Click any of the portables above to see more about them
My Foray into Portable Building
It was July 10, 2006. As always I was trying to find ways to satisfy my insane creative urges. I was surfing the internet and came across a guy named Ben Heck. He was building portable game systems using game consoles. He had a website with a Forum, so of course, I joined.
My mind was blown. Ben Heck would take a console and trim it down. Then he would use a CNC machine and build a case. He would add batteries and an LCD screen and bam, a portable. I was hooked. I had to build one myself.
My first one was a tiny system built from a small Etch-A-Sketch type game. It was a good first try, but not that impressive.
Now, what does this thing look like on the inside and can I use it?
Hmm doesn’t look bad, but not a whole lot of room in there.
So I went about making the case more accessible. First, take it all apart and remove the battery packs.
Now take off the front panel and disconnect the controllers from the main board.
Hmm looks like with a little work the front panel could hold a 2.5″ screen.
And what do you know it will.
Here’s some pics of the finished portable:
As you can see I used a Radica Genesis Volume II.
I had to cut down the controller board on the Radica, and I had to rewire the power switch.
I also unsoldered the 3 controls for the sound/brightness/color. Then I wired them to a breadboard and cut a slot for them on the side.
I had to order a 6″ extension for the Lcd from digikey to be ble to hook up the Lcd to it’s controller.
And lot’s and lot’s of re-wiring and trimming. But it was a fun project.
After that, there was no stopping me. I think I built around 15 portables in total. Some are on this website.
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Great work. I would love to commission you for on idea of portable console