GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Portables, case replacements, mods etc, all in here!
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Thu Jul 04, 2013 3:24 pm

Got the rest of the back half of the case sculpting done last night. This part s around the shoulder buttons were especially a pain in the ass:

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Added some pour spouts:

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And another crapton of vents:

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Then pour:

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This is the part of this that has had me most worried. Because of the thin and high walls on the back of the case. i should be able to do a test pour sometime later and see how badly I've screwed things up. /Crosses fingers.
tueidj
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by tueidj » Fri Jul 05, 2013 2:50 am

In the close-up photo of the ABXY button holes on the inside of the casted front... are those fingerprints from the molding clay?
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Fri Jul 05, 2013 3:11 am

tueidj, yes this silicone picks up EVERY little detail. I mean everything. When doing this, you really need to make sure that every part of the casting that you'll actually see is perfect. Because every single little imperfection is picked up.

This morning I de-boxed my back half mold halves and cleaned them all up:

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Everything seemed to have turned out pretty good, so I did a test pour in the little bit of free time I had today:

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Everything filled pretty well except the N64 vents, which have a bit of non-fil/void in that area. I'll have to mess around a bit to try and get a better fill here:

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Everything else filled very nicely, including the hinge area's for the shoulder buttons:

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I'll have a bit of flash trimming to do after each pour, but so far I couldn't be happier with the results I'm getting! :D :D
tueidj
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by tueidj » Fri Jul 05, 2013 7:09 am

So if anyone refuses to believe you made it yourself, ask them to check the fingerprints. ;)
If the silicon could handle it, could you somehow connect the vents to a vacuum pump? It can't form bubbles if there's no air...
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Fri Jul 05, 2013 2:23 pm

Hehe, now that would be funny.

As far as getting rid of the air traps/voids they recommend to use a pressure pot directly after the piece is cast:

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These things are kind of expensive though, more than I want to/can invest atm. I'll just have to try some different tricks and hope for better results.

I'm pretty sure using some kind of vacuum setup would just suck all/most of the liquid plastic right back out of the mold and make a giant mess of things. I could be wrong though. However everywhere I've read about this step of the process recommends to use pressure, and not vacuum.
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by MockyLock » Fri Jul 05, 2013 6:59 pm

When I was younger, i made plane as hobby. Many people of my club used refrigerator compressor as vaccum pump. WHen you dismount a refrigerator compressor, one end of the pipe sucks air, the other one blow it. These little useful compressor were often used in hobby. I still have one for compressor, with a very littl epipe you can obtain somehow high pressure.
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by tueidj » Fri Jul 05, 2013 7:22 pm

I was actually thinking of one of these. With the moulds placed inside an airtight box that has two pipes leading to the pour spouts (so the plastic can be sucked in) and a hole where the pump could be attached.
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Fri Jul 05, 2013 7:52 pm

I'm actually going to retract my previous statement about vacuum. It seems that post pour degassing (vacuuming) is a pretty common practice after looking into a bit more. The pressure pump is to aid in curing, and making the part hardness better. I'm going to give the vacuum post pour a shot later on.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. It definately gives me some food for thought. I do have a pretty decent air compressor here, just no pressure chamber. Remember that I'm by no means an expert (or even an intermediate, for that matter) at this. I'm pretty much making this stuff up as I go to find out what works. So suggestions on how to improve this process are welcomed. :D
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Sun Jul 07, 2013 6:52 pm

So I think I've pretty much solved my problem with air entrapment in the back case half. I had to do a little mold modification to get here, but it works! What I had to do was add more vents in the problem area. Specifically where the air was getting trapped. I did this by jamming a sharpened hollow metal rod through the silicone molds in the problem areas:

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Here's the result:

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Perfect form on the first try. I'm still having a bit of trouble getting the area around the 3DS sliders on the front half to fill correctly. I think I have it solved now, but I wont have time to do another pour until later tonight.

Also here's a little teaser for now:

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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Tue Jul 09, 2013 4:36 pm

I think I've been so excited about the casting process that I've forgotten to outline exactly what goes into this part of it. I'll probably do a video log later on of this part, but for now here's the typed version.

