Mini Nintendo 64 - π64

thingiverse

____________________Backstory____________________ My brother's birthday was coming and I wanted to make something special, that could also serve as a little portfolio piece, (Industrial Designer). We grew up playing the N64, and I wanted to re-purpose my Raspberry Pi 3 B+ for greater use than as a PiCam for my printer. ____________________Research____________________ I researched and discovered RetroPie is an awesome little tool used to run emulation on the Pi, so then set out to either find or create a Nintendo 64 shell for the Pi3. Elhuff has a very minimal solution, (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2101165) but I wanted to make everything as functioning as possible. Unfortunately this appears to be the only decent model made thus far for the Pi, so this meant I had to make my own. I downloaded Bruno Amaral's model of the N64, (https://grabcad.com/library/nintendo-64-console-1/details?folder_id=539851) (it's not perfect, -the ridge in the middle is certainly not as steep as the original, but I prefer this look as it seems more modern) then fixed all the bloody file corruptions my Solidworks 2020 seemed to argue with. ____________________Modeling____________________ Following this, I searched for a decent N64 cartridge to rest on top, but no good Solid Models really exist, and the STLs aren't extraordinary anyhow, so I made one from scratch. Everything was shelled out and tolerance-spec'd to fit together nicely. The Power Button and Reset Button are designed to fit the actual hardware, so they can in fact work! If not, at least your controller ports will have function, and all the accessory ports will be located on the rear end. The Micro SD is located inside the cartridge, (which pop-fits into the N64's top clam shell, -superglue helps for a more durable bond of course). Use tiny screws to thread into the four posts. I cannot remember the exact spec, but use what works! Same goes for securing the Pi down to the lower shell. Hehe __________________How I Printed__________________ Originally I had planned to resin print this given the tolerances, (namely I wanted to be able to read the lettering on the shells). My goal was to print the shells with clear resin, then dye it, (shoe rubber dyes work) purple, but I couldn't get my guy to come down to a fair price for the resin prints, I printed on .2mm, -but the finer the better. My plan was to mold the shells with green sand, then melt out the PLA and cast a clear, slightly dyed-purple polyurethane to resemble the Atomic Purple render. Unfortunately I didn't have time for this. Maybe someone can do it! If so, please send me pictures and I'll add them to this file, (with credit to whomever, of course)! ________________Hardware Needed: (Ali Express/Amazon)__________________ -Raspberry Pi 3 (B+ was used) -Micro SD ribbon extender -(Qty. 4) USB 2.0 extenders (**the shorter and thinner the better!**) -Ethernet cable (**the shorter and thinner the better!**) -Ethernet Coupler (remove the clam shell for space) -(Qty. 4) screws that will fit into the posts -(Qty. 4) to secure the Raspberry Pi to the bottom shell ________________________Hardware Not Necessary________________________ -30mm fan (I ripped mine from an old 3D printer hotend) -ON/OFF switch (I ripped mine from an old RadioShack 4 AA battery housing) -Button (Honestly you can find these anywhere. I think Igot mine from an Arduino kit) -resistorses ________________________Software Needed________________________ -RetroPie (ETA Prime has a pretty good tut - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QcC2GmV9Ew&list=PL0t4SjAgoVC0kqWrm7yoyeEDxI4sbdfCH) (**I definitely encourage installing the package that allows for FTP so you can download games to the Pi using Wifi) -ROMs (EMUParadise has workarounds that can be found on Reddit to be used in conjunction with a user account to download ROMs) ________________________________________ I'm a recent graduate, with degrees in Industrial Design and Design Management. Feel free to check out this project, and more on my website. https://www.trevoravrett.com/