dual Thumbstick + L2 R2 Build

Post by papajsantos » Sat Feb 23, 2019 11:34 pm

MrErickson wrote:
Sat Feb 23, 2019 10:12 pm
I added https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3024005 to my CM3 build to make the port area look a little cleaner.
Yes! I'm getting my designated "friend with a 3D printer" to print this and a better fitting cartridge cover.

I don't think there's a way to make it look clean without the 3D parts buuuut what else about this build DOES look clean? :oops: :lol:
Builds:
JankyBoy V1 - worklog
Freeplay CM3 w/ Dual Thumbsticks and L2/R2 - showcase
Infinity Sword (Kite's Circuit Sword Lite x Thanos's Infinity Gauntlet) - coming soon
-------------------------------
"Romans, they go the house?!"

MrErickson
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Re: Freeplay CM3 Dual Thumbstick + L2 R2 Build

Post by MrErickson » Sun Feb 24, 2019 7:16 am

papajsantos wrote:
Sat Feb 23, 2019 11:34 pm
MrErickson wrote:
Sat Feb 23, 2019 10:12 pm
I added https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3024005 to my CM3 build to make the port area look a little cleaner.
Yes! I'm getting my designated "friend with a 3D printer" to print this and a better fitting cartridge cover.

I don't think there's a way to make it look clean without the 3D parts buuuut what else about this build DOES look clean? :oops: :lol:
If you feel up to it, you could probably take one of the GBA mock-cartridges from Thingiverse and extend the sides out a bit to encompass your L2/R2 buttons so only the button caps are visible.

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papajsantos
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Re: Freeplay CM3 Dual Thumbstick + L2 R2 Build

Post by papajsantos » Sun Feb 24, 2019 8:58 am

MrErickson wrote:
Sun Feb 24, 2019 7:16 am
If you feel up to it, you could probably take one of the GBA mock-cartridges from Thingiverse and extend the sides out a bit to encompass your L2/R2 buttons so only the button caps are visible.
Good idea! :lol:
Builds:
JankyBoy V1 - worklog
Freeplay CM3 w/ Dual Thumbsticks and L2/R2 - showcase
Infinity Sword (Kite's Circuit Sword Lite x Thanos's Infinity Gauntlet) - coming soon
-------------------------------
"Romans, they go the house?!"

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