Before we do anything else we need to make absolutely sure the inside cavity of our silicone mold is perfectly clean. Anything left in the cavity before pouring will show up in the cast part. Dust, cat hair, fuzzies, lint, whatever, we gotta make sure its all out of there. Even the oily residue left over from a previous casting will make the current pour look terrible after casting. I've been wiping my molds out with isopropyl alcohol and a lint free rag. If they get really dirty you can wash them with warm water and dawn.

I've read that pre-heating the silicone molds is useful to aid in filling and curing. So I've been heating them in my toaster oven for about 15-20mins before I prep them for pouring.

Molds cleaned and heated, place on vibrating table thing and add some pour spouts:

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I've found that the opening size on the actual paper pour spouts is super critical to getting a good fill. If your opening is too big, the liquid plastic will flow in too quickly and air will be trapped easier. If your opening is too small the liquid plastic may start to harden (cure) before the cavity is completely filled. Its pretty critical to find the idea pour spout opening size early on in test pours. If you vary the pour spout opening size to much with each pour you will get mixed and unreliable results.

Anyway, the type of liquid plastic I'm using is "Alumilite White" It gets mixed in equal parts (1:1) by either volume or weight So for example 70grams of "A" and 70grams of "b":

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After the two equal parts are weighed out any dye that you want to add is mixed into the "A" side first:

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From this point both "A" & "B" are mixed together for about 30 seconds. From this point on you've gotta be really quick. The "pot life" or working time for this stuff is very short after its mixed together. You've only got about a minute or so to do waht you've gotta do before this stuff starts getting curing and getting "gel like" and hardens from there.

So with the plastic mixed we now turn on our vibrator table thing to aid in filling, and pour this stuff slowly into our pour spouts. The cavity inside the mold will fill and eventually the liquid plastic will flow up and out of all of the vent holes and cover the top of the mold. At this point I've been taking the whole filled mold and quickly putting it inside a vacuum chamber and letting the vacuum run for a few minutes while the plastic "gels" up. Then I remove the mold and remove the excess overflow that's laying on the top of the mold where the vents are. Then the filled mold goes back in the oven for 15-20mins @ 150 degrees F to help aid in cure. This gives a better "hardness" of the cast part. After the 2nd cooking is done the filled mold is removed and left to cool to room temperature (40mins - 1hr). The part can then be demolded.

That's about it. After what seemed like alot of pissing around yesterday, adding vents and doing test pours. I've finally got some front and back castings that I'm mostly happy with:

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There are still some very small imperfections around the edges, but I don't think I'll get rid of them without a more professional setup. I'm pretty happy, even if the end result still requires a bit of finishing and painting. It still beats the shit out of making each case from scratch. :D
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Sun Jul 14, 2013 6:43 pm

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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by megalomaniac » Sun Jul 14, 2013 7:25 pm

looks great...
i like the trigger action...clicky click click...sounds nice
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Drakon » Tue Jul 16, 2013 10:22 pm

Wow man, that's true passion. That's a serious amount of work and the results very well reflect the dedication.
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deckard
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by deckard » Thu Jul 18, 2013 2:32 am

Cool video, definitely impressed with how the portable is shaping up!
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by emu_kidid » Thu Aug 29, 2013 4:31 am

hope it's all going well still. Let me know if you end up selling cases by themselves.
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MarioMania
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by MarioMania » Mon Nov 11, 2013 7:41 pm

Looks Good

Any Updates?
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Lollipop » Mon Dec 02, 2013 3:58 am

Sorry a bit of a necro :\

But anyway really cool stuff ashen. I had a quick question but have you tested the cases you've made against a little bit of heat? Before I started this hobby I made plastic models and sometimes people would buy resin kits made from the same kind of material you are using. Occasionally they would run into a warped piece and to fix it they would dunk the piece into hot water and gently re-bend it into the correct shape. I don't know if that might be a problem for a Gamecube portable and it's cooling system. Just a note. Keep up the amazing work. I'm always inspired by your projects
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Wed Aug 27, 2014 4:50 pm

RISE FROM THE DEAD!

