NES Fightstick - Another Raspberry Pi Project

[grippie]

I thought my portable game gear project was fun, and even though i have an HDMI out on it, i really want to use actual arcade controls for games on my TV.


I initially had plans for a 6600 mah battery to power the Pi so that there would be one less cable coming out of the box, but i am putting that on hold for now. I can easily route the power in to a powerboost and then attach that to a battery in the future.


parts list to buy:
sanwa JLF joystick

bright red ball top
sanwa 30mm buttons x 6
sanwa 24mm buttons x 4
Raspberry Pi 3. I have a pi 2, but i wanted to have the fastest interface and be able to play the most games.

HDMI and USB pass-through
power input. I want to use a barrel jack rather than USB to input power. This will give it a more consumer electronics feel.

1/4 inch mdf sheet 2 x 4
1/2 inch mdf sheet 2 x 4
11 x 14 acrylic sheet x .093 inches thick


here was my initial concept drawing and I've pretty much kept everything the same. I probably don't need 4 admin buttons but i like the symmetry.





inside you can see the



after screwing up the squareness of the box the first time i found a youtube video to do this little trick for 45 degree miter cuts. use painting tape (frog tape) to create hinges so that when you glue and then fold up the 4 sides you get a perfect edge. the blue tape here helps to trap any glue that squirts out. nice and clean

[grippie]

Clean edges to start with




Tape the last edge and let dry

To make everything removable, i added insert nuts





the bottom has a small compartment to hold the HDMI cord and charging cable. Here i'm adding some extra meat to be able to screw in the metal plates for the magnet latches.



Acrylic kinda sucks well i was basically going up in drill size too fast and it cracked horribly. I went up to Home Depot and got another 11 x 14 sheet which is luckily only 5 bucks. This time i went a lot slower and used my router to cut the holes in the acrylic using the support sheet as a template. (even though my template slipped on the first hole so it's elongated. Oh well it's covered up. i used a plunge cut to create a clean hole and then used my flush trim bit to open up the holes to match the wood. i'll post pics tomorrow of the more completed states.






Currently i have everything all cut up and installed expect for the final magnet latch since i need smaller screws.


Here is a fist test for everything.

[grippie]

I found an HDMI and USB combo cable. I had trouble finding an hdmi that i could wire up, or use as a pass-through. There are some out there but for those prices i got this cable that i can just plug into the PI




the Pi 3 packaging is awesome.








I based all of the measurements and cutting on the actual plexi sheet. it turned to be about slightly larger than 11 x 14 but this was a way to reduce the complexity and cutting of plexi. (although once i broke the first one i could have just made one to fit. oh well.

[ivwshane]

I was thinking about doing this same project. The power issue was the only thing that I didn't like. For mine I was going to just power it off of USB with the end of cable being a male USB-a connection to either be powered off of the tv's USB power or to a USB based power supply. I also planned on making a player 2 version that would connect via an RJ45 cable and a nuetrik RJ45 jack that would then connect to the gpio ports of the pi.

[rablack97]

To avoid this



Invest in one of these to start you acrylic holes, they are awesome and these things never crack your acrylic.

[grippie]

Thanks, I was looking at trying step down bits.  Ill have to see if i can add one to my arsenal. 

[grippie]

I was thinking about doing this same project. The power issue was the only thing that I didn't like. For mine I was going to just power it off of USB with the end of cable being a male USB-a connection to either be powered off of the tv's USB power or to a USB based power supply. I also planned on making a player 2 version that would connect via an RJ45 cable and a nuetrik RJ45 jack that would then connect to the gpio ports of the pi.

I have a long barrel jack to usb cable.  I can either plug it into the TV or use the small adapter that I bought to plug into the barrel Jack for wall power.   Should work out really great and be very versatile.

[grippie]

I've finished test fitting everything. Now i will have to complete the painting so that will take days. I'll post again when the paint is looking good.


Power plug





I bought some cheap heat sinks that had good reviews. i know these don't do a whole lot but if it helps the pi from throttling down when getting too hot then it should be worth it.



Test fit



small hole on the right is for power. i got a combo hdmi/usb just for simplicity. it's mainly for setup and using a second game pad.

[emphatic]

Nice project!