Yup, so 'ol Ashen has found some free time now that the kiddo's are back in school. I also found some magic pixie dust that makes these cast cases turn out pretty much perfect when cast. So no need to fiddle with painting and other silly nonsense. Expect progress. Soon.

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public-pervert
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by public-pervert » Wed Aug 27, 2014 7:54 pm

I'm excited!! :D
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Tue Sep 02, 2014 5:20 pm

So as I said, I finally found a technique that helps aid in the filling of the cases when casting. Its such a silly thing that it almost makes me want to cry, as I went through a hell of a lot of dicking around trying to get these things to fill right, and even more frustration trying to paint the cases afterwards and having them turn out like shite because of minuscule air bubbles on the faces of the cast part. The paint would just bubble up where the tiny air pockets were and would look like shite every time. This is actually one of the reasons I took a long long break from modding in general.

So what is this miracle cure for casting plastic parts you ask?

Baby powder. Yep. It sounds ridiculous, I know. But apparently talc (baby powder) acts like a lubricant for polyurethane. If a thin layer of talc (baby powder) is applied to the molds before casting (I used a paintbrush) and the excess gently blown out your parts will cast perfectly every single time.

Now, I haven't actually tried painting one of my new cases cast using this method. But, I really don't have to. I'm happy enough with the way the cast part turns out using this method that I don't see the point. But I did check a few of the cast fronts under a scope, and the air bubbles are completely gone. So if I did want to paint them it should be possible now.

Spent two days last week in the mornings doing this:

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I've got two of the cases all nice and trimmed up and looking good now. I'll be putting two of these together at the same time this time around. These will probably be the last two I build for a long while. As I want to move on to other projects I've had laying around for a long time after these are complete.

I've also been working on cooling solutions a little bit more and this is what I've come up with:

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Yes, that's a stock GC heat sink that's been heavily milled down. Its roughly 8mm tall and fits those ASUS netbook fans nicely. It actually keeps the temps on the CPU/GPU a good 5 degree's cooler than my previous setups. Heats hover right around 35 degrees celsius under heavy load (running a game).

That's all for now. I'll be ordering/waiting for parts over the next few weeks. But I've got enough stuff here to test the thermal stability of these cases in the meantime. If the cases prove stable when loaded up with electronics I'll likely sell some if people are interested to recoup some of the costs that went into them.
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by public-pervert » Tue Sep 02, 2014 7:23 pm

I'm thinking how the hell you got the idea of putting baby powder on the molds lol. That's excelent news! That's some valuable infos.
Regarding the cooling solution, why are the fins bent from side to side? This makes the heatsink more effective for some reason?
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Duhasst0 » Tue Sep 02, 2014 7:36 pm

Baby powder makes sense. Glad you got your cases looking spectacular.
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Wed Sep 03, 2014 4:35 am

I actually got the baby powder tip from here: http://www.myfluxcapacitor.com/plastic- ... ting-guide

The idea with the heat sink is that with the fins bent like they are the fan blows on them and hits the edges of the fins. Effectively cooling more efficiently. Or something.
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by megalomaniac » Wed Sep 03, 2014 4:46 am

Ashen wrote:The idea with the heat sink is that with the fins bent like they are the fan blows on them and hits the edges of the fins. Effectively cooling more efficiently. Or something.
wind tunnel test to prove it or else its a myth
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Ashen
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Re: GameCube Fusion, rev 4. (worklog)

Post by Ashen » Thu Sep 04, 2014 3:34 pm

megalomaniac wrote:
Ashen wrote:The idea with the heat sink is that with the fins bent like they are the fan blows on them and hits the edges of the fins. Effectively cooling more efficiently. Or something.
wind tunnel test to prove it or else its a myth
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:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Custom regulators all wired up:

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You can see a bit here how I've been doing it for the last few portables I've built. I'm not going to go into a great deal of detail on how to wire them as its been extensively covered by Zenloc and others elsewhere. If all else fails you can always refer to the datasheets for each specific reg. I find mounting them to perf board works well, gives me something to mount them to and then in turn mount to the case. It also gives the regs a bit of "breathing room" as they do get nice and warm after an extended play session.

Going to start wiring the controller boards soon. Still waiting on parts.
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